09 



THE LONG-TAILED GOAT-SUCKER 



have been touched, it ruffles its leathers and appears extremely dejected for a minute or 

 two, after which it emits a low murmuring ciy, scarcely audit)le to me as I have lain 

 concealed at a distance of eighteen or twenty yards. 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. After a few low notes and some gesticulations, I 

 have witnessed each take an egg into its large mouth, and both fly off together, skim- 

 ming closely over the ground, until they disappeared among the branches and trees. 

 But to what distance they remove their eggs I have never been able to ascertain, nor 

 have I ever had an opportunity of witnessing the removal of the young." 



M. Audubon proceeds to say that the bu-ds do not carry away the eggs unless they 

 have been touched, and that if the parent bird be merely frightened from her nest by the 

 sudden shout of a stranger, she will return to her eggs as soon as the intruder has left the 

 spot. 



It is a nocturnal bird, seeming to lose all its energies during the hours of daylight, and 

 to recover its alertness at the first coming of dusk. The full light of day appears to be 

 exceedingly painful to its eyes, and when suddenly taken from the dark resting-places in 



CAlioLlXA GOAT-SUCKER. —Capritnuhjus Caroliucnsis. 



which it loves to dwell, into tlie glare of daylight, it seems to be quite confused, and is 

 unable to escape by flight, contenting itself with snapping its bill, hissing and puffing out 

 its feathers after the manner of the owls. It is a migratory bird, arriving in the United 

 States in March or April, according to the state of the weather and the latitude of the 

 locality, and remaining in these parts until the end of August, when it takes flight for 

 Mexico and other warm regions, and there passes the winter. 



The plumage of this pretty bird is like that of the ordinary Goat-suckers, both in 

 colour and texture, but is notable for the bright motley yellowish-red with which the 

 dark-brown feathers of its head and back are plentifully but minutely sprinkled, as well 

 as for the bars of deep sooty-brown and yellowish-red which extend across the wings and 

 tail. The three outer quill feathers of the tail are white upon their inner webs, a band of 

 greyish-white extends across the front of the neck, and the whole of the under parts are 

 sooty-black profusely covered with little yellowish-red markings. 



The Scissor-tailed Nightjae is also worthy of a sliort notice, on account of the 

 peculiar structure of the rectrices, from which it derives its name. In the male bird, the 



