FAMILY FRINGILLIDAE 



621 



Davidson took it at Boquete at the same elevation. Ridgely (in litt.) 

 notes that it can be very common around the town of Boquete and on 

 the east slope of El Volcan; on the west side of El Volcan it is outnum- 

 bered by C. xanthogastra. I have also found it in Chiriqui at San 

 Felix, in Veraguas at Sona; at Pese and El Barrero in Herrera; at 

 Punta Mala, Los Santos; and El Valle and El Potrero, Code. It 

 usually travels in pairs or small flocks feeding on flowers in trees or 

 seeds nearer the ground, where it sometimes joins seedeaters and Dick- 

 cissels (Spiza americana). The song is a long outpouring of clear 

 musical notes rising and falling and interspersed with twitters. 



In Costa Rica, Skutch (Publ. Nutt. Orn. Club, no. 7, 1967, pp. 182- 

 184) found nests in August, December, and January. He noted that 

 the birds sang from June to February. The nests were from 4 to 7 m 

 above the ground in trees or shrubs. One had an outer layer of bits of 

 grasses and decaying weed steins, a middle layer of rootlets and other 

 vegetable fibers, and a thick lining of horse hairs, fine vegetable fibers, 

 a few rootlets, and thread-like rachides of Acacia leaves. The nest 

 measured 7.5 cm in diameter by 5 cm in height; the interior was 4.5 

 cm in diameter by 3 cm deep. Half the nests Skutch found held two 

 eggs, the other half had four. They were white and unmarked. 



