THE PTERYLOGRAPHY OF CERTAIN AMERICAN C^OAT- 

 SUCKEKS AND OWLS. 



By nuBERT Lyman Clark. 



A RECENT examination of a number of Caprimulgi and Strides for tlie 

 purpose of studying- tlieir pterylograplucal characteristics lias i^roved of 

 such interest that the results seem worthy of publication, although t le 

 work is necessarily only preliminary. In the carrying on of these studies 

 I have been i)laced under great obligation to Dr. E. AV. Shufeldt and 

 Mr. F. A. Lucas, of Washington, for many heliiful suggestions, and to 

 the National Museum for much of the material. For the rest of the 

 material I am indebted to Mr. F. A. Ward, of Rochester, and especially 

 to Mr. Fraidv B. Armstrong, of Brownsville, Tex., who has given me 

 invaluable assistance. I am also under great obligations to Dr. W. J. 

 Holland, of Pittsburg, for the use of his valuable scientific library, 

 without whicli I should have been placed at great disadvantage. 



All of the specimens examined have been birds in the flesh, either 

 fresh or alcoholic, as the use of skins for the study of pterylography 

 seems to be of questionable value. Owing to the fact that Striges have 

 eleven primaries while Caprimulgi have only ten, I have adopted the 

 somewhat radical change advocated by AVray* of numbering the 

 primaries from the wrist outward instead of from the tip of the wing 

 inward, as is usual. Although I do not consider the plan wholly free 

 from objections, it has been necessary to do tliis to avoid inextricable 

 confusion in comparing the primarj' formuhe in the two groups, for 

 the real lirst primary of the owls is wanting in the Caprimulgine wing. 

 For the same reason the central pair of tail feathers is designated as 

 number one and the outer pair live or six, as the case may be. 



As the four genera of North American Cai>rimulgi have all been exam- 

 ined, I give first as complete a review of the x:)ter3dosis of this group 

 as the material at hand will warrant, with jiarticular reference to 

 each genus. After this is given an account of such owls as have 

 been obtainable, and this is followed by a comi)arison of the pterylog- 

 raphy of the two groups and the conclusions to which I have been led. 

 The work is, as already stated, only preliminary, and, of course, can 

 only be completed by a study of all the important species of both 



" I'roc. Zool. Soe. London, 1887, p. 343. 

 Proceedings of the IX. S. National Museum, Vol. XVII— Xo. 1018. 



