280 



PASSEKES. BIRDS. CYPSELIDA. 



wliich is one of the commonest Australian species, is 

 about seventeen inches in length, including the rather 

 long tail ; it is of a greyish-brown colour, mottled and 

 spotted with brown, and the wing coverts are spotted 

 with white and tawny, the spots forming irregular 

 bands across the wings when these are closed. The 

 bristly feathers above the base of the bill are more or 

 less plumose. 



This bird is found abundantly in New South Wales, 

 and also in Van Diemen's Land, where it dwells 

 amongst the trees, sleeping during the day upon a 

 branch in so lethargic a condition that it is almost 

 impossible to arouse it ; it may then be taken by the 

 hand, or knocked down with a stick or stone, and Mr. 

 Gould says that he has even shot one without disturb- 

 ing its mate sitting by it. At night, however, it 

 becomes active and animated, but its powers of flight 

 seem to be inferior to those of the goatsuckers in 

 genera], and from the nature of its food, which consists 

 to a great extent of insects which do not move at night, 

 such as Ci 'adce and Phasmidce, we may judge that it 

 finds much of its sustenance by creeping about the 

 stems and branches of trees, in the crevices of the bark 

 of which these insects conceal themselves at night. 

 This view is borne out by the subscansorial character 

 of the feet, and the worn state in which the feathers 

 of the tail are usually found. The stomach, according 

 to Mr. Gould, is " lined with a thick hair-like substance, 

 like that of the common cuckoo," and as the latter is 

 known to consist of the hairs of caterpillars, we may 

 infer that these insects form a portion of the food of 

 this Podargus. During the winter season it feeds upon 

 beetles and, when other resources fail, also upon small 

 terrestrial Mollusca. According to M. Verreaux, in 

 the breeding season th*ir tastes become carnivorous; 

 they devour small birds, which they seize upon the 

 nest. M. Verreaux says that when the birds are 

 rather large, he has seen the Podargus take his prey to 

 a large branch, seize it by the head, and beat it right 

 and left against the branch so as to break its bones, 

 when he swallows it whole, commencing with the head. 

 The cry of this species is a loud hoarse note, which, 

 Mr. Gould says, cannot be accurately described. Dur- 

 ing the pairing time the male uses a note which, as 

 described by M. Verreaux, resembles the cooing of a 

 dove more than the cry of a night bird, and which 

 appears to have a great attraction for the female. The 

 males also fight fiercely at this season. The eggs, 

 which are usually two or three, of a pure white colour, 

 are deposited in September, in a flat nest composed of 

 small twigs, and placed on the fork of a horizontal 

 branch, at about five or six feet from the ground. 



CUVIEE'S PODABGUS (Podargus Cuvieri) is a rather 

 smaller species than the preceding, measuring only 

 fifteen or sixteen inches in length ; it is also destitute 

 of the large tawny spots on the shoulders, and the 

 bristles over the base of the bill have only a few dis- 

 tant barbs upon them. This species, although met 

 with on the continent of Australia, is more especially 

 an inhabitant of Van Diemen's Land, where it is known 

 to the colonists as the More Pork Bird, its curious cry 

 being considered to bear a close resemblance to the 

 words "more pork." In its habits it resembles the 



preceding species, but its nest is said to be more neatly 

 formed. 



Of the remaining species of this genus we need only 

 mention the MOTH-LIKE PODARGUS (Podargus pJm- 

 IcEnoides), a small species found at Port Essington, and 

 in other parts of North Australia; and the PLUMED 

 PODARGUS (P. plumiferus), which is remarkable for 

 a large tuft of light feathers springing from above the 

 base of the bill. The latter is rather a large species, 

 measuring eighteen inches in length, including a long 

 tail slightly forked at the tip ; it is found in New South 

 Wales. The NEW GUINEA PODARGUS is called P. 

 papuensis ; it is a large species. 



HORSFIELD'S GOATSUCKEE (BatracJtostomus ja- 

 vensis). The islands of the Eastern Archipelago are 

 inhabited by several species of this family, nearly allied 

 to the Podargi, but possessing a still more strongly 

 developed bill. The Javanese species, known as Hors- 

 field's Goatsucker, inhabits the recesses of large forests, 

 but nothing is known of its habits. In another species, 

 the GREAT EARED-GOATSUCKER (B. auritus), the 

 face is ornamented with a pair of large tufts of light 

 feathers, projecting horizontally, and giving the bird a 

 very singular and grotesque appearance. 



FAMILY II. CYPSELID.E. 



The birds forming the family of the Cypselida;, or 

 Swifts, are very commonly placed in the same family 

 as the Swallows, which they closely resemble in most 

 of their external characters. They have a very short, 

 weak, and depressed bill, with the gape opening back 

 as far as the hinder margin of the eyes, and entirely 

 destitute of bristles. The nostrils are of very large 

 size, situated on the upper surface of the base of the 

 bill, and surrounded by raised margins. Their feet are 

 very short and weak ; and in the typical species, 

 forming the genus Cypselus, 

 all the four toes are directed Fi &- 105 - 



forwards. This arrangement 

 of the toes adapts the feet 

 admirably for clinging to walls, 

 rocks, and similar objects, about 

 which the Swifts commonly 

 take up their abode ; but the 

 weakness of their hinder limbs 

 renders them all exceedingly 

 helpless on the ground, to 

 which indeed they rarely de- Foot of Swift, 



scend of their own accord. 



When driven to the earth by any accident, they 

 remain crouching where they fall, or creep along 

 lamely until they can reach some slightly elevated 

 object on which they can climb, and thus obtain 

 a point of vantage from which to start into the 

 air. In the last-mentioned element, however, their 

 means of locomotion are perfect ; in fact, they pro- 

 bably exceed ah 1 other birds in power of flight. Their 

 wings are excessively long and pointed, and moved by 

 strong muscles attached to an enormously-developed 

 sternal keel; and by the rapid vibration of these 

 vigorous pinions, the little birds are enabled to perform 

 the most astonishing aerial evolutions. Nearly their 



