550 The Roller-like Birds 



taken in the full perfection of plumage. When sitting on the ground these long 

 feathers are held at right angles to the body and form waving plumes, simulating 

 blades of grass high above the bird. 



Standard-winged Goatsucker. In its near ally, the Standard-winged 

 Goatsucker (Cosmetornis vexillarius), the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth pri- 

 maries are more or less lengthened, the ninth most so, being some eighteen 

 inches longer than the first; it is not, however, bare for any portion of its length. 

 The bird is rather handsome, being about ten and a half inches long, dark brown 

 mottled with pale rufous above and white somewhat barred with brown below, 

 while the primaries are dark brown, white for the basal third or more of their 

 length, the ninth being almost pure white throughout. When seen on the 

 wing at dusk, Mr. Andersson states that they present a "most singular appear- 

 ance, giving the idea of a huge double-winged bat." The species inhabits South- 

 east Africa and thence west to the Congo, being usually noted, according to Sir 

 John Kirk, who observed them in Nyassaland, in flocks of from fifteen to twenty. 

 "It was only during the months from October to January that the singular 

 prolongation of the wing-feathers was observed; these are peculiar to the males. 

 Like other Nightjars, the habits of these birds are crepuscular. When startled 

 during the daytime from the ground, where they always nest, they fly swiftly 

 for a short distance and again settle, but are extremely difficult to follow with 

 the eye. Not so the males in full plumage. In their case there is no difficulty; 

 their flight is evidently retarded, and they become prominent objects from the 

 long streamers waving behind them." 



Poorwills. Passing over the Short-winged Goatsucker (Heleothreplus 

 anomalus) of South Brazil and Argentina and the Parauques (Nyctidromus\ 

 of which a single form (N. albicollis merrilli) occurs in southern Texas and 

 northern Mexico, we come to the Poorwills (Phalanoptilus), so called in imitation 

 of their notes. They are rather closely allied to the Whippoorwills (Antrostomus}, 

 from which, however, they are separated by having the tarsus longer instead 

 of shorter than the middle toe, and entirely naked in front instead of feathered 

 almost to the toes. The typical form is Nuttall's Poorwill (P. nuttallii] of the 

 western United States, a bird from seven to eight inches in length, the upper parts 

 a soft brownish gray, with a very velvety moth-like surface, relieved by irregular 

 spottings and zigzags of black, while the throat has a large patch of white and 

 the under parts are barred with blackish and light buffy. While not altogether 

 absent from woodlands, it is preeminently a bird of the open prairie and the 

 almost barren and arid regions of the interior, spending the daytime on the 

 ground and becoming active at dusk. They are usually very tame, often allow- 

 ing one to approach within two feet before moving, and have a peculiar, mournful- 

 sounding note which is variously rendered as poor-will, puih-whee-ee, puir-whee-ee, 

 etc. The eggs are generally placed on bare patches of gravel, or on low flat 

 rocks, usually near a bunch of grass or weeds. Two subspecies are recognized, 

 the Frosted Poorwill (P. n. nitidus}, which is similar but paler and has the upper 

 parts especially whiter and more frosty in appearance, and the California 

 Poorwill (P. n. californicus), a darker form occurring on the coast of California. 



