FAMILY FRINGILLIDAE 



579 



birds in the area were alerted to watch for the species, but others were 

 not found until 2 years later. Two males and a female were netted on 

 October 13, 14, and 30, 1967, by P. Kirmse, V. M. Kleen, and T. V. 

 Heatley, operating the banding- station under the direction of Dr. 

 Horace Loftin, for whom the race was named. It is closest morpho- 

 logically and geographically to S. m. nuttingi of Nicaragua and north- 

 ern Costa Rica, but the female is distinctly darker, less rufescent brown 

 on both upper and lower surfaces; both sexes are slightly smaller, with 

 the bill less massive. 



- Meyer de Schauensee (Notulae Naturae, no. 428, 1970, pp. 1-6) has 

 shown that the species formerly known as Oryzoborus (=Sporophila) 

 crassirostris actually consists of 2 distinct species that are at least 

 partially sympatric in South America: a small-billed, short-tailed mono- 

 typic species that now takes the name crassirostris, and a large-billed, 

 long-tailed polytypic species for which the name maximiliani has pri- 

 ority. The two Central American populations, nuttingi and loftini, 

 both belong to the latter. 



All recent sightings have been from the Almirante area (Ridgely, 

 in litt. ) . These include a male seen by R. Sharp in January 1970 and a 

 pair observed by N. G. Smith along the Almirante-Changuinola Canal 

 on April 24, 1980. The birds were found in sedges. No details of their 

 nesting behavior have been published. 



AMAUROSPIZA CONCOLOR CONCOLOR Cabanis: Blue Seedeater, 

 Arrocero Azulado 



Amaurospiza concolor Cabanis, 1861, Journ. f. Ornith., 9, p. 3. (Costa Rica.) 



Small; male entirely slate blue; female with upper surface cinnamon- 

 brown and undersurface ochraceus-tawny. 



Description. — Length 109-122 mm. Adult male, entire body and 

 wing coverts slate blue; remiges and rectrices black, edged slate blue. 



Adult female, upper surface, including wing coverts, cinnamon- 

 brown; remiges and rectrices dusky brown, edged cinnamon-brown; 

 undersurface tawny. 



A male collected on the Volcan de Chiriqui, Chiriqui, March 15, 1967, 

 had the iris dark brown; bill, tarsus, and toes dark gray. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama and Costa Rica), wing 

 60.0-67.0 (62.2), tail 42.0-53.3 (49.8), culmen from base 10.5-12.3 

 (11.5), tarsus 15.1-19.0 (16.9) mm. 



