CYPSELIN^. 187 



parchment-like, made of feathers, mosses, bark, &c., consolidated 

 by saliva. The nest is so small that the bird appears to be sitting 

 on the branch. The egg is described as being single, oval. 



Other species of Crested Swift are D. klecho from Malayana, 

 D. comatus from Sumatra, D. mystaceus from New Guinea, D. 

 Wallacei from Celebes ; and there is one species from Africa. 



Fara. CAPRiMULGiDiE, Vigors. 



Syn. Nyctichelidones. 



Bill small or moderate, (large in a few,) weak, curved; gape very 

 wide, extending below the eyes, generally with numerous and 

 strong bristles; wings, and their coverts, long; tail moderate 

 or long, of ten feathers ; tarsus short, scutellate, often feathered 

 in front ; feet feeble ; the hallux in some reversible ; head broad, 

 flat ; plumage soft, light, mottled ; eyes large ; of nocturnal 

 habits. 



The Goatsuckers form a peculiar and interesting family, found in 

 every quarter of the world ; closely related to the Swifts in some 

 points, but with the soft and dingy plumage of the Owls. Some 

 of the family, which by their large bill are most aberrant, appa- 

 rently lead to the Eurylaimi; others to the Owls, and perhaps to the 

 Trogonidce. Their passage to the Hirundinidce is rendered more easy 

 by such birds as the Proithera diurna, whose habits and plumage 

 both tend towards those of some of the larger Swifts. 



The name of Goatsucker is common to many of the modern 

 European languages, as it was to the Grecian and Roman of old, 

 and was probably taken from the large size of the mouth, which 

 must have appeared unnecessarily large for any ordinary diet. In 

 England they are sometimes called Night-jars or Eve-jars, Fern-owls 

 or Night-hawks, These names show the popular idea of affinity to 

 the birds of prey, which Vigors, Swainson, and other ornithologists 

 insist on being the case, and which certainly appears to have some 

 foundation in nature, the resemblances being more than those of 

 simple analogy. 



The Night-hawks have their general anatomy much like that of 

 the Cuckoos. They have a not very muscular stomach, large cceca, 



