49 2 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA — PART 2 



onous and sometimes annoying in its steady, unvarying utterance. 

 Though barbets may eat insects, or rob other birds of their eggs, 

 their main food is berries or large fruits, abundant in the forests 

 in which they live. 



Most share with woodpeckers the custom of making holes in trees 

 for nests, though the rather blunt-billed barbets choose dead limbs 

 or trunks in which the wood is soft, as they excavate by biting rather 

 than by hammering. The white eggs are laid on a few chips in the 

 bottom of the cavity. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF CAPITONIDAE 



1. Tip of mandible notched to receive the sharp point of the maxilla ; bill stouter, 



heavier; color pattern plain. 



Prong-billed barbet, Semnornis jrantzii, p. 500 



Bill more slender, smooth and plain ; plumage variegated with black, red, or 



orange 2 



2. Back and tail black, a red or orange-red streak on the flanks. 



Spot-crowned barbet, Capito tnaculicoronatus, p. 492 

 Back and tail dark green ; flanks without red. 



Red-headed barbet, Eubucco bourcierii, p. 496 



CAPITO MACULICORONATUS Lawrence: Spot-Crowned Barbet, 

 Capitan de Corona Manchada 



Figure 62 



Size medium, with heavy, stocky body; flanks streaked with orange- 

 red or red ; male with center of the white breast orange-yellow ; female, 

 breast and foreneck black. 



Description. — Length 160-175 mm. Adult male, center of crown 

 white, the feathers black basally, in some tipped, or with a subterminal 

 bar or edging, of dull brown to brownish white ; nape dull dark brown ; 

 rest of upper surface, including forehead, sides of head and neck 

 glossy blue-black ; wing coverts black, edged more or less with glossy 

 blue-black; wings and tail black; lower surface white with a wash of 

 yellow on the upper breast, becoming more orange in the center to 

 form an indefinite spot; sides spotted heavily with blue-black; a 

 streak of red or orange-red on the flanks ; under wing coverts white, 

 barred slightly with black; under surface of primaries and second- 

 aries white at base. 



Females, like male, but with foreneck and breast wholly blue- 

 black ; red or orange-red of flanks more extensive. 



These are forest birds that range mainly in the tree crown, usually 



