472 



AVES. 



politan. Syrnium aluco L., the tawny or wood owl, Britain except Ireland, 

 Africa, Asia. Asio otus, long-eared owl, Europe, Asia, etc. ; A. brachyotu,s 

 Gm., short-eared owl. Bubo ignavus, eagle owl, Eur., Asia, N. Afr. 

 Nyctea nivea Daud. (acandiaca L.), snowy owl, a diurnal owl. Surnia, 

 Scops, Sceloglaux, Carine. 



Group 3. Caprimulgi. 



Nocturnal, wide-mouthed birds, owl-like in appearance. 

 Fam. 1. Caprlmulgidae. Night-jars or goatsuckers. Cosmopolitan 

 with about 80 species and several genera. Their size varies from that of 

 a lark to that of a crow. The plumage is soft, owl-like, mottled and pen- 

 cilled with grey, chestnut, brown, black and white. The beak is short, flat, 

 and triangular, gape enormously wide and often beset with stiff bristles. 

 The legs are weak and short. Hind toes reversible ; outer toe with 4 

 phalanges only, a most unusual character among birds ; middle toe long 

 and sometimes with a serrated claw. They live for the most part in 

 forests and feed especially on moths, which they catch during flight. As 

 a rule they lay two eggs on the bare ground, without even scraping a hole 



for their reception. Caprimulgus L., the 

 buccal slit extends to close behind the 

 eyes ; edge of beak not dentated, fringed 

 with stiff bristles ; cosmopolitan. C. 

 europaeiis L., night-jar, goat-sucker, 

 or fern-owl, Britain, Eur., Afr., Asia. 

 C. ruficoUis Teinm., Spain. Nyctibius, 

 Macrodipteryx, Hydropsalis, etc. 



Fam. Podargidae, Australia, Papuasia, 

 Indo-Malaya, with Podargus, Batrochos- 

 tomus, Aegotheles. 



Fam. Steatornithidae. With the single 

 genus and species Steatornis caripensis 

 Humb., the guarcharo or oil-bird, in 

 mountainous country from Trinidad to 



Fig. 255. — Head of Sirix flammea. 



Peru, lives on fruit or oily nuts. 



Group 4. Cypseli. 



Swifts and hvmiming-birds, with long wings and deep-keeled sternum, 

 without intestinal caeca. 



Fam. Cypselidae. Swifts. Swallow-Hke, with narrow wings forming 

 an almost continuous curve when extended, short feathered metatarsus 

 and strongly-clawed feet (p. adhamantes), sometimes with inwardly directed 

 hallux. In Cypselus and Panyptila the digital formula is unique, being 

 2, 3, 3, 3. There are 10 rectrices and 10 secondary remiges. Cosmo- 

 politan, except in N. Zealand and the cold zones ; about six genera and 

 80 species. They are extraordinarily strong flyers, and they spend a great 

 part of their time on the wing, catcliing the insects which form their food. 

 They are remarkable for the development of their saUvary glands, the 

 secretion of which is of a glutinous character and serves to glue together 

 the materials of which the nest is composed. In the genus Collocalia the 

 nest is entirely formed of this secretion (the edible nest used by Chinese 

 epicures for making soup). The nest is sometimes of remarkable archi- 

 tecture. Cypselus apus L., the common swift ; C. melba L., the alpine 



