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BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 4 



p. 334) and from Mandinga, San Bias, where in January and February 

 of 1957 I saw a few males feeding with other seedeaters and collected 2. 



Three races are usually recognized in this species: 5*. m. parva from 

 Mexico through Nicaragua; S. m. minuta, which is stated to range 

 through northern South America from Colombia south to Ecuador and 

 east through the Guianas to Brazil; and the race centralis which has 

 been used only for birds from Panama and Costa Rica. Meyer de 

 Schauensee (Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. 104, 1952, p. 192) found 

 it "impossible to recognize S. m. centralis" but this appears to have re- 

 sulted from its range having always been misunderstood. The race 

 centralis is actually quite distinct from minuta. A series from Panama 

 compared with a fresh series from Para, Belem, Brazil, is much 

 browner above, rather than decidedly bluish gray, and lighter, less deep 

 chestnut below. Using these two series as paradigms, the Smithsonian 

 specimens from Antioquia, Cordoba, Bolivar, and Huila, Colombia, 

 would definitely be referable to centralis, as presumably would be 

 Ecuadorian birds. Specimens from Magdalena, Santander, and San- 

 tander del Norte, are decidely grayer on the back than centralis but per- 

 haps not quite as dark below as minuta. They are probably intergrades, 

 but are nearer to minuta. Thus, not only should the race centralis be 

 maintained, but its stated distribution should also be greatly expanded. 



This seedeater inhabits grassy savannas where, like other species of 

 Sporophila, it feeds on grass seeds and is found in flocks. During the 

 dry season, the birds withdraw from certain areas. On January 1, 1956, 

 I found 2 with other seedeaters in the extensive artificial clearing 

 around the radio towers at Chiva Chiva; this clearing must have at- 

 tracted them from their usual range on the savannas, as it is the farthest 

 inland I ever encountered the species; Ridgely (in litt.) found a flock 

 of 250 or more at the same site on January 8, 1974. A female collected 

 by Strauch (Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, 1977, p. 65) weighed 8.3 g. 



Ridgely (1976, p. 334) describes the song as "the best of the Pan- 

 ama seedeaters, fairly long, sweet, and deliberate, typically weet, weet, 

 weet, weet, weet, too-weet-tew, often given from an exposed perch such 

 as a telephone wire." 



Major General G. Ralph Meyer found three nests of this seedeater 

 during June and July of 1941. All were cups of grass and grass rootlets 

 placed in clumps of grass or in a small bush surrounded by grass. Each 

 nest had three eggs. They are white or pale buff spotted with brown, 

 most heavily at the blunt end. The eggs of one clutch measured 15.7X 

 11.7, and 15.7x11.7 mm. 



