The CHUCK--mLL's Widow.- 



-BIRDS.- 



-The Virginian Goatsucker. 



277 



its note. This remarkable cry is said by the American 

 writers to resemble the words Chuck-wilVs-widoio, 

 each syllable being slowly and distinctly pronounced, 

 with the principal emphasis laid on the last word. It 

 is so loud that in a still evening it may be heard at a 

 distance of nearly a mile ; and in those districts where 

 the birds are numerous, their incessant vociferation 

 makes the mountains ring with echoes dui'ing the whole 

 evening. In general the note is heard only in the 

 morning and evening, but on moonlight nights it is 

 continued throughout the whole night. 



Like tlie preceding species, the Chuck-wiU's-widow 

 is a migratory bird, arri\ang in the southern states of 

 the American Union about the middle of JIarch, and 

 gradually extending itself towards the north. It retires 

 from the United States early in September. In its 

 habits it resembles the Whip-poor-will, passing the 

 day in concealment in thick woods and wooded glens, 

 and issuing forth at sun-down in pursuit of insects. It 

 flies low, and frequently settles on old logs or on fences, 

 from which it dashes off again after its prey. The 

 eggs, two in number, are laid on the ground, without 

 any nest, and the birds exhibit the same jealousy of 

 having them touched which we have already described 

 in the case of the African Collared Goatsucker, and 

 which is probably common to most birds of this group. 

 In illustration of this peculiarity, we may quote the 

 following account giveil by Audubon : — '• The negroes," 

 says that celebrated ornithologist, " some of whom pay 

 a good de.al of attention to the haliils of birds and 

 (juadrupeds, assured me that these birds push the eggs 

 or young with their bill along the ground. Some 

 farmers, without troublmg themselves much about the 

 matter, imagined the transportation to be performed 

 under the wings of the old bird. The account of the 

 negroes appearing to me more likely to be true than that 

 of the farmers, I made up ray mind to institute a stiict 

 investigation of the matter. The following is the 

 result : — When the Chuck-wiU's-widow, either male 

 or female — for each sits alternately — has discovered 

 that the eggs have been touched, it ruffles its feathers, 

 and appears extremely dejected for a minute or two, 

 after which it emits a low murmuring cry, scarcely 

 audible to me as I lay concealed at a distance of not 

 more than eighteen or twenty j'ards. At this time I 

 have seen the other parent reach the spot, flying so 

 low over the ground that I thought its little feet must 

 have touched it, as it skimmed along ; and after a few 

 low notes and some gesticulations, all indicative of 

 great distress, take an egg into its large mouth, the other 

 bird doing the same; when they would fly off together, 

 skimming closely over the gi'ound, until they disappeared 

 among the branches and trees." From an observation 

 of Wilson's it would appear that the Whip-poor-will 

 also removes its young from a spot where it appre- 

 hends that they are in danger. 



THE SPOTTED-WINGED GOk1SVCKE&{Eurostopodas 

 juUatiis). — The true Goatsuckers are represented in 

 Australia by two species belonging to a peculiar genus, 

 to which Mr. Gould has given the name of Eurosto- 

 podus, in allusion to its stout feet. The Spotted- winged 

 Goatsucker is about eleven inches long, and its plumage 

 is generally of a grey colour, minutely freckled with 



black, and having many of tlie feathers edged with 

 buff. The quill feathers of the wings are brownish 

 black, the secondaries with numerous butf, and the 

 first four primaries with large pure white spots, forming 

 a band upon the wing. On each side of the throat 

 there is a large streak of white, which also occurs in 

 the other species. Little is known of the habits of 

 this bird, which is distributed over all the southern 

 parts of the Australian continent. Ijike the preceding 

 species, it breeds on the ground, and is nocturnal in its 

 habits. Mr. Gould states that when flushed in the day- 

 time, it mounts rapidly into the air, performs a few 

 zigzag evolutions, and then pitches down again upon 

 the earth at a distant spot. 



THE WHITE-THEOATED GOATSUCKER (Eurosto- 

 podus (dbugularis), has only been met with in New 

 South Wales, where it is not uncommon, but appears 

 to be a summer bird of passage. It measures about a 

 foot in length, and is of a far more dusky plumage than 

 the preceding species, which it also exceeds in the 

 length of the wings, the tips of the primaries reaching 

 as fiir as the end of the tail. In accordance with this, 

 Mr. Gould says that its flight is more powerful than 

 that of any other goatsucker that he has seen ; it 

 dashes through the air with great rapidity, and rises or 

 descends almost peipendicularly whenever an insect 

 comes within its reach. Its food consists principally of 

 beetles and locusts, some of them so large as to render 

 it surprising that they can be swallowed by the bird, 

 especiallj' as they are sometimes so little injured by the 

 process, that INIr. Gould preserved them for his ento- 

 mological collection. 



THE lEONA GOATSUCKER {Macrodlptcryx longi- 

 pennis) — Plate 6, fig. 18 — is remarkable for having an 

 exceedingly long feather, measuring sometimes twice the 

 length of the body, springing from each wing, but fur- 

 nished with barbs only at the extremity, the remainder 

 of the feather constituting a bare shaft. This curious 

 appendage, which is peculiar to the male, is not, 

 according to Mr. Swainson, one of the ordinary quill 

 feathers of the wing, of which the same number exists 

 in both sexes, but a supplementary feather, arising 

 frjm the bend of the wing, between the primaries and 

 secondaries. Its object — if, indeed, it serves any 

 special jmrpose — is quite unknown, and it seems pro- 

 bable that, like so many other extraordinary develop- 

 ments in animals, they are to be regarded solely as 

 ornaments ; but, in the absence of information upon the 

 habits of the bird, the question cannot be decided. 

 The Leona Goatsucker usually measures about eight 

 inches in length, and in its general appearance resembles 

 our European species. 



THE TIRGDIIAN GOATSUCKER {Chordeiles virgini- 

 (inus), called tlie Kight Hawk by many American 

 writers, is a well-kno-^vn migi'atory bird in the United 

 States, where it arrives in the month of April, returning 

 again towards the south about the middle of August. 

 It measures rather more than nine inches in length, 

 and is of a general blackish-brown colour, thickly 

 sprinkled above with minute spots and streaks of cream 

 colour and pale red. The tad is forked, and all the 

 feathers composing it, with the exception of the two 

 middle ones, are barred witli white nearly to the tip. 



