630 



CAPRIMULGUS. GOATSUCKER. 



Bill extremely small and feeble ; upper mandible depressed, 

 being triangular when viewed from above, compressed towards 

 the tip, which is very small and deflected, the edges sharp and 

 inflected towards the end ; lower mandible with the angle 

 long, the dorsal outline ascending, the sides extremely narrow, 

 the edges much inflected towards the end, the tip cvu-ved up- 

 wards ; the gape-line commencing nearly beneath the posterior 

 angle of the eye. 



The mouth extremely wide ; the palate flat, covered with 

 smooth membrane, which is transparent, as are in some measure 

 the bones ; the posterior aperture of the nares short, linear, 

 and without marginal papilloe. Tongue, Plate XXII, Fig. 6, 

 a, very small, triangular. CEsophagus, bed, rather wide, with- 

 out dilatation ; proventriculus, c d, large ; stomach, d ef, very 

 large, round, membranous, its muscular coat being composed 

 of fasciculi, as in the Owls and Cuckoos ; the inner coat thin, 

 soft, with small distant rugsc. The intestine,/^ /^ J/, is short ; 

 the coeca, j k k, large, narrow at the commencement, oblong at 

 the end ; the cloaca, / m, globular. 



Nostrils linear, rather small, with a horny operculum, and 

 placed in the fore part of the large nasal membrane, which is 

 sparsely covered with weak bristly feathers. Eyes very large. 

 External aperture of the ear also very large, of a semilunar form, 

 and similar to that of some Owls. 



The general form is slender, the body, when deprived of 

 feathers, being very small ; the neck rather short ; the head 

 very large, depressed, flattened above. The feet are extremely 

 small ; the tarsus very short, roundish, anteriorly feathered, 

 excepting at its lower part ; the first toe is very short, slender, 

 and directed inwards ; the second and fourth about equal, the 



