45Q 



BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



RAMPHOCELUS SANGUINOLENTUS APRICUS (Bangs): Crimson- 

 collared Tanager, Frutero Sanguinolento 



Phlogothraupis sangninolenta aprica Bangs, 1908, Proc. New England Zool. Club, 

 4, p. 31. (Carrillo, Costa Rica.) 



Medium size; entirely black except for red on center of crown, nape, 

 and band across breast, and on upper and lower tail coverts. 



Description. — Length 178-183 mm. Adult (sexes alike), entirely 

 black, except for dark scarlet-red on center of crown, nape, sides of 

 neck, and band across breast, on upper and lower tail coverts, and on 

 underwing coverts. Bill pale bluish. 



Juvenile, dark brown, with orangish red feathers on crown and upper 

 and lower tail coverts. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), wing 

 85.5-92.0 (88.7), tail 69.4-77.6 (73.5), oilmen from base 15.9-18.9 

 (17.3, average of 9), tarsus 18.4-21.3 (19.9) mm. 



Females (10 from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), wing 82.0-92.6 

 (87.4), tail 69.8-78.7 (75.0), culmen from base 15.4-17.6 (16.6), tar- 

 sus 18.6-22.3 (20.6) mm. 



Resident. Evidently uncommon and local in widely scattered areas 

 in the western half of the Republic. In Bocas del Toro, it has been col- 

 lected at Almirante in the lowlands and at 720 m on the Rio Changuena 

 and seen near the IRHE dam site camp on the lower Rio Changuinola 

 (Ridgely in litt.). In Veraguas, Ridgely and F. G. Stiles collected 1 

 and saw another on January 4, 1974, at 870 m on the Pacific slope near 

 Santa Fe, where it has been seen subsequently by other observers. One 

 was seen by N. G. Smith along the Rio Trinidad, on the Caribbean 

 slope north of Cerro Campana, Province of Panama, in March 1966 

 (Ridgely, 1976, p. 321). Beyond Panama, this race is found north 

 along the Caribbean slope to Honduras; the nominate race ranges from 

 there to southeastern Mexico. This species was formerly placed in the 

 monotypic genus Phlogothraupis, but Storer (Check-list Birds World, 

 vol. 13, 1970, p. 310) has indicated its evident affinities by placing it in 

 Rhamphocelus. 



The Crimson-collared Tanager is not gregarious like other members 

 of the genus Ramphocelus, but is usually seen singly or in pairs. It in- 

 habits thickets and second growth at the edges of forest, and forages 

 from a few yards to 7 m above the ground. Slud (Bull. Amer. Mus. 

 Nat. Hist., vol. 28, 1964, p. 356) describes the song as "composed of 

 measured, metallic, rather penetrating, sibilant short phrases, with high- 

 pitched sissing notes randomly interspersed. . . . The call is a rising 

 slow 'whirsst' or 'chweerst' like that of a Palm Tanager." Wharton 



