NIGHTJARS. 4S 



dwellers in the country, and hence its name of churn-owl, by which it is known 

 in many districts. Waterton has recorded the notes of one of the species in 

 Demerara as represented by the words, work away ! ivork, work, work away ! 

 Another calls who are you ? who, who are you ? while another cries mournf ully, 

 willy -come-yo ! willy, willy, willy -come-go ! and a fourth, the one represented in 

 the accompanying figure (G. virginianus), tells you to whip-poor-will ! whip- 

 poor-ivill ! in tones wonderfully clear and startling. 



The beautiful and rare bird (Macrodipteryx macrodipterus} 

 thus named is but seldom obtained in its full perfection of plumage, 

 since the peculiar, long-shaped primary, which forms the distinguishing character 

 of the genus, is often missing or not developed. The male of the Leona nightjar 

 has the ninth primary quill developed to an extraordinary length, with the shaft 



Leona Nightjar. 



VIRGINIAN NIGHTJAR (3 nat. size). 



of the feather bare and ending in a racket, so that, as the bird flies, the wing 

 has a long pennant, or streamer, on each side. This is probably only developed 

 in the breeding-season, and is not found in the female. The species is only found 

 in Africa, where it occurs in Western Abyssinia, and on the west coast from 

 Senegambia to the River Niger. Two other members of the genus are known. 

 standard-Winged As in the preceding genus, this nightjar (Cosmetomis vexil- 

 Nightjar. larius) has an elongation of the primary quills, of which the seventh 

 and eighth are greatly developed, while the ninth is prolonged into a streamer 

 which floats behind the bird as it flies. The shaft, however, is not bare as in the 

 Leona nightjar, but feathered throughout its whole extent. This bird is an 

 inhabitant of Africa, and its range extends from Equatorial Africa westwards to 

 the Benue River and Fernando Po, and south throughout Eastern Africa to the 

 Zambesi and Damaraland. The following account of this nightjar has been 

 published by Sir J. Kirk, who met with it in Nyasaland, and writes that it " was- 



