p 



MERRILL'S PAURAQIJE 199 



NYCTIDROMUS ALBICOLLIS MERRILLI Sennett 

 MERRILL'S PAURAQUE 



Plate 28 

 HABITS 



Merrill's pauraque is the largest subspecies of a widely distributed 

 species of goatsucker that ranges throughout Mexico, Central 

 America, and northern South America, and that has been divided 

 into six subspecies. Our pauraque extends its range from northern 

 Mexico into the valley of the Rio Grande and northward through 

 the Gulf coast of Texas to Nueces, Aransas, and Eefugio Counties. 

 The vernacular name, pauraque, pronounced "pou-rii'-ka," is derived 

 from a fancied resemblance to one of its notes. The Mexican name, 

 cuiejo, pronounced "coo-ya-ho," has a similar origin. 



This bird was first introduced to our fauna by Dr. J. C. Merrill, 

 who took the first specimen at Fort Brown, Tex., on April 1, 1876. 

 The subspecies was first described and named by George B. Sennett 

 (1888), who gives a full account of its plumages at different ages 

 and says of its relation to other races of the species: "This form, 

 when compared with others of the species from Southern Mexico, 

 Costa Eica, Panama, Guiana, and Brazil, can be distinguished, first 

 by the prevailing gray color on upper parts, where the others have 

 brown, rufous or cinnamon; second, by its large size, exceeding the 

 large southern Brazilian form in length of wing and equalling it in 

 length of tail; third, by the males having the outer tail-feather 

 generally without white, and the white when it does occur being 

 much restricted, while in more tropical and South American forms 

 the rule is that males have much white on inner web of outer tail- 

 feather." This third point seems open to question, as this character 

 seems to be very variable, possibly owing to age. 



D. B. Burrows, in some notes sent to Major Bendire (1895) says: 

 "During the winter the birds may be flushed from the dense thickets 

 in the bottom lands, but as the nesting season approaches they leave 

 these close retreats and seek more open ground." 



Mr. Sennett (1878) says of their haunts: "I saw them occasionally, 

 singly and in pairs, about the thickets and open chaparral, and once 

 in the canebrakes close to the woods." Again (1879) he says: "They 

 breed in the more open places among the cactus and scattered bushes 

 along with C. texenish — Texas Nighthawk. On dark days I flushed 

 them from thickets in the chaparral, or from copses near the bottom- 

 lands on the edges of the woods." 



Nesting. — Mr. Sennett's nests "were found in open brush, on the 

 bare ground. One of them was partly concealed by the branches of 

 a low bush 6 or 8 inches from the ground." 



