GOATSUCKERS. 



389 



these iiiiiiiito (l('t;iils l)y wliicli our \vlii]i-iio<)r-\vill or tlio iiicrlit-h.nvk may be distin- 

 guislK'd Iruiu the more tli;m huii(h-eil other forms in the (lift'ereiit i)arts of the <;li)l>e. 

 The tropics, however, have develojied, even in this group, strangely ornamented 

 species, as, for instauee, the oliject of the accompanying cut, the pennant-winged 

 iiisilit-jar {('osmeloniis vc.vilhiriits), and the nearly allied Macrodiptenjx loiKjipennis, 

 in which the shaft of tlio elongated primary is denuded cxeejit at the extremity, 

 which is broadly webbed for a considerable distance. These singular night-jar* 

 are confined to Africa. Hardly less curious are the South American lyre-tailed 

 goat-suckers {JIacropsidts li/ra and allies), w-itli their enormously elongated outer tail- 

 feathers. 



Fio. 189. — Casmetomia vtxillarius, penuant-wmged uigbt-jar. 



The whole external lialiitus of the rollers, Couaciad.k, reminds one forcibly of 

 certain Passerine l)irds, with which they were, indeed, associated by earlier ornitholo- 

 gists ; but their four-notched breastbone, with a pointed episternal apophysis, synpel- 

 mous arrangement of the jilantar tendons, rudimentary basipterygoid processes, 

 desmognathous ch.iracter of the maxillo-palatines, extreme attenuation of the vomer, 

 and furcation of the dorsal tract between tl»e shoulder-bla<les, at once indicate their 

 position amongst the Picari.T. We have already, on a jirevious page, indicated an 

 external character by which they may be easily distinguished from the foregoing 

 families, viz., the nundicr of tail-feathers, which is twelve. Besides, their gaudy 

 colors prevent them from e\er being confounded with any of the goat-suckers. 



