MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



449 



goat-sucker by the force of its 

 voice, by the considerable strength 

 of its beak, containing a double 

 tooth, by its feet without the 

 membranes that unite the anterior 

 phalanxes of the claws. It is the 

 first example of a nocturnal bird 

 among the passeres dentirostrati. 

 In its manners it has analogies 

 both with the goat-suckers and 

 the alpine crow.* The plumage 

 of the guacharo is of a dark 

 bluish gray, mixed with small 

 streaks and specks of black. Large 

 white spots, which have the form 

 of a heart, and which are bor- 

 dered with black, mark the head, 

 the wings, and the tail. The eyes 

 of the bird are hurt by the blaze 

 of day ; they are blue, and smaller 

 than those of the goat-suckers. 

 The spread of the wings, which 

 are composed of seventeen or 

 eighteen quill feathers, is three 

 feet and a half. The guacharo 

 quits the cavern at night-fall, 

 especially when the moou shines, 

 It is almost the only frugiferous 

 nocturnal bird, that is yet known ; 

 the conformation of its feet suffi- 

 ciently shows, that it does not 

 hunt like our owls. It feeds on 

 very hard fruits ; as the nut- 

 cracker t and the pyrrhocorax. 

 The latter nestles also in clefts of 

 rocks, and is known under the 



periori subbidentata. dente anteriori 

 acutiori. Rictus amplissimus. Pedes 

 breves, digitis fissis, unguibus inte- 

 gerrimis. 



* Corvus pyrrhocorax. 



t Corvus caryocatactes, c. glan- 

 darius. Our alpine crow builds its 

 nest, toward the top of Mount Liba- 

 nus, in subterranean caverns, nearly 

 like the guacharo; the horribly shrill 

 voice of which it also has. (Labilia- 

 difere, Ann. du Musee, T. 18, p. 45:.). 



Vol. LX. 



name of night-cro'w. The Indians 

 assured us, that the guacharo 

 does not pursue either the lamel- 

 licornous insects, or those pha- 

 laenae which serve as food to the 

 goat-suckers. It is sufficient to 

 compare the beaks of theguacharo 

 and goat-sucker, to conjecture 

 how much their manners must 

 difier. It is difficult to form aa 

 idea of the horrible noise occa- 

 sioned by thousands of these 

 birds in the dark part of the 

 cavern, and which can only be 

 compared to the croaking of our 

 crows, which, in the pine forests 

 of the north, live in society, and 

 construct their nests upon trees, 

 the tops of which touch each 

 other. The shrill and piercing 

 cries of the guacharoes strike 

 upon the vaults of the rocks, and 

 are repeated by the echo in the 

 depth of the cavern. The In- 

 dians shovvcd us the nests of these 

 birds, by fixing torches to the 

 end of a long pole. These nests 

 were fifty or sixty feet high above 

 our heads, in holes in the shape 

 of funnels, with which the roof 

 of the grotto is pierced like a 

 sieve. The noise increased as we 

 advanced, and the birds were 

 affrighted by the light of the 

 torches of copal. When this noise 

 ceased a few minutes around us, 

 we heard at a distance the plain- 

 tive cries of the birds roosting in 

 other ramifications of the cavern. 

 It seemed as if these bands an- 

 swered each other alternately. 



The Indians enter into the 

 Cueva del Guacharo once a year, 

 near midsummer, armed with 

 poles, by means of which they 

 destroy the greater part of the 

 nests. At this season several 

 thousands of birds are killed ; and 



2 G the 



