FAMILY FRING1LLIDAE 



595 



Description. — Length 163-187 mm. Adult (sexes alike), forecrown 

 black, with short, fine white stripes beginning near base of maxilla and 

 extending approximately half way through black area; black also above 

 and below eye in mask extending to nape; rest of crown reddish brown, 

 bordered with thin stripe of brownish yellow; rest of upper surface, 

 including wing coverts, olive-green; remiges dusky, edged olive-green, 

 rectrices dusky, edged olive-green in elsae, edged brown in frontalis; 

 throat white; pectoral band black; sides of breast and sides gray, be- 

 coming olive-green on flanks and undertail coverts; rest of under- 

 surface white; bend of wing yellow; underwing coverts olive-green. 



Juvenile, forecrown blackish, lacking white marks; rest of crown 

 dark reddish brown; sides of face blackish; rest of upper surface olive- 

 brown; undersurface olive-brown. 



The Chestnut-capped Brush-finch inhabits thick undergrowth in the 

 foothills and highlands of both eastern and western Panama. It is a shy 

 bird, rarely seen although not uncommon, usually found in pairs; as it 

 hops on the ground it uses its long, slender bill to flick or push aside 

 leaves to pick food items underneath. Sometimes it is seen at the out- 

 skirts of army ant swarms, probably catching insects fleeing the swarm. 

 The song of this species is high-pitched and squeaky, according to 

 Skutch (Publ. Nutt. Orn. Club, no. 7, 1967, pp. 192-193), who heard 

 it in Costa Rica between May, at the beginning of the rainy season, until 

 early November; the birds were singing most profusely in June. The 

 call is a weak, high-pitched pseet or seet. On one that I collected at 

 Cerro Punta, Chiriqui, I noted that the oil gland was unusually large 

 and well developed. 



Parkes (Condor, 1954, pp. 129-138) studied variation in the many 

 different populations of this species, which ranges from central Mexico 

 to southern Peru. Two races are found in Panama: elsae, of Costa 

 Rica and western Panama as far east as Cerro Campana, Province of 

 Panama; and frontalis, of eastern Darien, and Colombia, Venezuela, 

 Ecuador and Peru. 



ATLAPETES BRUNNEINUCHA ELSAE Parkes 



Atlapetes brunnei-nucha elsae Parkes, 1954, Condor, 56, p. 135. (Volcan de Irazu, 

 8,000 to 10,000 feet, Costa Rica.) 



Characters. — White of undersurface less extensive than in frontalis; 

 upper tail coverts and edges of rectrices olive-green. 



A juvenile collected at El Volcan, Chiriqui, on March 17, 1965, had 

 the iris chocolate, maxilla except as noted dull black; gape, side of 



