THE FROGMOUTHS 1849 



of the palate, known as basipterygoid processes. Unlike the nightjars, these birds 

 have no comb-like appendage to the third toe; while they further differ by building 

 nests, or laying their eggs in hollow trees. Two notches occur in the hinder border 

 of the breastbone. 



These birds, Podargus, are the typical representatives of the firs, 



g ~ of the two subfamilies into which the group is divided, this subfamily 

 Mouths . r 



being distinguished by the narrow, slit-like nostrils, protected by an 



overhanging membrane, and hidden by plumes and feathers. Powder-down patches 

 occupy each side of the rump, and the metatarsus is shorter than the third toe. The 

 present genus, which is characterized by the pointed tail feathers, includes five 

 species, all inhabitants of Australia and the adjacent Papuan islands. Gould 

 describes the Australian species as inanimate and sluggish birds, depending on 

 their supply of food less upon their power of flight than upon the habit they are 

 said to have of traversing the branches of trees on which their favorite insects 

 reside. At intervals during the night they sit about in open places, on rails, 

 stumps of trees, or the roofs of houses. They are strictly nocturnal in their habits, 

 sleeping during the day, and mostly found in pairs, perched near each other on 

 the branches of the gum trees, in situations not at all sheltered from the beams of 

 the midday sun. "So lethargic are its slumbers," he writes, "that it is almost 

 impossible to arouse it, and I have frequently shot one without disturbing its mate 

 sitting close by; it may also be knocked off with sticks or stones, and is sometimes 

 even taken with the hand. When aroused, it flies lazily off with heavy flapping 

 wings to a neighboring tree, and again resumes its slumbers till the approach 

 of evening, when it becomes as animated and active as it had been previously 

 dull and stupid." According to Mr. North, in New South Wales, the tawny- 

 shouldered frogmouth commences to breed in September, and the breeding season 

 is at its height in October, and continues for the two following months. It builds a 

 flat nest of sticks, loosely placed together on the horizontal branch of any suitable 

 tree. The eggs are three in number, perfectly white, elongated in form, and 

 the shell finely granulate. 



Their smaller size and rounded tail feathers distinguish these birds 



from the preceding, while the mode of nesting is also different. The 

 Mouths 



side of the head in some of the species is adorned with ear tufts, end- 

 ing in bristling plumes. The sexes also are mostly different in color, the female 

 being rufous and the male grayer. One of the largest species is the great-eared 

 frogmouth {Batrachostomus aiiritus), inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, 

 and Borneo. It measures about sixteen inches in length, and is chestnut brown, 

 vermiculated with blackish lines, and whitish bars. On the hind-neck is a collar of 

 buffy-white feathers, with a black border, forming bands; median and greater wing 

 coverts with large spots of white edged with black; throat and breast brown, with 

 spots and bars of white; and the abdomen pale buff. Nothing has been recorded 

 of its habits; but of the nest of the South-Indian frogmouth Mr. Hume writes that 

 ' ' instead of moss, a few fragments of dead leaves are incorporated, but the material 

 is chiefly a soft felt-like mass, precisely similar to that used by B. hodgsoni, but 

 grayish white instead of brown. It is a mere pad with a shallow depression on the 



