1061 



GOAT-SUCKERS. 



GOAT-SUCKERS. 



1061 



disabled, and hides herself at a short distance among the gray grass, 

 from which she can hardly be distinguished. The Pisk makes its 

 first appearance at Great Bear Lake generally about the last day of 

 May, and was observed hatching on the Saskatchewan on the 8th of 

 June. Its eggs are narrower than those of Caprimulgua vociferus, but 

 of the same colours, rather differently distributed ; they measure 

 Dearly 14 lines in length." (' Fauna Boreali-Americana.') 



TUk (Choririlct Amtriciinut). 

 Upper figure, male ; lower figure, female, with an egg. 



Sir John Richardson states the extreme northern range of this bird 

 u 68 N. lat. (east of the Rocky Mountains, migratory), and he notices 

 it as observed in the summer, when it is common, on the Saskatchewan, 

 lat. 53 to 54" N., and from 600 to 1000 miles distant from the sea- 

 coant; a very common in the vicinity of Philadelphia, lat. 40 N. 

 (Bonaparte), but as not having its winter-quarters in the United States. 

 It also appears in Sir John's list of species which summer or breed 

 in the Fur Countries and in Pennsylvania, but winter farther to the 

 southward. In Prince Bonaparte's ' Geographical and Comparative 

 List,' the southern and central parts of North America are recorded 

 an the localities of the species. 



Scotornit (Sw.). General structure of Caprimulyus; but the outer 

 toe is shorter than the inner. 



Sub-genera, Scotornu. Rictus strongly bristled. Tail lengthened, 

 graduated, or rounded. (Sw.) 



-S'. climalwus, African Long-Tailed Night-Jar. Its size is rather 

 mailer than that of Maerodiptiryx, although, from the develop- 

 ment of its tail, it is much longer. The bristles considerably 

 exceed the length of the bill; the third quill is longest; the 

 first is rather shorter than the fourth, while the fifth is -j^ths of 

 an inch shorter than the fourth. The tail is very long, measuring 

 from the base 9 inches, of which 3 j inches are occasioned by the two 

 middle tail-feathers exceeding the others; the outer lateral toe is 

 shorter than the inner. The ground colour of the plumage is light 

 ferruginous-brown varied with dark freckles. The chin and rictal 

 stripe white ; the lesser wing-coverts have at their tips a broad band 

 of white, and the greater have a terminal spot of cream-colour, much 

 smaller than the former. The ground colour of the five primary quills 



is entirely black, without any rufous, their tips ouly being freckled 

 with gray ; but they are crossed in the middle by a snowy- white broad 

 band beginning in the iuner web of the first and terminating on the 

 outer web of the sixth quill : the remaining quills are varied with 

 black and rufous and tipped with white. The tail is variegated in the 

 usual manner, the middle pair of feathers having about twenty very 

 slender transverse bars, but much undulated, while the outer margin 

 of the exterior feather, and the tips of that and of the next are pure 

 white. No gray in the plumage. Total length, including tail, 

 13 inches. (Sw.) 

 It is a native of Africa, and is common in Senegal. 



African Long-Tailed Night-Jar (Scotonils clitilat lints). (Cajiritinifgtts 

 climaturus, Vieill.) 



Jfacrodipteryx (Sw.). Rictus strongly bristled ; wings long, equal to 

 the tail, and with a lengthened reuiform feather in each. Tail 

 even. 



M. Africanus, Pennant-Winged Night-Jar, or Long-Shafted Goat- 

 Sucker. It has wings, for the small size of the bird, very long, rather 

 exceeding, or at least equalling, the tip of the tail, which is quite even 

 and consists of ten feathers. Of the first three quills, which are much 

 the longest, the first is shorter than the third, which is slightly suc- 

 ceeded by the second. The long-shafted feathers are inserted imme- 

 diately between the primary and secondary quills. The bristles 

 of the mouth are strong and equal to the length of the bill, which is 

 weak. The middle toe is lengthened, and the lateral toes are equal. 

 Colour of the plumage mixed, as in others of the family. Upon each 

 web of each of the primary quills is a row of nine rufous and nine 

 black spots : the rufous bars become very small towards the tips, 

 where the black predominates. The lesser quills are black, with four 

 rufous bands, the tips black. The middle tail-feathers are gray, 

 speckled with black points, and crossed by six black bare, all of which 

 are irregular, excepting the last, which, as on all the other feathers, 

 is regular, well defined, and placed just behind the tips; the outer 

 web of the exterior feather is fulvous white, with about ten 

 black spots, at equal distances from each other. Some of the 

 scapulars have a broad cream-coloured stripe, which forms a con- 

 nected series when the feathers lay over each other, but those 

 which are conspicuous on the supposed female can scarcely be 

 discerned in the male ; this latter however has a few obscure white 

 mottles on the chin, throat, and round the ears. Total length 

 about 8 inches. 



Mr. Swainson, from whose 'Birds of Western Africa,' the above 

 description is taken, observes that the female is entirely destitute of 

 the long-shafted or supplementary feathers. " Now this," says Mr. 

 Swainson, " is a very important fact, for it goes far to prove that they 

 are not essential to the economy of the species ; for if otherwise, both 

 sexes would possess them, unless it be contended, a supposition 

 highly improbable, that the male feeds in one manner and the female 

 in another. In the absence of all information upon this point, we 

 are led to conclude that they are more ornamental than useful, given 

 to the male sex as attractive decorations to the female, in a similar 

 manner as the flowing feathers of thu Paradise Bird are known to 

 distinguish the male sex. Whether or no these ornamental plumes 

 are lost after the season of incubation is a subject for future inquiry ; 



