BIEDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 585 



rounded. No rictal bristles, but longer antrorse loral feathers with 

 slender bristly points. Wing very long, the longest primaries exceed- 

 ing distal secondaries by much more than one-third to nearly half tlie 

 length of wing; seventh, eighth, and ninth primaries longest, the 

 tenth (outermost) longer than fifth (sometimes longer than sixth); 

 fifth or sixth to ninth primaries, inclusive, with outer web strongly 

 sinuated anterior to middle portion (the sinuation of the ninth con- 

 cealed by primary coverts). Tail two-thirds to nearly as long as 

 wing, more or less rounded, sometimes with tip subcuneate (the 

 middle rectrices considerably longer than next pair); rectrices ten. 

 Tarsus excessively short and thick (shorter than hallux without claw, 

 its transverse diameter equal to more than half its length), nonscutel- 

 late, the acrotarsium, however, with faint indications of irregularly 

 subquadrate or lozenge-shaped (sometimes longitudinal) small scutella, 

 the extreme upper portion (both before and behind) clothed with 

 small short feathers ; toes relatively short and very stout, with tlie normal 

 number of phalanges (3, 3, 4, 5, instead of 2, 3, 4, 4, as in the Capri- 

 mulgidae) ; outer toe (of 5 phalanges much longer than inner toe, its 

 claw reaching to beyond base of middle claw; hallux of 3 phalanges 

 nearly as long as inner toe, much longer than tarsus ; all tlie anterior 

 toes united or coalesced for length of basal phalanx, the two lateral 

 ones (especially the inner), together \vith the hallux, greatly expanded 

 basally, forming a very broad flat sole (tylarus); claws rather short 

 but strongly curved, that of the middle toe with inner edge neither 

 produced nor pectinated. 



Plumage and coloration. — Plumage in general rather harsher or 

 coarser, the primaries and rectrices harder or more rigid, than in the 

 Caprimulgidag; loral feathers large, dense, semierect (antrorse 

 anteriorly), closely appressed laterally, covering whole of the basal 

 (expanded) portion of the maxilla, the anterior ones with slender 

 bristly tips, these sometimes reaching to or beyond tip of bill; no 

 rictal bristles; interramal space completely feathered; plumage of 

 occiput, nape, and hind-neck very long and full. Coloration mottled 

 brown, buffy, and grayish, more or less streaked or spotted %vith 

 blackish; primaries and rectrices more or less distinctly barred or 

 banded (or spotted in transverse series), but neither \^ath any wliite 

 area. 



Range. — Southern Mexico to Peru, Paraguay, southern Brazil, and 

 Cayenne; also Jamaica. (Seven species.)" 



o Of the recognized epecies I have not seen N. longicaudatits, N. leucopleriis, nor 

 N. bracteatus, the above generic description being based on N. grandis, N. xthereus, 

 N. grisevs, and N. viaculosus. 



