FAMILY CAPRIMULGIDAE 211 



Chucunaque early one morning a male flew ahead of me twice in open 

 forest, and then began to call, though the sun was an hour high, and 

 the entire area was alight. 



In night-hunting this is the bird most frequently encountered. The 

 eye glows with an orange-red reflection that may be visible for more 

 than a hundred meters, particularly when the capacho rests on a ter- 

 mite mound, a log, or some other slight elevation. The eye color is so 

 similar to that of glowing coals that during the period of dry season 

 burning I have had to look closely to make certain that the spot of light 

 I had in view was bird and not fire. In driving at night their eyes shine 

 regularly at the roadside in the lights of the automobile, and when male 

 birds fly into this illumination the white markings of wing and tail 

 show prominently. They sometimes appear dazzled by the spot light of 

 an electric torch, and with sufficiently slow and careful approach may 

 be seized by hand. 



The nesting season begins in February and extends through May. 

 By the end of the latter month well-grown young may be on the wing. 

 The 2 eggs that constitute a set are laid in a slight scrape on open 

 ground, or may be placed on the scanty padding of a few dry leaves. 

 They are subelliptical to long elliptical in shape, smooth, faintly 

 glossy, and vary in ground color from lighter than pale pinkish buff 

 to brighter than vinaceous-buff. The entire surface has faintly out- 

 lined spots and small blotches of fawn color, that vary to avellaneous 

 when thinly overlaid with deposited shell. The material examined in- 

 cludes 2 sets of 2 each, collected in 1911 by E. A. Goldman in the 

 Canal Zone, at Tabernilla April 20 and Frijoles, May 9. These have 

 the following measurements, in order as listed, 30.2x22.3, 29.9 X 

 22.6 ; 29.9 X 22.7, 31.4 x 21.1 mm. Others presented by Major General 

 G. Ralph Meyer, include a single egg taken in the Forest Reserve, 

 May 3, 1941, a set of 2 from Madden Lake, May 13, 1941, and another 

 set of 2 from Fort Clayton, May 2, 1943, all in the Canal Zone. These, 

 in order, measure as follows; 28.2x21.6; 28.9x21.9, 28.5x21.4; and 

 28.2x20.6, 29.4x21.5 mm. A set of 2 that I found at an elevation of 

 1,200 meters at Santa Clara, Chiriqui, on February 21, 1955, have the 

 following sizes: 28.5x20.1, 28.3x20.5 mm. Another set of 2, nearly 

 ready to hatch, collected at La Jagua, Panama, March 20, 1961, mea- 

 sured 30.1 X21.3, 29.5x21.4 mm. These were too far along in incu- 

 bation for preservation. 



One evening, near Santa Clara, Chiriqui, while hunting at night, I 

 shot a female as she rested on open ground outside a thicket, and found 



