BIRDS 



135 



.n an African species, Macrodipteryx vexillarius, the male 

 during the pairing season has the ninth of its primary 

 feathers developed into a streamer of great length, namely, 

 26 inches, although the length of the bird's body is only 

 10 inches. In an allied species, named M. macrodipterus, the 

 same feathers are elongated, and in addition their shafts are 



Fig. 12. Macrodipteryx macrodipterus, an African Night-jar, after a sketch from life by 

 .Mr. Jos. Gedge. From Newton and Gadow, Dictionary of Birds. 



naked except at the ends, so that the two feathers are racquet- 

 shaped. Mr. Joseph Gedge, who accompanied Sir Samnel 

 Baker's expedition to the Soudan, saw one of these birds 

 sitting on the ground with its two long primaries erected 

 perpendicularly over its back, and made a sketch of the bird 

 sitting in this attitude among grass and reeds. This sketch 

 is reproduced in Newton's Dictionary of Birds, and might 

 suggest to some minds that the feathers mimicked the reeds ! 



