Frogmouths 543 



plumage as the Goatsuckers, and like them are strictly nocturnal and insectiv- 

 orous, but structurally they differ in a number of particulars, perhaps the most 

 important being the desmognathous instead of the .split (schizognathous) form 

 of palate, and the absence of an oil-gland, and some of them are further charac- 

 terized by the presence of a large powder-down patch on each side of the rump. 

 Their nesting habits and eggs are also quite different from those of the Goat- 

 suckers and Nightjars, as will be shown later. They are all natives of the Old 

 World, being mainly confined to the Malayan and Australian regions, and are 

 comprised in three genera and about thirty-five species. They are often further 

 divided into two subfamilies, in the first of which (the Podargince) the nostrils 

 are slit-like and protected by an overhanging flap and the whole concealed by 

 plumes and feathers, while in the other (the jEgothelina) the nostrils are near 

 the tip of the bill and are obvious and open. 



True Frogmouths. The true Frogmouths (Podargus), of which seven or 

 eight forms are known, may be taken as typical of the first subfamily. They are 

 mostly birds of large size, some of them reaching a length of twenty-one inches, and 

 have the tail-feathers pointed, the central pair being much longer than the ad- 

 joining pairs. They are confined to the Papuan Islands, Australia, and Tasmania, 

 and are described by Gould as being an "inanimate and sluggish group of birds, 

 and depend for their supplies less upon their power of flight than upon the habit 

 they are said to have of traversing the branches of various trees upon which their 

 favorite insects reside. The Tawny-shouldered Frogmouth (P. strigoides) of 

 Australia and Tasmania is one of the best-known species, and may be selected 

 for description, as the others agree closely with it in habits. About eighteen or 

 nineteen inches in length, of which the tail is fully nine inches, the upper plumage 

 is gray, vermiculated and shaded with brown and spotted with white, all the 

 feathers with broad black shaft-lines, while the shoulders and wings are tawny, 

 and the lower parts whitish gray shading into tawny, with black stripes on 

 throat and breast. There appears to be considerable individual variation, some 

 examples being much lighter, others darker, and others again more mottled. 



They frequent a great variety of places, as the thick brushes near the coast, 

 the hilly districts, and the thinly wooded plains of the interior, and are strictly 

 nocturnal, sleeping through the day on the dead branch of a tree, in an upright 

 position across, and never parallel to, the branch, which they so much resemble 

 as scarcely to be distinguished from it. They are usually observed in pairs, sit- 

 ting near each other on the branches and often not at all sheltered from the sun. 

 "So lethargic are its slumbers," says Gould, "that it is almost impossible to 

 arouse it, and I have frequently shot one without disturbing its mate sitting close 

 by. When aroused, it flies lazily off with heavy, flopping wings to a neighboring 

 tree, and again resumes its slumbers until the approach of evening, when it 

 becomes as animated and active as it had been previously dull and stupid." It 

 is of course silent during the day, but at night it has a loud, hoarse call of two 

 distinct notes, which can hardly be described. They make a slightly constructed 

 flat nest of small sticks carelessly interwoven together, and placed at the fork 

 of a horizontal branch of sufficient size to insure its safety. The eggs are usually 



