44 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. 



face. The followiug averages show the relative size of f/raymnl ami 

 sinaloensis : 



Measurcmenix of Dri/olxitis s. graiisoni and Tiryohalts v. sinalonisis. 



An adult female in the National Museum collection from Mazatlan, 

 while having the normal bill and tarsus of sinaloe^isis, agrees with 

 birds from the Tres Marias in its long wings and tail. Its measure- 

 ments are as follows: Wing, 9G; tail, 60; culmeu, 18.5; tarsus, 16.5. 



Nyctidromus albicollis insularis Nelson. Tres Maria.s Paraniiur. 



yyctidroniKS albicollis Grayson, Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist. XIW ]>. 273, 1871; 



Lawr., Mem. Boston Soe. Nat. Hist., II, p. 291, 1874. " 

 Nyctidromus albicollis insularis Nelson, Proc. Biol. Soc. Wasliiiigton XII, ]).;•, 1898. 



On the mainland the paraiiquea are rarely seen while the suu is 

 above the horizon, but when night falls they come out of the dense 

 thickets where they have passed the day and sit in dusty trails and 

 other open places. On Maria Madre they were among the commonest 

 birds frequenting old log roads tlirough tlie forest and shady canyon 

 bottoms until late in the morning and coming out again at 3 or 4 o'clock 

 in the afternoon. Of late years these places have been so completely 

 given over to solitude that when a hniiiaii being chances to stray into 

 tliem he is looked upon with little fear. The wood folk seem to con 

 sider him harmless and only a strange creature of their own kind. 



Parauques were among the most conflding birds found in these quiet 

 retreats and permitted a cluse approach before taking wing and moving 

 away. In the early dusk they were frequently seen hawking for insects 

 among the low trees Several came about camp at the north end of 

 Maria Madre just after sunset, and tlew very swiftly back and forth 

 with the same erratic course and vigorous wing strokes tliat are so 

 characteristic of the nightliawk. In fact, I mistook one of these birds 

 for a night hawk until it was secured. Their notes remind one slightly 

 of the whippoor-will's, but are not .so loud and far-reaching. The 

 regular call is made up of two and sometimes three syllables, besides 

 which they have various little clucking and purring notes. 



Curiously enough the parauques of tlie Tres Marias bear a much 

 greater resemblance, in size and color, to ^V. alhicoUis mcrriUi of the 

 Rio Grande Valley than to the ordinary birds of the adjacent mainland. 



