TAWNY-SHOULDERED POD ARGUS. Podargiu numerAlls. 



spotted here and there with square white marks, the squares being mostly set with one of 

 the angles upwards, in lozenge fashion. The head is very hawk-like, owing to the large 

 hooked beak and the manner in which the feathers are set on the top of the head. The 

 Guacharo was discovered b}' Humboldt. 



THE members of the genus Podargus are chiefly remarkable for the great width of 

 their beaks, which at their base are broder than the forehead of the bird. The tip of the 

 beak is hooked, and the upper mandible overlaps the lower at its edges. They are all 

 handsome birds, and many of them are of considerable dimensions. 



The TAWNY-SHOULDEEED PODAEGUS is a native of Australia, and an admirable 

 account of the bird, as well as good figures, may be found in Gould's magnificent work 

 on the Birds of Australia. 



This bird is one of the drowsiest of creatures, being less easily roused by day than any 

 other slumberer of night. All the day long it sits sleeping upon a branch, its body 

 crouched closely to the bough, its head buried amid the masses of soft feathers upon the 

 neck and shoulders, and its whole form as motionless as if it were carved out of the 

 branch on which it reposes. It is worthy of notice that the Podargi always sit across the 

 branch on which they rest, whereas the generality of Goat-suckers recline longitudinally 

 upon the bough. This bird, however, is so quiet, and its sombre celour harmonizes so 

 well with the bark of the branch to which it clings, that even by day it needs a quick 

 and practised eye to discern its form. 



These birds almost invariably sit close together in pairs, and they are so incorrigibly 

 drowsy, that if one of the pair be shot, its mate will not be disturbed even by the report 



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