DISPLAY PATTERNS OP TROPICAL AMERICAS' "NIHE-PRIMARIED" SOIGBIRDS 



V. Saltator 



X« Moynihan 



ds is the fifth in a series of papers on the ritualized, social signal, 

 behavior patterns of some tropical American finches, tanagers , and honeycreepers, 

 The preceding papers of the series were concerned with the genera Chlorosp ingus, 

 R amphocelus t and Arremonops (Moynihan, 1962b, 1962c, 19 63, and 19 65). The 

 following account will include brief descriptions of some patterns of five 

 species of Saltator, large "grosbeak 11 type finches. These species were not 

 studied in detail, but enough of their behavior was seen to permit a partial 

 evaluation of the comparative position of the genus. 



THE STREAKED SALTATOR (S. albicollis) 



Wild individuals of this species were observed in the Canal Zone and 

 adjacent parts of the Republic of Panama at irregular intervals between March, 

 1958, and April , 1962. In addition, a few individuals were trapped in some of 

 the same areas, and kept and studied in large aviaries on Barro Colorado Island. 

 According to Hellmayr (1938) , all these birds should have been representative* 

 of the subspecies isthmicus . 



Like all the other species of the genus with which I am familiar, Streaked 

 Saltators seem to prefer "edge" habitats, especially the edges of second-growth 

 vegetation, scrub and small trees. They seldom go very far inside dense scrub, 

 and iWili i ^^ usually range from three to twenty- 

 five feet above the ground, seldom or never coming down to the ground itself. 

 Some aspects of their general social behavior in Panama are described in 

 Moynihan (1962a). They are not very gregarious. They rrip ' nul nli rj i ni iOiiiffliii|||T|iif|ii|N#i|| 



