FAMILY FRINGILLIDAE 



573 



tougher fibers held in place in a group of twigs by spider webs. Major 

 General G. Ralph Meyer found a nest at Balboa that was only 13 cm 

 off the ground, in a shrub; Alderton found nests in shrubs and small 

 trees up to 3 m from the ground. The inside diameter of the nest aver- 

 ages 5 X6 cm. Two eggs form a clutch; they are greenish white mottled 

 with brown to purplish blotches slightly more concentrated on the 

 larger end. Two collected by Meyer measured 16 X 12.7 and 16.2 X 12.9 

 mm. Incubation is performed solely by the female and requires 12 

 days. The young are fed regurgitated seeds by both parents; they leave 

 the nest at 8 or 9 days of age. In some years the nesting season con- 

 tinues to December, suggesting that at least some pairs attempt to nest 

 more than once. 



SPOROPHILA MINUTA CENTRALIS Bangs and Penard: Ruddy- 

 breasted Seedeater, Arrocero Diminuto 



Sporophila minuta centralis Bangs and Penard, 1918, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 62, 

 p. 90. (Near Panama City, Panama.) 



Very small; crown and upper back grayish olive, rump and entire 

 undersurface reddish brown; wings and tail blackish; female, upper 

 surface drab brown; undersurface cinnamon-buff. 



Description. — Length 86-96 mm. Adult male, crown, side of head, 

 upper back, and lesser wing coverts grayish olive; rump, upper tail co- 

 verts, and entire undersurface reddish brown; rest of wing feathers 

 blackish, edged light grayish olive, with patch of white at base of inner 

 primaries; tail blackish brown; bend of wing and underwing coverts 

 white. 



Adult female, upper surface drab brown; lesser wing coverts like 

 back; rest of wing feathers and tail dark brown, edged cinnamon-buff; 

 undersurface cinnamon-buff; bend of wing cinnamon-buff; under- 

 wing coverts white. 



Immature male, like female. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 46.5-50.5 (49.1), 

 tail 36.0-42.6 (38.8), culmen from base 8.5-9.4 (8.9), tarsus 12.2-14.0 

 (13.3) mm. 



Females (4 from Panama), wing 47.0-50.0 (48.9), tail 34.6-40.8 

 (38.5), culmen from base 8.7-9.0 (8.8), tarsus 13.0-14.3 (13.5, aver- 

 age of 3) mm. 



Resident. Common in the lowlands on the entire Pacific slope; on 

 the Caribbean slope it is known from a few reports near the coast and 

 in the middle Chagres River Valley in the Canal Zone (Ridgely, 1976, 



