ORDER PASSERES. Ill 



hook. From this perfect union of the two mandibles, this 

 bird appears, when the mouth is closed, to have a very small 

 bill — " Those who imagine," says M. Levaillant, " that these 

 birds always fly with their mouths open, are very grossly 

 deceived. They frequently place themselves on the ground, 

 for the purpose of collecting the insects there, and in taking 

 them on the wing, it does not appear necessary that they 

 should always keep their mouths gaping open. We find the 

 bee-eaters, the martens, and all the swallows, take insects on 

 the wing, and we never see them open the bill until the 

 moment they are near enough to snap them up. It is pro- 

 bable that the goatsucker does the same. Nature, who is 

 never deceived, nor does any thing in vain, would scarcely 

 have constructed the bill of this bird with so much care, and 

 sealed it so hermetically, if it was always to be wide open, 

 that the bird might procure its nutriment. M. Levaillant 

 has given an excellent representation of the bill of this bird, 

 both open and closed, of the natural size. This goatsucker, 

 from the forked tail, has a still greater analogy with the 

 swallows than the rest of its congeners. The Avings are about 

 forty inches from tip to tip, and when folded extend as far as 

 the feathers of the tail. 



The fork-tailed goatsucker was discovered by the naturalist 

 we are citing, on the banks of the river of Lions, in the 

 country of the great Namaquois, in the interior of the Cape. 

 It was by a singular chance that he procured both male and 

 female of this species. One day, hunting on the banks of this 

 river, accompanied by his native attendant, they were as- 

 sailed by a hurricane with tremendous rain, which forced 

 them to retire under some very large mimosas for shelter. 

 Looking around, they beheld a very thick tree quite dead, 

 whose stalk, almost entirely hollowed, contained a vast hole, 

 which communicated into the whole body of the worm-eaten 

 trunk. Hoping to find some insects under the bark of this 

 tree, they approached, but when they came there, they heard, 



