FAMILY CORVIDAE 



47 



are later abandoned so that they are covered gradually by second growth 

 (rastrojo), the birds may return. They seem to prefer edges and 

 second growth to mature forest. The species is no longer found in 

 Barro Colorado Island; this may be an indication that it avoids solid 

 forest. 



Customarily they range in small groups, scattered through the forest, 

 usually under cover. In early morning they may come out into border 

 fields to rest in the sun in dead trees, but as the morning advances, dis- 

 appear again into forest cover. Usually from 3 to 6 or 8 are found in 

 company, though once near Mandinga in western San Bias I encoun- 

 tered a flock of 30 ranging through the border of a mangrove swamp 

 where the trees grew in shallow water. 



Usually they move quietly, hopping or flying a few feet at a time 

 along the tree limbs. If not alarmed, in crossing rivers or other open 

 areas they begin with quick strokes of the wings and then continue by 

 gliding. They are adept at this, and may sail gracefully for 30 m or 

 more before they lose momentum. 



The country name of chocho is given in imitation of their usual call. 

 This name was in common use among the Choco Indians, but was varied 

 occasionally to a harsher sound, geo geo, by some of the Cuna. Though 

 the birds are secretive, they come readily to the usual squeaking sounds 

 that naturalists use to attract birds. Eisenmann interprets one com- 

 mon call as kyuck-kyuck, or kyuck alone. 



Once as the members of a flock called steadily, I approached quietly 

 to find them resting or clinging in close company a meter above the 

 ground, peering down at a small snake partly concealed in the low 

 vegetation. More rarely, I heard low calls of jay jay when the birds 

 were not alarmed. Also, I occasionally saw them mobbing small hawks, 

 once, to my surprise, one of the predatory Collared Forest-Falcons. 

 Ridgely {in litt.) has seen them mob a roosting Spectacled Owl. 



Some of the stomachs that I examined held parts of small lizards, 

 others the remains of large ants, beetles, and seeds and other partly 

 digested vegetable matter. Three birds taken by Burton (Bull. Brit. 

 Orn. Club., 1975, p. 85) weighed 194, 203, and 222 g. 



In many days afield where these jays were common, the only ob- 

 servation connected with nesting was near Yepe on the Rio Paya, 

 Darien, in mid-March, when one flew across the open river carrying a 

 straw, followed closely by a companion. Goodwin (Crows of the 

 World, 1976, p. 306) describes the nest as being of "sticks and twigs, 

 lined with fine pliable twigs, and probably also at times with tendrils 

 and fibres." A nest found near Rio Parancho, lower Atrato Valley, 



