210 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



and almost immediately drop down again, usually behind cover. Occa- 

 sionally after a short flight one may perch on a log or low branch, 

 where it rests lengthwise as an aid to concealment. In rainy season, 

 when low areas are flooded, as in thickets bordering the La Jagua 

 marshes, it is more common for them to select such slightly elevated 

 resting places. Rarely, at night, I have encountered them from 3 to 

 10 meters above the ground. 



As night approaches they leave the daytime resting place and move 

 out into more open areas to feed. If in forest they may be found then 

 along the open banks of streams, or in small openings made by storm- 

 felled trees. Fields and pastures always are attractive, as are the 

 savannas of the Pacific slope, and in such locations they remain 

 throughout the night. 



As noted in the beginning, the legs in these birds proportionally are 

 longer than in tree-perching members of the family. On the ground 

 they rest with head drawn in and the body prone as in their relatives, 

 but when approached they may extend the head and then retract it, 

 or raise the body and then drop back. More rarely one may walk 

 a few steps. On one occasion when I encountered a member of this 

 race resting on a low branch in a flooded thicket the bird perched for 

 a time across a limb with the tail hanging straight down like a trogon. 



The capacho feeds extensively on beetles, particularly on scara- 

 baeids, but including others, as passalids, cerambycids, elaterids, and 

 curculionids. Several of those that I have handled have been so 

 crammed with these insects that the bulging stomach made a firm, 

 hard projection on the external surface of the abdomen. 



They seem to see well in daytime, and often when flushed appear 

 quite alert. Once, near Pedasi, one rested in the sun in a small opening 

 in dry monte, apparently sun-bathing, as shade was accessible only 

 a few meters away. 



The usual call, loud and strongly accented, resembles whoo-oo we oo, 

 the first syllable somewhat drawn out, the last two delivered rapidly. 

 Sometimes the first syllable is omitted. Another call is a rapid repeti- 

 tion of a single syllable, whip, whip, whip, whip. Occasionally when 

 one is disturbed in the monte it utters a low, barely audible growling 

 sound. Their notes are heard mainly in evening and at dawn, except 

 that on clear, moonlit nights, particularly in the nesting season, they 

 call steadily all night long. On some occasions at dawn in January at 

 La Jagua the chorus from all sides has been a truly amazing volume 

 of sound. Rarely they may begin from heavily shaded woodlands 

 while sunset light still brightens the open sky. And once, on the Rio 



