APPENDIX 



627 



1971, pp. 529-536) documents the population expansion from Cali- 

 fornia to Central America, but points out that several years elapsed be- 

 tween the bird's appearance in Costa Rica in 1958 (Slud, Bull. Amer. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist., vol. 128, 1964, p. 54) and its discovery in Panama. 

 The first individual seen there was on January 11, 1967, at Finca San 

 Jose (La Jagua marshes) east of Panama City, closer to the known 

 range of the nominate race in northern Colombia than to the presumed 

 northern race, majusculus, in Costa Rica; eastern Province of Panama 

 remains the area where this kite is most numerous in Panama ( Ridgely, 

 1976, p. 58). The nominate race is found from Colombia south to 

 Chile and Argentina and east to Paraguay; majusculus ranges north 

 to the southwestern United States. 



Today the White-tailed Kite is common in grasslands and savannas 

 on the Pacific slope from eastern Province of Panama to western 

 Chiriqui and in cleared areas on the Caribbean slope in Bocas del Toro 

 and in the Canal Zone area. It is less common in the lower Chiriqui 

 highlands around Volcan and Boquete up to 1260 m. Eisenmann (op. 

 cit., p. 532) reports 2 breeding records: on July 14, 1970, in eastern 

 Chiriqui he and several others saw 2 full-grown immatures giving food- 

 begging calls, while below them in the same tree was an adult; in 

 February 1971, R. Cooke observed nest-building near Aguadulce, 

 Code. 



This species is easily seen in cleared land along the edges of high- 

 ways. It often hovers, searching for small rodents. Most of its hunt- 

 ing is done in early morning and late afternoon; during the other 

 hours it rests on exposed perches.] 



Family RALLIDAE: Rails, Gallinules, and Coots; Cocalecas 

 y Gallinetas de Agua 



NEOCREX COLOMBIANUS RIPLEYI Wetmore: Colombian Crake, 

 Rascon Colombiano 



Neocrex columbianus [sic] ripleyi Wetmore, 1967, Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 

 80, p. 229. (Achiote, Colon, Panama.) 



Medium size; head gray, tinged brown; rest of upper surface brown; 

 throat white; rest of undersurface dark bluish gray. 



Description. — Length 185 mm. Adult (sexes alike), crown dark 

 gray, tinged brown; rest of upper surface brown; wing coverts buffier; 

 remiges grayer; chin and center of throat white; sides of head and 

 rest of undersurface to flanks and abdomen gray; flanks drab; center 



