8 



BULLETIN 86, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Fodager, 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 



Maxillo-palatines 



Palatines 



Antero-internal proces' 



ses of palatines. 

 Premaxillary 



Braincase 



Frontals 



Gallbladder 



Rlctal bristles 



Included genera 



Caprimulgidae. 



Chordeilidae. 



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 

 skuU. 



Low 



Medially convex 



Present 



Present » 



Systellura Ridgway 



Stenopsis Cassin 



AntiuTus Bidgway 



Nt/ctipolus Ridgway 



Setochalcis Oberholser * 



Setopagis Ridgway 



Phalaenoptilus Ridgway 



Nyctagreus Nelson 



Otophanes Brewster 



Nyctiphrynus Bonaparte * 



A ntrostomus Bonaparte 



Nyctidromus Gould 



Siphonorhis Sclater 



Caprimulgus Linnaeus 



Eleothreptus Gray 



Cosmetornis Gray 



Macrodipteryx Swainson 



Scotornis Swainson 



Hydropsalis Wagler 



MacTopsalis Sclater 



Lyncornis Gould > 



EuTOstopodus Gould' 



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. 



Chordeiles Swainson. 

 NannochoTdeiles Hartert. 

 Nyctiprogne Bonaparte. 

 LuTocalis 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 Eurostopodus. 



« Provisionally included. 



* See p. 11. 



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

 tained originally three species: Caprimulgus ocellatus Tschudi (type of Ptilonycterus Ridgway, 1912); 

 Caprimulgus nuttallii Audubon (type of Phalaenoptilus Ridgway, 1880); and Caprimulgus guianensis 

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

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

 Spec. Birds, vol. 1, 18G9, p. 69) to the same bird, Caprimulgus ocellatus Tschudi. I, therefore, now desig- 

 nate Caprimulgus ocellatus Tschudi as the type of Nyctiphrynus Bonaparte, and Ptilonycterus Ridgway 

 consequently becomes its synonym. 



