12 CAPRIMULGID.E. 



the evening ; but many of them often alight on the ground, and usually 

 nest there or in hollow trees. 



242. PODAGER NACUNDA (Vieill.). 



(NACUNDA GOATSUCKER.) 



Podager nacunda, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 95 ; iid. P. Z. S. 1868, p. 142 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 449 (Parana) ; Barrows, Auk, 

 1884, p. 24 (Entrerios, Bahia Blanca). 



Description. Above brown with dense black vermiculations and occasional 

 blotches ; wings black, with a broad white cross bar across the base of the 

 Drimaries ; secondaries and coverts like the back ; tail above like the back, 

 beneath grey with blackish cross bands ; four outer tail-feathers broadly tipped 

 with white : beneath, breast brown variegated with black, as above ; chin 

 fulvous ; band across the throat and whole belly and crissum white ; bill black ; 

 feet pale brown: whole length 11-0 inches, wing 9-5, tail 4'9. Female similar, 

 but without the white ends to the tail-feathers. 



Hab. South America. 



The specific name of this Goatsucker is from the Guarani word 

 Nacundd, which Azara tells us is the Indian nickname for any person 

 with a very large mouth. In the Argentine country it has several 

 names, being called Dormilon (Sleepy-head) or Duerme-duerme (Sleep- 

 sleep), also Gallina ciega (blind hen) . It is a large handsome bird, and 

 differs from its congeners in being gregarious, and in never perching on 

 trees or entering woods. It is an inhabitant of the open pampas. In 

 Buenos Ayres, and also in Paraguay, according to Azara, it is a 

 summer visitor, arriving at the end of September and leaving at the 

 end of February. In the love season the male is sometimes heard 

 uttering a song or call, with notes of a hollow mysterious character ; 

 at other times they are absolutely silent, except when disturbed in the 

 daytime, and then each bird when taking flight emits the syllable kuf 

 in a hollow voice. When flushed the bird rushes away with a wild 

 zigzag flight, close to the ground, then suddenly drops like a stone, 

 disappearing at the same moment from sight as effectively as if the 

 earth had swallowed it up, so perfect is the protective resemblance in 

 the colouring of the upper plumage to the ground. In the evening 

 they begin to fly about earlier than most Caprimulgi, hawking after 

 insects like swallows, skimming over the surface of the ground and 

 water with a swift, irregular flight ; possibly the habit of sitting in 

 open places exposed to the full glare of the sun has made them some- 

 what less nocturnal than other species that seek the shelter of thick 

 woods or herbage during the hours of light. 



