382 CAPRIMULGIDZ. 
Suborder CAPRIMULGI. 
Fam. CAPRIMULGIDA. 
The Goatsuckers, under which name these birds are commonly known, like the 
Swifts, are found nearly throughout the tropical and temperate portions of the globe. 
None occur in the colder regions of either the northern or southern hemispheres, and 
they appear to be absent from the islands of the Pacific Ocean eastward of the Solomon 
Islands. . 
The members of the family Caprimulgide are, as a rule, easily recognized by 
characters both of structure and plumage; the allied forms Podargide and Steator- 
nithide, which were once included under the same family, being removed, the remainder 
constitute a uniform group, divisible, like the Swifts, into two subfamilies by the 
structure of the foot. 
Mr. Hartert, in his Catalogue of the Caprimulgide, recognizes nineteen genera; of 
these Caprimulgus is common to both the Old and New Worlds. Of the remaining 
eighteen genera, thirteen occur in America only, all but two of which are Neotropical. 
In Mexico and Central America seven genera are represented: one of these is the 
widely spread Caprimulgus ; Phalenoptilus, a North-American genus, occurs in Northern 
Mexico; Otophanes is peculiar to Northern and Western Mexico; Myctidromus, 
Stenopsis, and Nyctibius are all southern forms; and Chordeiles extends its range both 
into North and South America. 
Subfam. CAPRIMULGINA. 
In this subfamily, which includes all but one of the genera of American Caprimul- 
gids, the outer toe has only four instead of five phalanges, the claw of the middle toe 
is pectinated, and there are no powder-down patches on the body. 
a. Rictus setis fortibus armatus. 
CAPRIMULGUS. 
Caprimulgus, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 346 (1766); Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 521. 
Antrostomus, Nuttall, Man. Orn. ed. 2, p. 729 (1840) ; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 136. 
The Common Goatsucker, Caprimulgus ewropeus, the oldest and best known of the 
whole family, is the type of the genus Caprimulgus as defined by Linneus, the name 
being derived from older writers. 
In 1840, Nuttall separated the American from the Old World birds under the name: 
