1866.] MR. P. L. SCLATER ON THE CAPRIMULGID^. 581 



The operation of shearing was performed as ordinarily in sheep, 

 and the quantities obtained were as follows : — From the brown-and- 

 white male Llama about 14 1b.; from the black female Alpaca 

 8 lb. ; and from the black-and-white male Alpaca 8| lb. Col- 

 paert*, one of the most recent authorities on these animals in their 

 South American haunts, does not compare the weights and value of 

 the fleece in the two domesticated and two wild varieties ; but he 

 says that the Chinela, a variety of Alpaca, yields the most esteemed 

 and heaviest kind of fleece, but it is rare that it surpasses 6 or 7 lb. 



With regard to the specific differences of the genus Auchenia, it 

 is not my intention to speak ; but I may with propriety allude to 

 the fact of their Camel-like appearance in the disrobed condition, as 

 compared with their more sheep-like character when enveloped in 

 their thick and long woolly fleece. 



As depicted in the plate, the Llama has more clearly a spotted 

 appearance than when the fleece was upon it ; this may partly be on 

 account of the original intertwining of the fibres of the two different 

 colours, and still more, no doubt, by the then accumulation of dirt and 

 smoke which blackened the surface. The two Alpacas did uot alter 

 in colour so far as to make any marked difference in their aspect. 



The neck in all three shorn animals appears to have a far greater 

 length proportionally to the body ; and the same remark applies to 

 the hind legs, the thighs of which are seen more than usually free 

 from the body — a character of the family Camelidce. The body 

 in contour is entirely transformed ; and the rough sheep- or goat- 

 like hairy carcass, the awkward, uncouth, disproportionate body, 

 with its naked flanks and generally scraggy look, detract from grace 

 in the animals, and render their appearance more remarkable than 

 beautiful. 



From their peculiar gait and slouching ungainly manner, if but a 

 hump were present, they would at once recall to mind a tottering 

 young camel. 



12. Additional Notes on the Caprinmlyida. By P. L. 

 Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Society. 



(Plates XLV., XLVI.) 



Since I prepared the article on the American Caprimulgidce, read 

 before this Society in February lastf, I have collected some further 

 information on this subject, which I now propose to lay before the 

 Meeting. 



In the first place, as regards the general arrangement of the group, 



* Loc. tit. p. 124. 



t S;^e P. Z. S. 1866, p. 123 et seq. It should be remarked that in this article, 

 in page 139 (as may be easily seen by the context), an error has occurred in the 

 references (lines 6 and 8 from the top) to figs. 10 and 11. It is fig. 10 which re- 

 presents the outer rectrisof Stenopsis rujicervix, and fig. 11 that of 8. bifasciata. 

 This error has been corrected in the separate copies. 



