NIGHTJARS. 



47 



migrate. I watched them for upwards of an hour ; out they did not scatter as on 

 previous evenings to seek for food, and after a while they began to rise higher and 

 higher, still keeping close together, until they disappeared from sight. Next 

 morning I found that they had gone." 



. ht1arg With these large and mainly South American nightjars we come 



to the sole representatives of the second subfamily. They are 



characterised by the plumage being more mottled than in the true nightjars, and 



the extreme shortness of the metatarsus, which is inferior in length to all the toes, 



as well as by the absence of the comb on the third toe. Moreover, the sides of the 



GREAT WOOD-NIGHTJAR ( nat. size). 



body and breast carry large " powder-down " patches, which do not exist in the 

 typical subfamily. Of these birds there are six species, which range from Mexico 

 to Brazil, and are also represented in Jamaica. The note of these nightjars is 

 described as being more extraordinary than that of any other bird. Waterton, for 

 instance, writes that "a goatsucker inhabits Demerara, about the size of an 

 English wood-owl, whose voice is so remarkable that, when once heard, it is not 

 easily to be forgotten. A stranger would never believe it to be the cry of a bird, 

 but would say it was the departing voice of a midnight murdered victim, or the 

 last wailing of poor Niobe for her children, before she was turned to stone. 

 Suppose a person in hopeless sorrow, beginning with a high loud note Ha ha ! 

 ha ha ! ha ! each note lower and lower till the last is scarcely heard, pausing a 



