FAMILY THRAUPIDAE 



495 



flocks moving through the trees. At times it seems to be the nucleus 

 species in small mixed flocks. The stomach of one I collected held sev- 

 eral small green caterpillars and bits of insect chiton. One taken by 

 Hill weighed 17.8 g. A female taken on February 25, 1964, at Cerro 

 Tacarcuna was carrying nesting material. 



Hellmayr (Field Mus. Nat. Hist. Publ., Zool. Ser., vol. 13, pt. 9, 

 1936, p. 410) considered tacarcunae to be a race of flavigularis, where- 

 as Zimmer (Amer. Mus. Novit. no. 1367, 1947, p. 2) thought it a race 

 of ophthalmicus, which is probably a more accurate reflection of its re- 

 lationships. Its distinctiveness is such, however, that it is best to carry 

 it as a separate species. 



CHLOROSPINGUS INORNATUS (Nelson): Pirre Bush-tanager, 

 Frutero Rastrojero Pirreno 



Hylospingus inornatus Nelson, 1912, Smiths. Misc. Coll., 60(3), p. 18. (Mount 

 Pirri (at 5200 feet altitude) eastern Panama.) 



Small; crown dark gray; rest of upper surface dark olive; under- 

 surface lighter greenish yellow. 



Description.- — Length 142-150 mm. Adult (sexes alike), crown and 

 sides of head dark gray, becoming olive on rest of upper surface; 

 throat dull yellow, becoming darker on breast; sides, flanks, and under- 

 tail coverts greenish yellow; rest of undersurface brighter yellow; un- 

 derwing coverts white. 



One collected at Cerro Pirre on August 7, 1965, had the iris orange- 

 yellow; bill black; tarsus and toes fuscous-black; claws fuscous. 



Measurements. — Males (8 from Cerro Pirre, including the type), 

 wing 77.0-84.5 (80.6), tail 57.7-64.5 (61.7), oilmen from base 15.4- 

 16.8 (15.9), tarsus 23.9-25.7 (25.2) mm. 



Female (1 from Cerro Pirre), wing 78.0, tail 54.7, culmen from 

 base 13.6, tarsus 25.3 mm. 



Resident. Common in the few localities from which it is known, the 

 forests of Cerro Pirre and Cerro Sapo in eastern Darien. In 1972, it 

 was collected by the Gorgas Memorial Laboratory expedition to Al- 

 turas de Nique. On Cerro Pirre it has been collected between 780 and 

 1560 m and on Cerro Sapo at 900 m and on the summit, 1279 m. E. A. 

 Goldman, the first to collect this bird, noted that at Cerro Pirre it was 

 common in the tops of tall trees. "These birds feed clinging among the 

 small branches and occasionally hang suspended from the lower side of 

 a twig for a moment, the general manner of working being somewhat 

 like that of small nuthatches." Bond and de Schauensee (Acad. Nat. 

 Sci. Philadelphia, Mon. no. 6, 1944, pp. 44-45) remark that this was 



