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Records for Several Species of Birds Rare or Local Within Costa Rica

Austin Smith

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Spiziastur melanoleucus. An adult male was taken at El Copey de Dota in the first week of June, 1931. It was perched on a tree at the edge of a forest. The altitude was about 7000 feet. This constitutes the sixth or seventh specimen of which I can find any record. This splendid hawk is apparently entirely a forest dweller, gleaning most of its prey in the tree-tops. The present specimen is now in the Henry O. Havemeyer collection.

Glaucidium jardinii. An adult male of this owl was caught by hand, while perched in a low tree that grew along a trail near Estrella de Cartago, in June, 1931. It was at 4000 feet altitude in the humid Caribbean sub-tropical zone.

Cryptoglaux ridgwayi. Under this name I list a female adult of a small, plaincolored owl, taken in the heavy forest above El Copey de Dota, at an altitude of 7600 feet. The type of the species is a juvenile; and up to now this has seemingly remained unique. My specimen fits the description of the species fairly well, considering the difference in age. El Copey lies only 30 miles southeast of Escazu, the type locality; but the altitude of the first named is considerably greater. This specimen is now in the collection of Henry O. Havemeyer of New York.

Thryorchilus basultoi. A wren of the temperate zone, that has heretofore been known only from the type; an adult female was taken at Las Vueltas, Costa Rica. Las Vueltas is the name of a large ranch lying between the heavy oak forest and the brush covered paramo, forty miles southeast of San Jose.

On May 7 and 8, 1931, I saw several examples of this wren on a brush covered savanna at an altitude of 10,500 feet. Two were secured, both males, one adult, the other evidently immature; but both in unworn plumage. They were shot from the tops of bushes about eight feet in height; not observed at any time on the ground. Thus, this species differs from its congener, Thryorchilus browni ridgwayi of the volcanoes Irazd and Turrialba of the central tableland, which favors terrestrial situations. The male adult of T. basultoi is now in the Havemeyer collection.

San Jose, Costa Rica, July 20, 1931

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