8 



BULLETIN 



UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Podager^ though the latter is aberrant. The salient reliable differ- 

 ential characters of the two families here most concerned are in part 

 well shown on plates 1 and 2, accompanying the present paper, and 

 are also all given in the tabular exposition below : 



Characters. 



Palate 



Vomer 



MaxiUo-palatines 



Palatines 



Antero-intemal proceS' 



ses of palatines. 

 Premaxillary 



Braincase 



Frontals 



Gallbladder 



Rictal bristles 



Included genera 



Caprimulgidae. 



Schizognathous ' 



Broad 



Strap-like, hook-like, or shoe-shaped . . 

 Medially narrow, with lateral outline 



much constricted. 

 Widely separated from maxillo-pala- 



tines. 

 Long; 49 per cent of total length of 



skull. 



Low 



Medially convex 



Present 



Present 2 , 



Systellura Ridgway 



Stenopsis Cassin 



Antiurua Ridgway 



Nycti-polus Ridgway 



Setochalcis Oberholser * 



Setopagis Ridgway 



PhalaeTwptilus Ridgway 



Nyctagreus Nelson 



Otophanea Brewster 



Nyctiphrynua Bonaparte » 



A ntrostomua Bonaparte 



Nyctidromus Gould 



Siphonorhis Sclater 



Caprimulgus Linnaeus 



Eleothreptua Gray 



CosmetoTJiia Gray 



MacTOdipteryx S wainson 



Scotornis Swainson 



Hydropsalia Wagler 



Macropsalia Sclater 



Lyncornis Gould • 



EuTostopodus Gould ' 



ChordeiUdae. 



Desmognathous. 



Narrow. 



Subtriangular. 



Medially broad, with lateral outline 



little constricted. 

 Reaching to maxillo-palatines. 



Short; 37 per cent of total length of 



skull. 

 High. 



Medially concave. 

 Wanting. 

 Wanting. 



Chordeilea Swainson. 

 NannochordeiUs Hartert. 

 Nyctiprogne Bonaparte. 

 Lurocalis Cassin. » 

 Podager Wagler.* 



* By some authors, as, for instance, Beddard and Parker, the Caprimulgidae are considered schizognathous, 

 although by Huxley originally placed in the aegithognathous series. It is, of course, true that they are not 

 typically schizognathous, having some aegithognathous characters; but it is also evident that, all things 

 considered, they are much nearer the schizognathous than to the aegithognathous type. 



* Except in the genera Lyncornis and Eurostopodua. 

 » Provisionally included. 



* See p. 11. 



6 Nyctiphrynua Bonaparte (Rivista Contemporanea, vol. 9, February, 1857, p. 215 [p. 9 of reprint]) con- 

 tained originally three species: Caprimulgus ocellatua Tschudi (type of Ptilonycterua Ridgway, 1912); 

 Caprimulgua nuttallii Audubon (type of Phalaenoptilua Ridgway, 1880); and Caprimulgua guiancnaia 

 Gmelin (= Caprimulgus albicollia Gmelin) (type of Nyctidromua Gould, 1838). The first species was thus 

 last made type of a new genus; and this genus Nyctiphrynua was restricted by Gray ( Hand-List Gen. and 

 Spec. Birds, vol. 1, 1869, p. 59) to the same bird, Caprimulgua ocellatua Tschudi. I, therefore, now desig- 

 nate Caprimulgua ocellatua Tschudi as the type of Nyctiphrynua Bonaparte, and Ptilonycterua Ridgway 

 consequently becomes its synonym. 



