CAPRIMULGUS RUFIGENA. 



lines. The lateral and the posterior parts of the neck, in front of interscapulars 

 with a rusty buff-orange collar blotched with umber-bi'own, and on each side 

 of the throat, immediately below the angle of the mouth, is a large white spot, 

 the one separated from the other by the intervention of a few feathers spotted 

 buff and uraber-brown. Eyes dark brown. Tarsi and toes intermediate 

 between buff-orange and yellowish brown ; claws brownish red. 



Form, &c. — Bill subtriangular, and the culmen throughout its whole length 

 distinctly defined, and considerably curved towards the point ; upper mandible, 

 immediately before frontal feathers, with a thin sprinkling of short rigid 

 bristles. Wings of moderate length, slightly rounded, and when folded reach 

 within an inch of the tip of the tail ; the second and third qudl feathers equal 

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

 first. Tail slightly rounded. Tarsi and toes rather slender, the upper half 

 of the former, anteriorly, covered with short feathers, the other parts with 

 small plates ; claw of middle toe with six, seven, or eight teeth. 



Inches. Lines. 



Lengtli of the tarsus 10 



of the outer toe 3 



of the middle toe 7 J 



of the inner toe .3^ 



of the liinder toe 2 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches. Lines. 

 Length from the point of tlie bill to 



the tip of the tail !) 4 



of tlie biO to the angle of the 



mouth 1 IJ 



of the wings when folded G 2 



of the tail .5 



Female. — Colours not known. 



During my residence in South Africa, I procured six male birds of this species, but not one 

 female. It is chiefly found in the eastern districts of the colony, and, in common with the other 

 Cape species, seeks its food generally in tiie dusk of the evening, and during the early part of 

 the night. Districts abounding in brushwood seem to constitute the favourite haunts of the 

 African Goat-suckers ; and where high roads pass through a country so provided, they are most 

 frequently found on or near them, either skimming along them or across them. During the 

 day they remain perched on the loner branches of brushwood in retired positions, and if by 

 accident they be disturbed, they ne\er fly further than the first copse which proves suitable as 

 a place of concealment. 



