FAMILY COEREBIDAE 



513 



CYANERPES CYANEUS CARNEIPES (Sclater): Red-legged 

 Honeycreeper, Mielero Azul 



Caereba carneipes P. L. Sclater, 1859, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 27, p. 376. (Playa 

 Vicente, Oaxaca, Mexico.) 



Small; bill long, slightly decurved; male with lores, upper back, 

 wings, and tail black, crown bright light blue, rest of body bluish violet; 

 female with entire upper surface dull green, undersurface olive-green, 

 indistinctly streaked with yellowish white. 



Description. — Length 109-119 mm. Adult male, lores and orbital 

 region, sides of breast, upper back in "V" shaped wedge, tail, thighs, 

 undertail coverts and exposed surface of wings, black; center of crown 

 shining turquoise blue; rest of body bluish violet; edge of inner web of 

 remiges and underwing coverts bright yellow. 



Adult male in "eclipse" plumage, June to September, like female, but 

 with wings and tail black. 



Adult female, narrow superciliary and broken orbital ring whitish; 

 lores and small area behind eye blackish; upper surface olive green; 

 wings blackish, with coverts, secondaries, and primaries edged green, 

 tail green; throat whitish, tinged yellow; rest of undersurface olive- 

 green indistinctly streaked with pale yellow; edge of inner web of 

 remiges and underwing coverts bright yellow. 



Immature, upper surface dingy light olive-green; undersurface gray- 

 ish buff. 



A male collected at La Jagua, Panama, on March 23, 1961, had the 

 iris very dark brown; bill black; tarsus and toes orange-red; claws 

 black; inside of mouth black except for reddish basal half of tongue. 

 A female taken on Isla Cebaco, Veraguas, on January 14, 1965, had 

 the iris dark reddish brown; bill dull black; tarsus and toes dull vinous 

 red; claws black. A juvenile collected at La Jagua on March 21, 1961, 

 had the iris dark brown; bill fuscous-black; tarsus and toes dark wood 

 brown, claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 60.7-65.4 (63.0), 

 tail 35.2-42.0 (38.7), culmen from base 17.0-19.4 (18.4), tarsus 13.3- 

 15.3 (14.1) mm. 



Females (10 from Panama), wing 59.8-62.5 (61.2), tail 32.0-39.4 

 (36.3), culmen from base 18.1-21.0 (19.8), tarsus 13.7-15.6 (14.7) 

 mm. 



Resident. Very common, but in some areas local, in lowlands of 

 both slopes, and slightly less common in the foothills. It ranges to some 

 extent along clearings up into the mountains. Ridgely {in litt.) has 

 not found it in western Bocas del Toro, along the Bayano River in 



