44 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



first observed about three hundred miles up the Zambesi, a little above Tete, on 

 the Keihrabassa rapids in November 1858, and was there decidedly common. 

 It was again met with on the western side of Lake Nyasa where, in September 

 and October, it was very plentiful, being seen in flocks of from fifteen to twenty. 

 It was also common at Chibisa on the Shire, in latitude 16 south. It was only 

 during the months from October to January that the singular prolongation of the 

 wing- feathers was observed ; these are peculiar to the males. Like other nightjars, 



STANDARD-WINGED NIGHTJAR (\ nat. size). 



the habits of these birds are crepuscular. When startled during the daytime 

 from the ground, where they always rest, they fly swiftly for a little distance, 

 and again settle, but are extremely difficult to folloAV with the eye. Not so the 

 males in full plumage. In their case there is no difficulty ; their flight is evidently 

 retarded, and they become prominent objects from the long streamers waving 

 behind them. A deviation from the usual habits of the bird was observed when 

 cruising on the Nyasa Lake. On two occasions, being overtaken in a gale, and 

 riding out a short but dangerous sea, which set in and raised a surf on the shore, 

 through which it was impossible to land, the male birds came off in flocks of about 

 fifteen and flew over the surface of the water. On no other occasion have I seen 

 them take wing of their own accord, or keep on the wing during the day." 



Fork-Tailed South America is the home of a group of nightjars remarkable 



Nightjars. f or their enormously developed forked tails ; while in Africa there is 



