ORDER OF GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, ETC. 



Order Macrochires 



IKE the order of Cuckoos, this is a composite order. It inchides three sub- 

 orders, each with but one family. These families differ widely from one 

 another in nearly every respect. They are alike on the one point of having 

 small, weak feet, totally unfit for perching. As a result they spend most of 

 their time flying about, and take their food from the air. This in turn has 

 led to a development of the hand or distal-section of the wing — hence the 

 name of the order, Macrochires, which literally means " large hand." 



GOATSUCKERS 



Order Macrochires ; suborder Caprimulgi ; family Caprimulgidcc 



OATSUCKERS or Nightjars are small to medium-sized (rarely rather large) 

 birds with small, weak bill, deeply cleft mouth, weak feet, long wings, and 

 protective coloration. Their dull colors, in elaborately mottled, freckled, or 

 barred pattern, render them, when at rest, exceedingly difficult to dis- 

 tinguish from their immediate surroundings of stony or sandy ground, dry 

 leaves, or grass, or branches of trees. None of the species are known to build 

 a nest, the eggs (also, as a rule, protectively colored) being deposited on the 

 ground, or other plain surface. The young when hatched are covered with 

 down but need the care of the parents. 



The members of this group gather their food either at night or during 

 the twilight hours. Their days are passed in rest. They are chiefly insec- 

 tivorous, though some of the larger species are known to swallow, entire, small birds. All 

 of their food is caught on the wing. Many of the species are noted for peculiar cries, the 

 Whip-poor-will and Chuck-will's-widow of the United States being well-known examples. 



The family is found nearly throughout the warmer portions of the world, and is very 

 numerous in species, about fifty occurring in America. The name " Goatsucker " is 

 derived from an old-time superstition that the common European species subsisted by milking 

 the goats; doubtless this idea was fostered by seeing the birds fly near the goats at night 

 or in the early evening searching for the insects surrounding the animals. 



CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW 



Antrostomus carolinensis {Gmelin) 



A. O. U. Number 416 



Other Name. — The Great Bat. 



General Description. — Length, 12 inches. Pliimase, 

 a variegation of black, brown, gray, and buff. Rictal 

 bristles zi'ith lateral filaments. 



Color. — Adult M.\r,E : General tone of upper parts, 

 brown, more grayish on shoulder, everywhere minutely 



streaked and sprinkled with black (the marks coarser 

 on shoulder, wing-coverts, and middle tail-feathers) ; 

 crown, broadly streaked with black, the streaks much 

 broader along center, obsolete on ed.ges ; shoulders with 

 irregular large blotches of black, these usually irregu- 

 larly margined, in part at least, by buff; middle tail- 



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