PODAGERS. 



57 



surface of the ground, under the shelter of a bush, generally without any 

 attempt at a nest. They are usually two in number, of a white colour, clouded 

 with bluish-grey. 



Sub-Family III. 

 THE PODAGERS. PODAGRIN/E. 



General Characteristics. — Bill much flattened, curved, and compressed at the 

 sides of the tip, which is hooked ; the gape is furnished with stiff hairs, as in the 

 goatsuckers ; the wings are long and pointed, and the tail broad : the tarsi are more 

 or less plumed, or, when devoid of feathers, covered in front with transverse scales ; 

 the inner toe is generally longer than the outer, and both inner and outer toes are 

 more or less united to the middle one, which is the largest of all, and armed with a 

 large serrated claw. 



The Podagers are met with in the warmer parts of South 

 America and AustraHa, where they frequent fields and moist 



places, usually in pairs, although they have sometimes been ob- 

 served in troops of a hundred together, chasing insects in broad 

 daylight. The female deposits two eggs on the bare ground, 

 without any kind of nest. As an example of the race we have 

 selected 

 GoTold's Podager {Podagcr Gouldii). 



