South American Migrant Swallows of the Genus Progne in Panama and Northern South America; with Comments on Their Identification and Molt
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528 GeneralNotes LVol.•- Auk?õ wing stretch movement (Eibl-Eibesfeldt and Kramer, Quart. Rev. Biol., 33: 181-211,1958). Woodpeckersdo this in an atypicalmanner. All oœmy captive individualsstretch one wing way down without any movementof either foot. One has to be in a favorableposition to see this clearly. It is more difficult to observein the field, but on one occasionI watcheda Pileated Woodpeckerdo a wing stretchwhile both of its feet were clampedwidely apart on a tree trunk. It remained in view during the extreme downward movement of the wing. Koenig has photographeda Bee-eater (Meropsapiaster) wing-stretchingin this manner (Nature Storiesfrom the Vienna Woods. Crowell. New York. 1958).-- Lnw•.•Nc• K•LH•,M,7815 AberdeenRoad, Bethesda14, Maryland. Ash-throated Flycatcher in Alabama.--S. W. Simon (Auk, 75: 469, 1958)sum- marizesthe recordsof the Ash-throatedFlycatcher (Myiarchusciner•cens) east of the MississippiRiver in the United States-sevenspecimens and two sight recordsare listed. To this growinglist I would add a specimenI collected November2, 1958at Dauphin Island, Alabama. The specimenwas identifiedat the LouisianaState University Museum of Natural History by Dr. Robert J. Newmanas Myiarchuscinerascens cinerascens. The specimenis now No. 4645.1a in the Florida State University bird collection. This is the first record of the speciesin Alabama (Thomas A. Imhof, personalcommunication).--Love•-r E. W•n•ss, JR., Wildli[e ResearchUnit, A•PJ., Auburn, Alabama. N ew Record of the Eastern Barn Swallow in Mieronesia.--The Eastern Barn Swallow (Hitundo rustics gutturalis), which normally winters as far south as Australia,has been reportedas a fall and winter migrant in westernMi•onesia by severalobservers. (Baker, Smithsonian Misc. Coll., 107: õ5, 1948) reported swallowsof this Asiaticsubspecies in the Palau Islands,Western Catolines, in September,1945 and on Guam,Marianas Islands, in October. Strophlet (Auk, 63: 535, 1946) saw birds on Guam in late Octoberand November. Marshall (Condor, 51: 221, 1949)reported immature Barn Swallowsfrom Saipan,Tinian in the Marianasand from the Palausbetween October and February. These birds are apparently regular winter visitors to the Marianas and Western Catolines. No observationsof Barn Swallowsin the centralor easternCaroline Island archipelago have been recorded. On the Island of Mocn, Truk Atoll (7ø N. Lat., 152ø E. Long.), in the eastern Catolines, some 560 nautical miles southeast of Guam and 1940 nautical miles cast of Palau, clcvcn Barn Swallows wcrc observed on December •0 and 31, 1957. The birdswcrc seen perched on electricwires on the northwesttip of the island, and were noted catching insectsin flight, in company with Caroline Swiftlets (Collocaliainquieta rukensis). They remainednear a flat marshyarea covered by hcav• growth of Phragmiteskafka. A bird collectedon January 1, 1958proved to bca young male with much subcutaneousfat. Testes measured35 min. It is now .•570101-0101in the collectionof the Pacific Island Central School. On December11, 1958,six Swallowswcrc again observedin the same area. The birds remained on Truk for about one wcck.--JoHN H. B•A•)% Truk, East Caroline Islands. South American migrant swallows of the genus Progne in Panama and northern South America; with comments on their identification and molt. --More birds of the TemperateZone of SouthAmerica migrate acrossthe Equator than has bccnsupposed (c/. Zimmer,Auk, $$: 405--410,1938). This is truc of the •9•9aOct.'] GeneralNotes swallows,and probably of the swifts. The Argentine race of the Brown-chested Martin, Phaeoprognetapera lusca, has proved to be a regular and abundant migrant to Panama (ESsenmann,Auk, 72: 427, 1955),and the PatagonianBlue- and-whiteSwallow, Atticora (Pygochelidon) cyanoleuca paragonSea, taken repeatedly in Panama,has recently been recordedin Nicaragua (Howell, Condor, 57: 188, 1955) and Mexico (Paynterand Alvarezdel Toro, Condor,59: 268, 1957). The migratorysouthern subspecies of the Ashy-tailedSwift, Chaeturaandrei meridi- oaalis,has beencollected in northernColombia and Panamain August,the height of the SouthernHemisphere winter (Darlington,Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 72: 392, 1931; Rogers,Auk, 56: 82, 1939),and I suspectthat otherlittle knownSouth Americanswifts recorded from Panamaand southernCentral Americaduring this season (e.g., the White-chinned Swift, Cypseloidescryptus) may prove to be migrants (el. Beebe,Zoologics, 32: 167, 1947). Northern recordsof two other southernhemisphere migrants, the SouthernMartin, Progne rnodestaelegans, and the Gray-breastedMartin, Prognechalybea dornestica, are here reported. In con- neetionwith their identificationit was found that stageof