On the Giant Goatsucker of Brazil. 513 



XXXVIII. — A Story about the Giant Goatsucker of Brazil 

 (Nyctibius jaraaicensis). By Dr. Emil A. Goeldi, 

 H.M.B.O.U., Director of the Goeldi Museum, Para. 



My attention was first called many years ago to the fact 

 that the " Urutiiu " (or Giant Goatsucker) of Brazil "was an 

 object of legendary interest to the country-people, as was 

 likely to be the case with such a large nocturnal bird. I 

 have already noticed traces of such legends in Southern 

 Brazil*, and from 1894 to the present time I have frequently 

 met with further instances of the same tendency. 



Soon after my arrival at the mouth of the Amazon I 

 happened to hear one of these legends, which seems to me 

 to be of sufficient interest to be noticed briefly from a 

 scientific standpoint. It is not my habit to reject such 

 stories as utterly unworthy of attention ; on the contrary, 

 having learned from previous experience that there is almost 

 always a germ of truth in them, I have thought it worth 

 while to investigate the facts which may be supposed to 

 have given rise to such notions. 



The common people think that the Urutiiu " traga o 

 caminho do sol," — that is, " marks out the path of the sun." 

 I can best help the reader to understand the meaning of 

 this phrase by the accompanying sketches, which I have 

 drawn especially for this purpose. 



The first series of drawings (text-fig. 11, p. 514) illustrates 

 the popular idea of the different attitudes assumed by the 

 bird during the hours of daylight. 



The first figure (on the right) represents the Goatsucker 

 perched on the end of a dry bough (of which it seems to 

 form a prolongation) about sunrise. It will be seen that 

 it stands facing the eastern sun. The second figure repre- 

 sents the same bird at mid-day, when it appears in an 

 almost vertical position with its gaze fixed on the sun in the 

 zenith right over its head. The third figure (on the left) 

 shews the bird as it is supposed to sit about the hour of 



* See the author's < Aves do Brazil,' i. p. 199 (1894). 



