FAMILY RALLIDAE 343 



side of the Azuero Peninsula I have seen them regularly in early 

 morning in the open trails, walking about like chickens. The tail is 

 held at an angle, and the birds move stealthily, with the head held 

 forward. At any alarm their slow steps change instantly to a rapid 

 run and they disappear. Aside from this I have had only an oc- 

 casional glimpse of one at the edge of mangroves, or along some 

 stream, though often their presence has been known from their 

 calls. These are loud, with a curious halting cadence, and rise and 

 fall in sound with the individual syllables. They may continue for 

 several minutes. Regularly the notes are uttered as a duet, with two 

 birds alternating in their utterance. At a distance the sound is 

 melodious and pleasing, but near at hand low, rattling, clacking notes 

 intermingled completely spoil the agreeable effect. 



The names by which they are known are taken mainly from imita- 

 tion of their calls, the usual one being cocaleca. Sometimes this is 

 shortened to code, or varied to chilico, or chilicote. English-speaking 

 Panamanians in the province of Bocas del Toro call them mangrove 

 hens, a name obviously of Jamaican origin. And those American 

 hunters near the Canal Zone, who know them, refer to them as the 

 king rail. The name cocaleca, obviously derived from the call notes, 

 is also applied to other rails, even to those of small size. 



In upland areas on occasion I have eaten the bodies of those that 

 I have shot for specimens, but birds taken in the mangrove swamps, 

 where their main food is crabs, often have an offensive odor. 



Though they move about at night, usually in the hour or two im- 

 mediately after sunset, or in periods of bright moonlight, they also 

 sleep, as I have come across them occasionally while night-hunting. 

 They rest two or three meters above the water, or above the ground 

 in the brush adjacent to a stream or swamp, often in exposed situa- 

 tions, and may be so dazed by the jack light that I have caught them 

 by hand. I have seen captive birds in possession of native boys 

 tethered in a curious way by a slender cord of tough bark fastened 

 to the bill through the open nostrils, which are perforated naturally 

 from side to side. 



In addition to small crabs they eat roaches and other large insects 

 and often have the stomach crammed with small seeds and the 

 remains of drupes. George Shiras, 3d (Nat. Geogr. Mag., Aug. 1915, 

 p. 174), had them come regularly at night to his cameras set with 

 flashlight powder, regardless of whether the bait used was meat or 

 fruit. 



