310 CaprimulgidcB. 



of crimes of which they were never guilty, but now that their 

 innocence has been long since clearly proved and universally 

 allowed, still they continue to be designated by the same oppro- 

 brious title ; and what an absurd idea it was, even for our marvel- 

 loving old naturalists, to accuse these harmless insect-eating birds 

 of feeding on goats' milk, to obtain which, however, they are sin- 

 gularly ill-adapted. Their general characteristics are : very large 

 head with enormous width of gape ; large, clear and full eyes, as 

 befit those who hunt entirely in the dark ; short neck, and very 

 small body ; plumage extremely soft and full ; wings and tail very 

 long ; the base of the bill fringed with large bristles, which they 

 can move at pleasure, and which are of great assistance in securing 

 their prey ; their feet are very small and weak, and as they are 

 not formed for grasping, when these birds rest on a branch, they 

 seldom perch transversely, but lengthwise. But their most remark- 

 able peculiarity is the serrated or pectinated claw of the middle 

 toe, the comb consisting of about seven or eight teeth, supposed 

 by some to be useful in removing the legs of beetles and moths 

 from the bristles which surround the beak, as I have more fully 

 detailed in my paper on the feet of birds ;* by others conjectured 

 to be employed in preventing the bird from slipping side ways when 

 sitting length-wise on a branch. The hind toe is reversible, and 

 can be brought round to the front, so as to make all four toes turn 

 the same way. The food of the Caprimulgidre consists entirely of 

 insects, chiefly those which fly by night, and which they then 

 seize in their capacious mouth as they hurry along ; indeed, as 

 this family has the closest affinity with the Hirundinida, they 

 may well be termed ' Night Swallows/ for like them they visit us 

 periodically from Africa in the summer, are insects-eaters, have 

 great powers of flight, feed on the wing, and resemble them in 

 many particulars of their formation and habits. It is to this 

 family that the American ' Whip-poor- Will/ so dreaded by the 

 superstitious Indians as the ghost of one of their ancestors, 

 belongs. 



' Surra,' p. 50. 



