546 The Roller-like Birds 



Owls; it also resembles that tribe of birds in its erect carriage, the manner in 

 which it sets out the feathers around the ears and neck, and in the power it 

 possesses of turning the head in every direction, even over the back, a habit 

 it is constantly practising." In the holes in trees, without forming any nest, it 

 deposits its eggs, which are four or five in number, perfectly white, and nearly 

 round. In a single case, that of M. wallacei of New Guinea and Aru Islands, 

 Meyer has stated that the eggs are marked with pale striations. 



THE GOATSUCKERS, OR NIGHTJARS 



(Family Caprimulgidce) 



The present group is a very well marked aggregation of quite uniform appear- 

 ance, the plumage of all being soft and showing a mottling of brown, gray, black, 

 and white, in this respect quite suggesting the Owls, which are now regarded as 

 being perhaps their nearest of kin. They are mainly nocturnal in their habits, 

 feeding almost entirely on insects for the capture of which they are wonderfully 

 well adapted, the mouth being cut back as far as the eyes and the naturally wide 

 gape often further increased by a fringe of long bristles along the edge of the bill, 

 thus making a regular insect net. The bill itself is relatively short, weak, and 

 flexible, and the nostrils mostly tubular, while in the typical members the foot 

 is peculiar in that the outer toe has only four joints, and the middle toe is long 

 and has its claw pectinated on the inside. Their flight is swift, and, as might 

 be inferred from the softness of the plumage, is nearly noiseless. Their mournful, 

 often strangely human, cries, suggestive of the words whip-poor-will, poor- 

 will, who-are-you, work-away, etc., have made them objects of superstitious 

 dread among uncivilized and ignorant people from the earliest times. If 

 heard by an Indian close to his wigwam, misfortune is thought to be brooding 

 over it, and he awaits with terrified suspense the impending evil. Even to those 

 of stronger nerves the weird cries are anything but reassuring. Dr. Coues says 

 of the Poorwill of the West: "... the wailing chorus is enough to excite 

 apprehension on the part of the lonely traveler, as he lies down to rest by his 

 camp-fire, or to break his sleep with fitful dreams, in which lost spirits bemoan 

 their fate and implore his intercession. Experience comes vividly to mind as I 

 write, of night after night, when I have gradually lost consciousness with a mind 

 peopled with all manner of strange images." 



The name of Goatsucker as applied to these birds dates back hundreds of 

 years from the fancied notion that because they are often seen about flocks and 

 herds they subsist on stolen milk. "Poor little injured bird of night," says 

 Wharton, "how sadly hast thou suffered and how foul a stain has inattention 

 to facts put upon thy character ! Thou hast never robbed man of any part of 

 his property, nor deprived a kid of a drop of milk." 



The nesting habits of these birds are of the simplest kind, since the eggs, 

 always two in number, are placed upon the ground, the bare rock, or a flat house- 



