BIRDS FROM COSTA RICA——-WETMORE 41 
LEPTOTILA VERREAUXI VERREAUXI Bonaparte 
Leptotila verreauxi BONAPARTE, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 40, 1855, 
p. 99 (Colombia). 
A male of this pigeon was taken near Liberia on October 28, 1940, 
and the birds were seen regularly in this region. At the Rio Colorado 
I observed one resting in the sun in early morning in a tall tree top 
fully 100 feet above the ground. When startled it pitched at once 
into cover below. In an extended acquaintance with various races 
of this pigeon I have never before seen one in such a situation as the 
species is normally found near the ground. Two seen at the Hacien- 
da Santa Maria on November 9 seemed darker in color, but of this I 
was not certain as I did not shoot one. 
OREOPELEIA MONTANA (Linnaeus): Ruddy Quail-dove 
Columba montana LINNAEUS, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 163. 
(Jamaica). 
On November 15 IJ shot a female in an open thicket surrounded by 
pastureland below the house on Hacienda Santa Maria. 
Family PSITTACIDAE 
ARA MACAO (Linnaeus) 
Psittacus Macao LINNAEUS, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, 1758, p. 96 (South 
America). 
One of the delights experienced at the Hacienda Santa Maria was 
the sight each day of these great macaws—not one alone but a dozen, 
or a hundred, according to where my work took me. As I rode out 
in early morning across the undulating pastures pairs or little flocks 
came past me, fairly glowing with color in the morning sun. And 
in the vast forests I heard their raucous calls in many places. They 
came daily to wild fruit trees in the little coffee plantation back of 
the house, and as I prepared specimens each afternoon, if the weather 
was clear, I could often see the flash of their brilliant plumage in the 
trees a hundred yards away. Occasionally when something startled 
them, 40 or 50 would sweep out around the house with strident calls. 
The birds were molested little and so were tame. On November 9 
when I took one for a specimen I had only to walk out into the coffee 
plantation directly to where macaws were feeding without attempt 
at concealment. At the shot the companion birds did not trouble to 
leave the tree. 
The macaw here is known as the lapa. In evening those from 
near the house left before sunset, most of them flying around the . 
slopes to the east but a few going directly out over the lowlands to the 
southwest. Near Liberia on November 2 three passed over high in 
the air coming from the direction of Nicoya and traveling toward 
the Voledén Rincén de la Vieja, so that I believed that they flew 
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