NYCTICHELIDON. 



any knowledge ; and this closing is so complete, that 

 when the bird is seen in profile, the bill seems to be 

 a very small one. Le Vaillant describes this bird as 

 being observed by him in the Namaqua country, 

 northward of the settlement of the Cape, where the 

 Gariep, or Orange river, by much the largest in 

 Southern Africa, falls into the Atlantic. The mode 

 in which he says he procured them gives a curious 

 display of the characters of these birds. Whilst 

 hunting one day on the banks of one of the branches 

 of the Orange river, accompanied by his native 

 attendant, they were overtaken by a violent storm of 

 wind and rain, which obliged them to take shelter 

 under some large mimosas. From this position they 

 observed in their vicinity a huge tree quite dead, with 

 its trunk almost entirely hollowed out, to which aper- 

 ture a large opening communicated. They approached 

 this tree in expectation of finding some insects under 

 the bark ; but, as they advanced, they heard a low 

 humming noise issue from the cavity. Dreading 

 that this sound might proceed from a nest of serpents, 

 or other noxious animals, that might be lurking 

 there, they took some precaution in exploring the 

 place. To their surprise, however, they encountered 

 only two large birds, which they drew forth one after 

 another. M. Le Vaillant kept them alive for two 

 days, but the light of the sun affected them so 

 much that they did not attempt to escape in the 

 day time ; but, in the darkness of night, they made 

 desperate efforts to get out of the basket in which 

 they were kept captive. 



There are some species in Australia, one of which 

 has the head furnished with a crest of produced fea- 

 thers, and some of the tints of its plumage are lighter 

 than those of most of the genus, but otherwise it pre- 

 sents nothing worthy of very particular notice, and 

 its manners are obscure and little known. 



PODARGUS. These form the remaining genus of 

 the night swallows, or rather of those birds which 

 prey something after the manner of swallows, and 

 generally in the twilight. It will be seen, from the 

 account which we have given of the leading species 

 of the former genus, that birds of this description are 

 chiefly confined to those parts of the world which 

 have their seasons strongly contrasted by alternating 

 drought and rain ; the former continuing with such 

 intensity and heat as to produce a desolation some- 

 thing resembling that of winter, and the latter giving 

 an excessive stimulus first to vegetable and then to 

 animal life ; the season of the last of which is later 

 than that of the other. In consequence of this the night 

 air is, at certain seasons, literally crowded with insects, 

 upon which both genera of this family of birds feed 

 in great numbers. 



i The genus podargus, as at present established, does 

 not contain nearly so many species as the preceding 

 one ; but as there is a sort of gradation in that which 

 forms the leading character, the line of distinction is 

 not very easily drawn. One very curious species, 

 which is described as the Trinidad goatsucker, seems 

 to be of doubtful reference in this respect, and there- 

 fore we shall content ourselves with a few words of 

 general description, without a positive reference of 

 the bird to either genus. 



Though Trinidad is in itself a comparatively healthy 

 and tranquil island, there are violent contests of the 

 elements in that portion of water by which it is 

 divided from the main land of South America. The 

 lower valley of the Orinoco then is subject to violent 



floods, which cover, at one season of the year, a large 

 extent of surface which is dry at other times. The 

 navigation of this passage is exceedingly dangerous ; 

 and therefore, though the natural productions of the 

 banks and islands are matters of considerable interest, 

 they are very little known. We quote the original 

 description of the Trinidad goatsucker, as communi- 

 cated to Dr. Latham by Mr. Thomson. " These birds 

 inhabit coves of the islands forming the Bocata, an 

 entrance into the Gulf of Paria, accessible only at the 

 very lowest ebb tides, and in moderate weather ; and 

 as they are never observed on the wing in day-time, 

 most probably, like the rest of the genus, they seek 

 their food in the absence of the sun. Here they breed 

 during the early part of the spring ; and it is at the 

 time of new and full moons, in April and May, that 

 the people who are acquainted with these coves, 

 resort thither to take the young, and such of the birds 

 as they can knock down with sticks. They have a 

 strong and a disagreeable fleshy smell, but some 

 people compare it to that of the cockroach ; when 

 dressed they look like a round lump of fat, the little 

 flesh there is tasting more like that of a sucking-pig 

 than any other, but yet with a flavour and lusciousness 

 perfectly its own. But what is most extraordinary 

 is, that in a family supposed to be wholly insectivorous, 

 this should constitute a single and solitary exception, 

 and be found to subsist, at least during the breed- 

 ing season, entirely on fruit ; for, on examining the 

 stomachs of a dozen of them, young and old, no other 

 species of food whatever but the fruit of the palm 

 appeared. The collector in ornithology will find a 

 very troublesome task in preserving this bird, as the 

 skin adheres with uncommon closeness and tenacity 

 to the granular fat, which every where covers the 

 body, and which liquifies under the touch." 



It is by no means improbable that some at least of 

 the singular birds which Humboldt and his associates 

 met with in their researches among the very extraor- 

 dinary ravines and chasms, which seam the northern 

 slopes of the Peruvian Andes, and are cleft to depths 

 which defy the beams of even a tropical sun, belong 

 to this class. The notices of those birds were, how- 

 ever, chiefly obtained from the Indians, and their 

 accounts cannot be implicitly relied on. Indeed we 

 want much farther research into the natural history 

 of that singular portion of the earth's surface before 

 we can form an accurate estimate of any or part of 

 its zoology. 



Whether any of those birds, whose history is at 

 present so shadowy, may belong more correctly to 

 the genus Podargiis, or the genus Caprimulgus, or 

 whether they may be something intermediate between 

 the two, are points which we arc not at present in a 

 condition for settling. The prominent characters of 

 Podargus consist in the stronger nature of the bill 

 and the enlargement of the claws. They may be 

 described as having the bill hard, stout, and of an 

 entirely horny substance, instead of being soft in part 

 like those of the typical goatsuckers. The breadth 

 of the bill at the basal part is excessive, so that the 

 gape is actually broader than the measure of the 

 forehead. The keel on the upper mandible is rounded, 

 curved from its origin, and much hooked at the tip. 

 Both mandibles are much dilated at the sides, and 

 the angle of the gape extends to a considerable dis- 

 tance behind the eyes. The lower mandible is of 

 hard texture, straight in the greater part of its length, 

 but slightly hooked at the tip, which is furnished with 



