CAPRIMULGUS NATALENSIS. 



also white ; the rest of the qaill feathers barred deep reddish orange and 

 brownish red. Tail feathers liver-brown, and variegated with a number of 

 incomplete light bars, formed by a congeries of short waved buff-orange lines 

 extending along the feathers ; the last half of the two outermost tail feathers, 

 and the basal portion of the outer vane of the outermost one, white. Breast 

 dark reddish brown, the feathei's towards their points blotched with white or 

 sienna-yellow. Belly, flanks, and vent buff-orange ; the former barred trans- 

 versely with brownish red. Legs and toes yellowish brown, with a fleshy tint. 

 Eyes deep umber-brown. 



Form, &c. — Bill, anterior to frontal feathers, triangular, towards the point 

 narrow, compressed, and much curved, towards the base strongly depressed. 

 Gape very large, the angle of the mouth below the hinder angle of the eye. 

 Wings moderately long, slightly rounded, and when folded reach to within 

 about an inch of the tip of the tail ; the second and third quill feathers equal 

 and longest, the fourth slightly shorter, and the first a little shorter than the 

 fourth ; the tertiary quill feathers in length about equal to the sixth primary 

 quill feather. Tail slightly rounded. Tarsi moderately robust, and anteriorly, 

 towards upper extremity, covered with feathers ; elsewhere scutellated. The 

 middle toe is considerably longer and stronger than the lateral ones, to each 

 of which it is connected, as far as the first joint, by a membranous web ; claw 

 long, slightly curved, and strongly pectinated, the other claws short, strongly 

 curved, and pointed. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches. Lines. 

 Length from the tip of the bill to the 



point of the tail 9 3 



of tlie bill to the angle of the 



mouth 1 2 



of the wings when folded ... C 3 



of the tail 4 C 



Inches. Lines. 



Length of the tarsus 8 



of the outer toe 5^ 



of the middle toe 9 



of the inner toe G 



hinder toe 2| 



Female. — Colours the same as those of the male, only neither so deep nor so 

 bright. 



'55' 



Tlie two specimens of this species which I possess— all I have yet seen — were killed in the 

 vicinity of Port Natal, and were, at the time they were shot, actively employed in catching insects 

 in tile dusk of the evenini;-, close to a Kaft'er kraal, and in the tauie locality in which they had 

 been watched for several evenings before. 



