524 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



animal matter. On Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Moynihan 

 (Smiths. Misc. Coll., vol. 143, no. 7, 1962, p. 6) found that they are 

 not very strongly attracted to mixed species flocks. 



Once, at Santa Clara, Chiriqui, on February 18, 1955, I found a 

 number of males gathered in several trees bearing drupes in a small 

 tract of forest at 1110 m. A year earlier I had found them at exactly 

 this same spot. On this day they were moving rather quickly through 

 the higher branches, leaving for a time and then returning. They 

 seemed excited over something, and a little later I found where some 

 small forest falcon had been plucking and eating a small bird beneath 

 these same trees; perhaps this was the cause of the excitement. I heard 

 continually a low wheu wheu call with a curious metallic tone, com- 

 pletely new to me, that I attributed to this species. The only call Skutch 

 {op. cit., p. 105) ever heard was "a low, nasal cry" from a female de- 

 fending her young. 



DACNIS VENUSTA VENUSTA Lawrence 



Dacnis venusta Lawrence, 1862, Ann. Lyc. Nat. Hist. New York, 7, p. 464. (Pana- 

 ma Railroad.) 



Characters. — Entire undersurface of male tinged blackish green. 



A male taken at El Volcan, Chiriqui, on March 15, 1965, had the iris 

 bright red; bill and inside of mouth black; tarsus dull brown; toes and 

 claws fuscous-brown. A female collected there on March 18, 1965, had 

 the iris dark brown; maxilla and tip of mandible dull light neutral gray; 

 gape dull yellowish white; tarsus and toes neutral gray; claws dull 

 grayish brown. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Chiriqui and Code), wing 66.5- 

 70.1 (67.7), tail 39.6-43.8 (41.8), oilmen from base 11.9-14.4 (13.6), 

 tarsus 14.1-15.2 (14.8) mm. 



Females (10 from Chiriqui and Costa Rica), wing 62.1-67.0 (64.9), 

 tail 38.2-42.3 (40.4), culmen from base 12.7-14.3 (13.6), tarsus 14.4- 

 15.6 (15.2) mm. 



Resident. Fairly common in the foothills of both slopes from 

 western Panama to the Canal Zone. On the Caribbean slope it also 

 occurs locally in the lowlands. On the Volcan de Chiriqui, Monniche 

 (Blake, Fieldiana: Zool., vol. 36, no. 5, 1958, pp. 556-557) collected it 

 between 1560 and 1920 m, and W. W. Brown, Jr., took 20 specimens 

 near Boquete, Chiriqui, between 1200 and 1500 m. I have collected it 

 in this region also, and at the head of the Rio Guabal in Code. On 

 Barro Colorado Island, Canal Zone, Eisenmann said it was "rarely 



