JXJNG-WINGED GOAT-SUCKER. Caprimulgus vexi,lldriu&. 



the centre of the secondaries, and part of the base of the primaries. From the white 

 band, a dark-brown stripe runs towards the back, the feathers composing it being tipped 

 with white. The elongated feathers of the wing increase the length of the bird to two 

 feet or even more, and their colour is very dark brown on the outer web, and greyish-white 

 on the inner. The Long-winged Goat-sucker is an inhabitant of Western Africa. 



The LEONA NIGHTJAR affords another example of the singular form which plumage 

 so often takes without any apparent object. 



In the male bird, a pair of very long and very elastic feather shafts rise from the middle 

 of the wing-coverts, and extend to a length of eight-and-twenty inches, according to 

 the individual. These shafts are totally destitute of barbs, except at the extremity, where 

 they suddenly give out a broad web of four or five inches in length. The transition from 

 the bare shaft to the broad web is so abrupt that the bird looks as if it had originally 

 possessed a pair of very long perfect feathers, which had been stripped with the exception 

 of a few inches at their extremities. The shafts are very slight indeed, and as the webbed 

 ends are easily acted upon by the wind, they are continually moving, and float about in the 

 breeze in a most graceful manner. The inner web of these curious feathers is nearly two 

 inches in width at its broadest part, while the outer web is barely one fourth of that 

 measurement. 



The object of these curious appendages is not known. They are only found in the 

 male bird, and evidently bear an analogy to the train of the peacock and the long tail- 

 feathers of the pheasant among the birds, as well as to the beards, horns, tusks, manes, and 



