552 ' The Roller-like Birds 



its winter home about the middle of May, frequenting commons, moors, and 

 stony places, returning year after year to the same spot. It is about ten inches 

 in length, ash-gray spotted and barred with black, brown, and chestnut, and 

 has the three first primaries with a large patch of white on the inner web and 

 the two outer pairs of tail-feathers white-tipped ; its habits are those of the group 

 in general. In western Europe and central Asia its place is taken by other 

 closely allied forms, while in southwestern Europe and northern Africa occurs 

 the Russet-necked Nightjar (C, ruficollis), which is larger and paler and more 

 rufous especially on the under parts, and has a broad rufous collar. India is 

 the home of half a dozen or more species, the commonest being the Indian 

 Nightjar (C. asiaticus), which Mr. Blanford states is a bird of the plains and 

 open and cultivated country, of groves, and gardens and low jungle, commonly 

 near habitations, while the Jungle Nightjar (C. indicus), as the name suggests, 

 frequents the forests. 



Wood Nightjars. The second of the two subfamilies of the Caprimulgidce 

 comprises, as already indicated, only a single genus and seven species (Nyctibius), 

 known as the Wood Nightjars, all natives of the New World and ranging from 

 Jamaica and Mexico throughout the tropical parts of South America. It is 

 a very well marked group, distinguished by having the normal number of joints 

 to the outer toe, by the absence of the fringe on the claw of the middle toe, and 

 by the presence of large powder-down patches on the sides of the body and 

 breast; furthermore the tarsus is extremely abbreviated, being much shorter 

 than any of the toes, while the bill is provided with a curious hook or tooth 

 on the upper mandible near the tip. The plumage is more mottled than in the 

 members of the typical subfamily, being grayish or brownish, much spotted 

 and streaked with blackish; the length varies in the different species between 

 nine and some twenty inches, one of the best-known and widely distributed 

 being the Great Goatsucker (TV. jamaicensis). Of its habits in Jamaica, where 

 it is known as the Potoo, Gosse says that it is not infrequently sen in the even- 

 ing "taking its station soon after sunset on some dead tree or fence post, or 

 floating by on noiseless wing, like an Owl, which the common people suppose 

 it to be. The plumage has the soft, puffy character which marks that of the 

 Owls. Now and then it is seen by day; but it is half concealed in the bushy 

 foliage of some thick tree, which it can with difficulty be induced to quit, dis- 

 trustful of its powers by day. As it sits in the fading twilight it ever and anon 

 utters a loud ho-hoo, and sometimes the same syllables are heard, in a much 

 lower tone, as if proceeding from the depth of the throat." Gosse had one in 

 captivity for several days, but it refused food and sat in the same position day 

 and night, this position, by the way, being " quite perpendicular " and in accord 

 with what subsequent observers have stated. Apparently the first authentic 

 nest of this species to be described is that mentioned by Dr. E. A. Goeldi, which 

 was found along the Rio Alpina, in southern Brazil. It was on the top of a small 

 stump about six feet in height and less than five inches in diameter, which had 

 been placed as a boundary mark between two plantations. The Uratoa was 

 observed sitting bolt upright on the top of the stump, and under the bird was 



