448 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



period as to indicate that at least some males pair in this stage. 



I found birds feeding regularly on drupes of various small trees and 

 shrubs. On the coastal plain below Alanje they ranged and fed in the 

 same thickets as those occupied by Ramphocelus dimidiatus, but not in 

 mixed company with them. 



RAMPHOCELUS FLAMMIGERUS ICTERONOTUS Bonaparte: 

 Yellow-rumped Tanager, Frutero de Rabadilla Amarilla 



R[h]amphocelus icteronotus Bonaparte, 1838, Rev. Zool. [Paris], 1, p. 8. (Ecua- 

 dor.) 



Medium size; adult male entirely velvety black except for lower back 

 through upper tail coverts, which are rich lemon yellow; female with 

 head, upper back, wings, and tail grayish brown; rest of body pale 

 lemon yellow, lightest on undersurface. 



Description. — Length 150-170 mm. Adult male, entirely velvety 

 black, except for lower back through upper tail coverts, which are rich 

 lemon yellow. 



Adult female, crown, upper back, and wing coverts grayish brown; 

 rectrices slightly darker brown; rest of upper surface pale lemon yel- 

 low; undersurface pale lemon yellow, brightest on breast; sometimes 

 undersurface is whitish, tinged yellow. 



Immature male, like female, but more or less marked with black. 



A male collected at Puerto Obaldia, San Bias, on February 16, 1963, 

 had the iris dull red; extreme tip of bill black, rest neutral gray; tarsus 

 and toes dark neutral gray; claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 79.1-84.0 (82.0), 

 tail 67.0-74.4 (69.4), -oilmen from base 16.0-18.2 (17.0), tarsus 22.8- 

 24.6 (23.7) mm. 



Females (10 from Panama), wing 71.2-82.1 (77.6), tail 64.6-71.4 

 (67.9), culmen from base 15.0-18.0 (16.6), tarsus 21.8-24.2 (23.0) 

 mm. 



Resident. Common in shrubby areas in the lowlands of the Carib- 

 bean slope from Cricamola, Bocas del Toro, eastward; more local on 

 the Pacific slope. Arce (Salvin, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867, p. 139) 

 collected it on the Pacific slope at Santiago in Veraguas, but as this is 

 such an unusual location the bird may have been caged. I have taken 

 it in Code at the head of the Rio Guabal and at 750 m at El Valle, 

 where I saw several. Ridgely (in litt. ) netted a female above Santa Fe, 

 Veraguas, in January 1974. It has been collected at many localities in 

 the Canal Zone (but is scarce or seasonal on the Pacific slope) and 

 farther east in the Province of Panama and in Darien. Ridgely (in 



