188 Mr. O. V. Aplin on the 



through^ a flock of Dormilones — 50 or 60 — was hawking at a 

 good height in the air. The next day I found a great 

 gathering of them in some thistle and paja in and around 

 the small potreros. They rose freely^ numbers being in the 

 air at once. There must have been 200 at least. Those shot, 

 young and old^ were very fat. They all disappeared within 

 a few days after this^ which seemed to be uncommonly early 

 for their departure, 



69. Antrostomus parvulus. Little Goatsucker. 



I met with this species only on one occasion, viz. on 14th 

 December, when I flushed a pair (killing the'male) in an open 

 glade in the monte of the Rio Negro. Inside of mouth flesh- 

 colour. A search for the eggs or young was unsuccessful. 



70. Hydropsalis furcifera. Fork-tailed Goatsucker. 

 (Plate V. fig. 5, egg.) 



I saw this curious Nightjar on several occasions in open 

 spots in the monte o£ the Arroyo Grande, and once in a 

 similar place in that of the Sauce. On 3rd December I 

 flushed, and shot, a female from her two eggs, and shortly 

 afterwards secured the male. The eggs were laid on the 

 ground among dead thorny twigs, under a tala bush, in an 

 open spot in the monte, and Avere upon the point of hatching. 

 They are of a smooth, creamy texture and appearance. The 

 ground-colour is a very pale shade between buff'-cream and 

 pink, and they are delicately marbled Mdth lines and veins 

 of pinkish lilac, something after the manner of Buntings^ 

 eggs. On the 15th March I shot a young male not far from 

 the same j)lace (very fat) and saw another; and on the 17th 

 I saw a male with the long tail-feathers settle on a post of 

 a wire fence which passed through part of the monte — it sat 

 lengthwise to the line of fence. The curious long swallow- 

 tail of the male does not seem to incommode it at all, as the 

 bird can turn and twist about in its rapid gliding flight in a 

 wonderful waj'^, and accomplishes the difficult aerial naviga- 

 tion of the thorny monte with all the ease and grace of our 

 Nightjar in an oak-wood. The date above given was the 

 latest on which I happened to see this bird, but it may have 



