CAPRIMULGID.^:. 



09 



SUB-FAMILY IT. 



Caprimulgix.e. 



The Goatsuckers pro'per. 



Gen. Chaeac — Bill short aud weak, with the gape extending under each eye, 

 extremely broad, and furnished with more or less lengthened bristles ; the 

 wings long and usually pointed ; the tail more or less lengthened, and round 

 or graduated, and sometimes forked ; the tarsi more or less short, and 

 almost clothed throughout with short plumes, or entirely denuded and 

 scaled ; the toes moderate, with the lateral ones shorter than the middle 

 toe, and of equal length ; the claws of the middle toe large and pectinated 

 on the sides, those of the other toes small. 



Fig. 27.— the night-jak. 

 (Cupriniiilffus Europceug.) 



Tlie Goatsuckers constitute a very numerous 

 race^ distributed in all parts of the habitable world. 

 Tliey are migratory, and generally live in woods, or 

 on dry tracts of habitable land : they feed on moths 

 and beetles, which they catch on the wing, either 

 in the dusk of the evening, or at early da^\Ti, re- 

 tiring to some dark retreat among the brushwood 

 E 3 



