4 6 



ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



truncated in front, and basipterygoid processes are present. 

 The spinal feather-tract is well defined on the neck, but is 

 forked on the back, as in the Swallow. A hind-toe is always 

 present, and is connected with the flexor perforans digitorum. 

 The mouth is widely split, the gape opening to behind the eye, 

 and is furnished with strong bristles. As a rule in this Family, 

 the sexes are very much alike in colour, but the male has a white 

 spot on the primaries and at the end of the outer tail-feather, 

 this being replaced in the female by a fulvous spot. The wing; 



Ventral aspect of cranium of Caprimulgus curopans (enlarged) to show 

 the vomer. Letters as before. [From the Catalogue of Osteological 

 Specimens in the Royal College of Surgeons.] 



is very long and pointed. The young are covered with down, 

 and are helpless for some time after birth, being fed by theii 

 parents. 



Night- Jars are found over almost the entire surface of the 

 globe, the species which visit the northern temperate regions 

 being strictly migratory ; but in the Tropics a large number 01 

 resident species are found, and are met with everywhere, excepi 

 in the extreme south of South America and the islands oi 

 Oceania. 





