290 AVES. 



and their toes united at base by a short membrane. The thumb itself 

 is thus united to the internal toe, and can direct itself forwards; the 

 middle nail is often dentated on its inner edge, and the external 

 toe has but four phalanges, a conformation very rare among birds. 

 Goatsuckers live solitarily, and never venture abroad, except at twi- 

 light, and in the night during fine weather. They hunt Phalenze and 

 other nocturnal insects, and lay a small number of eggs on the bare 

 ground, without taking any pains in the construction of a nest. The 

 rushing of the air into their immense mouth, while on the wing, pro- 

 duces a very peculiar humming sound. There is but one species in 

 Europe, 



Capr. europaeus, h.; Enl \9 5. (European Goatsucker.) Size of 

 a Thrush; of an undulated greyish-brown, mottled with blackish 

 brown; a whitish band reaching from the beak to the neck. It 

 builds in the furze or long grass, and lays only two eggs. 



America produces several of these birds with a round or 

 square tail, one of which is as large as an Owl, Caprim. grandis, 

 Enl. 325; and another, C. vociferus, Wils. V, xli, celebrated on 

 account of its loud and peculiar cries in the spring of the 

 year.(l) One of them is found in New Holland. 



There are some also in Africa,(2) part of which have a 

 pointed tail,(3) and otiiers a forked one, an additional indication 

 of the affinity between this genus and that of the Swallows. (4) 

 There is even one in America, the forks of whose tail are longer 

 than the body;(5) the middle nail of these fork-tailed species is 

 not dentated. 



One species, likewise ffom Africa, but with a round tail, is 

 very remarkable for a feather twice the length of the body, 

 Avhich arises from near the carpus of each wing, and is barbed 

 only near the end: the Caprim. longipennis, Sh-d\v, Nat. Miscell. 

 265. 



(1) Add, Capr. virginianus, Edw., 63, or americanus, Wils. V. xl, 1, 2, which 

 appears to me at any rate very nearly alUed to the guyanensis, Enl. 7^3 ; it has 

 been confounded with the vociferus ; Capr. caroUnensis, Catesb., 8, Wils. V, liv, 

 2, a species very closely allied to that of Europe -.C. jamaicensis. Lath., Syn. II, 

 pi. Ivii ; C. rufus, Enl. 735 ; C. semltorquatus, Enl. 734 ; C. cayenensis, EnL 

 760 ; C. acutus, Enl. 752 ; C. Nattereri, Col. 107 ; C. diurnus, Pr. Max. Col. 

 182 ; C. mystacalis. Tern. 



(2) C. 'infuscatus, Ruppel., pi. vi ; C. isabellinus, T. Col. 379 ; C. cxlmitis, 

 Riippel. Col. 398. 



(3) C. dimacurus, Vieill. Galer. 122. 



(4) Capr. furcatus, Cuv. Vaill. Afr. 47 ; C. pecforalis. Id. lb. 94. 



(5) C. psalurus, Tern. Col. 117, 151. 



