186 Mr. O. V. Aplin on the 



inches of the old one, also attached to an ivy-stalk; it was 

 composed of vegetable down^ bits of leaves^ cobwebs, &c. On 

 the 7th January, on returning from some weeks' absence, I 

 found the nest finished and containing two oblong white 

 eggs, large for the size of the bird. They were hatched the 

 next day. I think it must have been on account of the 

 scarcity of flowers that the young remained in the nest such 

 a very long time. On the 5th February I found one young 

 one dead, hanging to the outside of the nest by its claws. 

 It was still almost n aked, and being fortunately fresh has 

 reached England in a little bottle of caSa. The other was 

 bigger, but hardly any better clothed. It was not until the 

 19th that it left the nest, and on the 21 st it was a " brancher " 

 in some ciiia-cinas in flower close at hand. It spread and 

 agitated its tail violently, as the old ones do when uneasy, 

 and like them seemed fiill of nervous energy. The local 

 name is "Picaflor.^' 



68. PoDAGER NACUNUA. Nacuuda Goatsucker. (Plate V. 

 fig. 7, egg.) 



Common, frequenting the open camp, also places where 

 a little low paja andcardoon are dotted about. I saw a pair 

 in a small potrero near the house (where they bred) on the 

 21st October, a day or two after I came to Sta. Elena, so do 

 not know how much earlier they arrived. They come abroad 

 just as the sun goes down, when several could be seen in the 

 air at once over the paja. Now they sail easily along, or 

 skim the ground with upraised wings, then twist and twirl 

 in the air (often flying high up) like an angry Lapwing. 

 They make a noise like " whirrrooo '' when two meet and toy 

 in the air. On the 17th November there was a nest (?) in 

 the small potrero with two ncAvly-hatched young squatted 

 parallel to each other on the bare ground. They were 

 covered with quite plain dark terracotta-coloured down, with 

 a vinous shade on the upper parts; underparts white, tinged 

 with the same ; tips of wings pure white. The old. birds, 

 which were very bold, came back, making the usual lame 

 excuses to draAv us away more than once. This performance 



