rn 



THE IBIS. 



SEVENTH SERIES. 



No. VII. JULY 1896. 



XXVII. — On the Nesting of Nyctibius jamaicensis and 

 Sclerurus vimbretta. By Dr, Emil A. Goeldi, C.M.Z.S., 

 Director of the Museum in Para. 



1. Nyctibius jamaicensis.''^ 



The life-history of the gigantic Goatsuckers which form 

 the subfamily of the Nyctibiinoe is not yet sufficiently cleared 

 up. Even in 1892 Mr. Hartert, working out the part of the 

 most useful ' Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum ' 

 which refers to the family Caprimulgidse^ remarked that 

 " but little is known about their habits." 



The subfamily consists of one genus only^ with six species, 

 all neotropical [Nyctibius bracteatus, N. leticojJterus, N. jamai- 

 censis, N. longicaudatus , N. athereus, and N. grandis) . Of 

 these six species I have met with in Brazil only three, 

 namely, Nyctibius jamaicensis and A^. cethereus in the 

 southern coast States (Rio de Janeiro), and N. grandis in the 

 Amazmian region (Marajo) and on the borders of Guiana 

 (Connanj', Amapa). Mr. Hartert, whom I suppose to be 

 well informed about all ornithological publications, old and 

 new, cites notes upon nidification only for N. (ethereus 

 and N. grandis; another authority is, it seems, Koenig- 

 Warthausen, in the ' Journal fiir Ornithologic,^ 18G8. Un- 

 fortunately, 1 do not possess this work. 



* [There is nothing original ou Nyidibiufi in this article. — Edd.] 

 8ER VII. — VOL. II. Z 



