VI CAPRIMULGIDAE 417 



wing, and steal upon the listener noiselessly with the mouth 

 widely opened. The voice is generally hollow, but is described 

 in various cases as a " croak," a " loud shrill cry," a " sad whistle," 

 a " jarring note," or a " moan " ; while the American Whip-poor- 

 Will {Aiitrostomus vociferus), Chuck-Will's-widow {A. carolinensis) , 

 and I'oor-Will (Fhalaenoptilus), aswell as the Tasmanian More-pork 

 (Podargus ciwieri), are so called from the sounds they rapidly 

 utter. The second of these is said to be silent when breeding, 

 contrary to the habit of our Nightjar. The food consists as a 

 rule of insects, and especially beetles, captured in the air ; but 

 the Podargidae are asserted to pick Phasmidae and Cicadidae off 

 the trees, and even to eat fruit as Steatornis does or mice.^ 



Most Nightjars make no nest, but lay one or two white, 

 yellowish, or pinkish eggs, beautifully marbled or scrawled with 

 black, gray, brown, or violet, on the ground in open spots, 

 frequently shaded by trees, ferns, or gorse. More rarely lichen- 

 covered rocks or flat house-tops are chosen. FhalaenojJtilus has 

 white eggs, like those of the Podargidae, among which Podargus 

 makes a flat, loose structure of twigs and grass upon some branch to 

 contain its complement of three, SiiidBatrachosto7nus deposits one on 

 a peculiar pad of brown or greyish down, which is fixed to a bough 

 and is at times based on a little bark, lichen, moss, or leaf-refuse."' 

 Aegotheles lays from three to five in hollow trees, the parent hissing 

 if caught upon them. Eggs of Ae. ivcdlacii are stated to shew 

 pale streaks. Nyctibius appears to breed in hollows of branches 

 or stumps, and not on the ground.^ Nightjars sit very closely, 

 and are said to remove the contents of the nest if disturbed ; the 

 young, though hatched helpless, quickly learn to escape from 

 danger ; while the parents occasionally feign lameness to divert 

 attention from them. The males sometimes incubate. 



The superstitious of all classes are inclined to view these birds 

 with dread, a fact due to their nocturnal habits and Owl-like 

 aspect, coupled with their strange utterances and sudden appari- 

 tions. The Indians of Central and South America think that 

 they portend serious evil, but refuse to kill them ; while in Eng- 

 land gamekeepers and others are only too ready to shoot them 

 under the unfair designation of " Night-hawk." 



Fam. VIII. Caprimulgidae. Of this group some eighty species 



1 H. Gadow, in A. Newton's Bid. Birds, 1893, p. 69. - J.f. 0. 1885, p. 3-11, pi. 4. 

 ^ Cf. Gosse, Birds of Jamaica, 1847, pp. 47, 48 ; Goeldi, Ibis, 1896, pp. 299-305. 

 VOL. IX 2 E 