molt was a useful clue in distinguishingtrans-equatorial migrants from north and south. Prognemodesta elegans. A SouthernMartin was taken by H. Wedel on July 14, 1931, on the Caribbean coast of eastern Panama (near the Colombian boun- dary) at Obaldia (__.Puerto Obaldia), Lat. 8 ø 40' N. The specimen(Univ. Mich. Mus. Zool. no. 97608),labelled "9 o.n.e.",has a few fresh purple featherson the breast, sides,and under tail-coverts,suggesting an immature male. Measurements: wing (flat), 134 min.; tail, 71 min. The bird is in the sameplumage, and in the identicalstage of wear and molt (with three old pairs of outer primariesand two of rectrices),as variousiramatures taken on July 15, 1929 at Tahuapunto,Rio Uaupds,Brazil, just north of the Equator (reported in Zimmer'sreview of the genus,Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 1723: 8, 1955)--hithertothe most northerlyrecords of this migratoryform. The reported breeding range of elegansis westernand central Argentina south to northeastern Patagonia and north to the highlands of eastern Bolivia. In Argentina the first birds apparently arrive towards the end of August, and most have left by the end of March (seeWetmore, U.S. Natl. Mus. Bull., 133: 347, 1926; W. H. Partridge, in litt.). The full extent of the winter quarters remains uncer- tain, but there is a large seriesin the AmericanMuseum of Natural History taken in the westernAmazon basin of Brazil and Peru betweenMay 6 and September1, 1929 (Zimmer, 1955, loc. cit.). Farther north wintering elegansmay well have been overlooked becauseof resemblanceto other speciesof Progne. The adult male,in its over-allsteel blue color,is a counterpartof the North AmericanPurple Martin, P. subis, which also winters chiefly in Brazil; other plumages, though quitedistinctive, bear some likeness to thoseof bothsubis and the residenttropical chalybea.Both migrantsubis and elegans,though arriving at oppositeseasons, may well occurin the sametropical localities as transientsor winterresidents duringMarch and April and from the end of July into September.Thus speci- mens of P.s. subis have been examined taken near Co16n, Panama on the south- wardmigration as earlyas August3 and 5 (coil by J. E. Ambrose,Jr.) and taken in Venezuelaon August28. Though the return migrationhas been observedin Panamaby February(Wetmore, Smith. Misc. Coil., 139, no. 2: 13, 1959),there are specimensof subis(in the AmericanMuseum) taken as late as April 1 and 2 in Brazil and April 4 and 18 in Venezuela. }- Auk 520 GeneralNotes LVol.76 Identification. Femalesand immature of eleganshave dark sooty-brownunder- parts,the featherswith narrowpale brownishmargins, often obsolescent on throat and breast, wider and more whitish on the lower abdomen. Elegans thus looks entirelydark below,relieved only by whitish"scaling". In correspondingplumages of both subisand chalybeathe abdomenand under tail-covertsare normallywhite, more or lessmarked with duskystreaks, which are usuallyvery fine shaft-streaksin chalybea,but are often broaderin subis. Sometimesin P.s. subisthe under tail covertsmay be dusky,edged with white; and very exceptionallythe underparts may so suffusedwith sooty-grayas to suggestthe pattern of elegans,but with shaft-streaksstill apparentand a gray patch on each side of the neck, which may meet in a narrow ring acrossthe hind-neck. Adult malesof elegansmay be dis- tinguishedin the hand from subisby longer tail and deepertail fork (25 min. or more),and by lackingthe small concealedwhite flank patch (while retainingthe adjacentpatch on the sidesof the lower back). Thesepoints are hard to determine in molting birds, and during the periods when these two speciesmay occur to- geth• they are likely to be molting. Fortunatelysubis and elegansbegin and end the molt at oppositetimes of the year--in phase with their antipodal breeding seasons.Dated specimenscan usually be distinguishedreadily by stageof wear and molt. In thesehighly migratoryand aerial birds the molt of primariesis remarkablyprotracted (requiring probably five and possiblysix months),and the contrastbetween worn brown remigesand glossyfresh ones is obviousin speci- mens. For example,in Augustand Septemberadult subishas begunto molt, but is unlikely to have replacedmore than two to four inner primaries,while adult elegansis likely to havecompleted (or almostcompleted) the wingmolt. In March and April the oppositesituation prevails. Birds of the year begin and end the primary molt a month or more later than older birds. Profinechalybea domestica. To the largermigratory southern race of the Gray- breastedMartin, I would allocatethree specimensin the AmericanMuseum (Nos. 433492,435045, 435047)--the first to be reportednorth of the Equator. They were collectedby the Olalla Bros. in 1929: a male at E1 Merey, Rio Casiquiare,Vene- zuela (about 3ø N. lat.), on April 18; and two femalesat Tahuapunto, Rio Uaup•s, Brazil,