NYCTICHELIDON. 



337 



is one of the most interesting of that curious genus 

 of birds to which it belongs. Its colours, though 

 not gaud}', are exceedingly beautiful, and it pos- 

 sesses great power over the long feathers of the 

 tail, which, as it skims over the waters, it opens 

 and shuts something after the manner of a pair of 

 scissors ; and it is from this form of the tail and habit in 

 the use of it, that the bird gets the name of scissor- 

 tailed. Those produced feathers are characteristic of 

 maturity in the male bird ; but it is not known whe- 

 ther they are or are not a nuptial livery, as the birds 

 have not been observed in the same locality during 

 the entire course of the year. They are found in 

 Brazil as well as in Paraguay ; and their singular 

 form and highly interesting manners render them 

 subjects of which it would be desirable to know a 

 good deal more. 



C. manurus. This species bears some slight resem- 

 blance to the former; but it is a smaller bird and 

 lighter in the plumage, the ground colour being bright 

 grey, marked with black spots, and powdered with 

 small dots of white on the wings. The lateral fea- 

 thers of the tail are not so much produced as in the 

 former species : but still, in the adult male, they are 

 fully five inches longer than the intermediate ones. 



To enter farther into an enumeration of the species 

 of this genus, which inhabit the extensive forests of 

 South America, would be merely to increase the list 

 of names and colours without adding to the quantity 

 of information. Many have been enumerated by 

 describers ; but they have, in many instances, been 

 single specimens, which had no history, and answered 

 no other purpose than swelling the list of museum 

 catalogues. We shall, therefore, only farther notice 

 a few of the more remarkable of those species which 

 are found in the warm parts of the eastern continent, 

 some of which, at least, appear to inhabit Africa and 

 India. 



C. macrodiptcrus. This species is a native of Africa, 

 from which it has frequently been brought to Europe 

 as exhibiting one of the most singular specimens of 

 bird with \vhich we are acquainted. Western Africa 

 is, we believe, the place from which it has been chiefly 

 obtained ; but its manners are as obscure as its form 

 is singular. In its general form, colours, and mark- 

 ings, this bird bears a strong resemblance to the 

 common goatsucker of Europe, being mottled with 

 ash colour, brown, yellow, and black on the upper 

 part, rather paler on the under, with white spots on 

 the wings. The remarkable peculiarity of it, how- 

 ever, consists in two supplemental feathers which, 

 issuing from the wings, extend considerably more than 

 double the length of the bird, for the greater part of 

 their length they are without any webs ; but at the 

 extremity they have a broad web externally and a 

 narrow one internally, so that they resemble a pair of 

 paddles. What use the bird may make of such fur- 

 nishings it is impossible to say. That they have a 

 use cannot be doubted, for nothing in nature is made 

 in vain ; but they are so different from all the ordi- 

 nary appendages of birds, that no opinion respecting 

 them can be given. The scissor-tailed species, and 

 all the others which have the tail feathers long and 

 much power of motion in them, are remarkable for 

 the energy which they display in the working of these 

 instruments ; but it is difficult to see for what purpose 

 two feathers issuing from the wings as they do in this 

 bird can be worked. The species last mentioned 

 is sometimes also termed the Leone, or Sierra Leone 



NAT. HIST. VOL. III. 



goatsucker, from its being met with in that part of 

 Africa. 



C. pectoralis. (The Collared Goatsucker) is de- 

 scribed as being a native both of India and Africa. 

 Le Vaillant describes it as being common in some parts 

 of the latter country, and as causing itself to be heard 

 from the loudness and peculiarity of its nocturnal 

 notes. It was in the southern part of the Cape ter- 

 ritory, where the bird was described by the naturalist 

 whose name we have mentioned. The song of the 

 male, if song it can be called, is chiefly delivered 

 while the female is sitting. It is a nocturnal song, 

 not beginning till about an hour after sunset, which 

 includes a large portion of the twilight in that coun- 

 try; and in places where the birds are numerous, 

 the noise which they make is very disagreeable to 

 strangers. The female makes no regular nest, but 

 deposits her eggs on the bare earth, sometimes in a 

 regular footpath ; and she sits so closely on them, 

 and so much resembles the parched surface of the 

 ground, that she may be passed without being ob- 

 served. The eggs are two in number, of a white 

 colour, with very few markings, and they are so 

 brittle, that they can scarcely bear handling. During 

 the day the male often takes the place of the female, 

 in order that she may procure a supply of food ; but 

 it is understood that she sits closely during the time 

 that he is uttering his cry. If the eggs have been 

 touched, Le Vaillant says that the birds hide them ; 

 and the account which he gives is so circumstantial, 

 that we shall quote it with some slight alterations. 

 In order to witness this operation, he first handled 

 the eggs, laid them down in their place, and then 

 concealed himself in a tree to watch the result. The 

 first of the birds which came to the eggs was the 

 female, and she alighted on the ground close by 

 them, and then approached slowly and deliberately, 

 and having, by what instinct it does not appear, ascer- 

 tained that they had been touched, she walked several 

 times round the nest with her bill close to the eggs, 

 and her breast close to the ground, beating the earth 

 at the same time with her wings, and uttering several 

 peculiar cries. This appeared to be the signal for 

 the male to approach her, for he immediately ap- 

 proached, uttering the same cry, and joined her in the 

 same operations. Both then got on the wing, and 

 having flown several times round the eggs, each seized 

 one in its'mouth, and quickly disappeared. 



C.furcifer is described as another African species, 

 bearing some resemblance to the forked-tailed one of 

 Brazil, and remarkable for its large size, as well as 

 for the deep forking of the tail. The entire length of 

 the bird is upwards of two feet, and the wings extend 

 forty inches from tip to tip, so that, long as the tail is, 

 they reach to the extremity of it w hen closed. In the 

 length of its wings, and the forking of its tail, this 

 birds bears a considerable resemblance to the swallow. 

 There is also something very peculiar in the structure 

 of the bill. The gape is very wide, but the upper 

 mandible is narrowed at the tip till the extremity of 

 it bears more resemblance to a claw than to the point 

 of an ordinary bill. It also shuts very closely, by 

 an edge of the lower mandible which encloses the 

 sides of the upper upper one ? and toward the extre- 

 mity receives it into a sort of groove, which however, 

 terminates, and leaves a portion of the hooked point 

 of the upper one projecting over. There is, in fact, 

 more provision made for the closing of the bill of this 

 bird than for that of any other bird of which we have 

 Y 



