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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tune was imminent when one called near his tepee. And 

 when a tenderfoot has strayed from camp after dark 

 in the southwestern desert and a chorus of poor-wills 

 make the rocks resound, he can easily imagine that there 

 are evil spirits all about him. 



There are over 100 species in the goat-sucker family, 

 found all over the world except in Arctic and Antarctic 

 regions and a few of the eastern Pacific Islands. About 

 fifty are found in the New World, the majority of which 



WHERE RACE SUICIDE IS POSSIBLE 



The tropical whip-poor-wills lay but a single egg. This is the home of the 

 white necked parauque in a thicket of bamboo, the leaves of which 

 cover the ground. 



live in the tropics, so that only six reach North America. 

 Four of these are rather well known birds, the night- 

 hawk, the whip-poor-will, the chuck-wills-widow and 

 the poor-will. They are all small birds, but their long 

 wings and tails make them appear much larger than 

 they really are. The night-hawk, for example, whose 

 body is smaller than that of a robin, appears, on the 

 wing, about the size of a sparrow hawk. A few of the 

 tropical woodland nightjars are considerably larger, 

 being about the size of short-eared, owls, which, indeed, 

 they somewhat resemble. Nor is it any wonder when we 

 stop to consider the relationship of the goat-suckers to 

 the owls. 



It is not only in color and nocturnal habits that the 

 goat-suckers resemble the owls, but structurally as well. 

 So much so in fact, that modern systematists remove 

 the owls from the raptorial birds where they have rested 

 for so long, and put them close to the goat-suckers. The 

 chief difference between the two groups has arisen be- 

 cause of their differences in food habits. The owls are 

 largely carnivorous and their bills and feet have been 

 modified for catching mice. The goat-suckers, on the 

 other hand, feed chiefly on flying insects and have little 

 use for their bills and feet which, therefore, have de- 



generated while their mouths have developed to an ex- 

 treme size. In all but the night-hawks, the corners of 

 the mouth are provided with long bristles, making them 

 most efficient scoop nets. The seven species of wood- 

 land nightjars (Nyctibius), however, have much heavier 

 bills which are strongly hooked, and they likewise have 

 better developed toes. They differ also in assuming an 

 erect owl-like position when at rest and in having the 

 eyes more nearly directed forward. Indeed, in many 

 respects, they seem intermediate between the rest of the 

 goat-suckers and the owls. The night-hawks and whip- 

 poor-wills, when at rest, always perch lengthwise of 

 the branch or log because of the weakness of their feet. 

 This, together with their eyes being on the sides of the 

 head, destroys their similarity to the owls in spite of the 

 fact that their plumage is quite as soft, their colors 

 similarly mottled, and their eyes much larger than in 

 ordinary birds. 



In nesting habits, the goat-suckers are at the bottom 

 of the scale. They build no nest whatever, but lay their 

 eggs on the bare ground without even a depression to 

 keep them from rolling. The North American species 

 normally lay two eggs, but the tropical species, only one. 

 The eggs are whitish or cream-colored marked with 

 darker gray and purplish, those of the night-hawk 

 being quite inconspicuous on the gravel where they are 



HAS A RELATIVE IN TEXAS 



A subspecies of this parauque (Nyctidronus albicollis) is found as far 

 North as Texas. This bird was photographed on its egg at the base of a 

 bamboo sprout in a thicket Its long tail is not always held so high. It 

 was difficult to see even at a distance of six feet because of its protec- 

 tive coloration. 



usually laid, but those of other species being quite the 

 reverse. The young are hatched blind and helpless, but 

 are soon covered with long grayish or brownish down 

 not very different from the down of young owls. 



The most abundant and widespread of the goat-suckers 

 is the night-hawk which is found in summer in one or 



