114 CLASS AVES. 



The opposite figure of one of these birds is from a specimen 

 in the museum of the Zoological Society. Its characters are 

 like those of Podargus Javanensis of Dr. Horsfield, having 

 many long loose feathers proceeding horizontally from the 

 root of the upper mandible, which gives the bird a singular 

 and grotesque appearance. The general colour is dark brown, 

 lighter on the lower part, with transverse bars on the wing- 

 coverts and tail. Mr. Vigors, who is about to describe it in 

 the " Zoological Journal," names it P. Auritus. 



The Trinidad Goatsucker of Dr. Latham, which seems also 

 to be the Steatornis of Humboldt, seems either to belong to 

 this division, or else to be entitled to a generic separation. 

 We subjoin Dr. Latham's account of it, as communicated to 

 him by Mr. Thompson, except of the specific characters, for 

 which we refer to the table ; he names it the Trinidad Goat- 

 sucker. 



They inhabit coves of the islands forming the Bocate, an 

 entrance into the Gulf of Paria, accessible only at the very 

 lowest ebb tides, and in moderate weather ; and as they are 

 never observed on the wing in day-time, most probably, like 

 the rest of the genus, they seek their food in the absence of 

 the sun. Here they breed during the early part of the spring ; 

 and it is at the time of new and full moons in April and May 

 that the people who are acquainted with these coves, resort 

 thither to take the young, and such of the old birds as they 

 can knock down with sticks. 



They have a strong and disagreeable fishy smell, but some 

 people resemble it to that of the cockroach ; and when dressed 

 they look like a round lump of fat, the little flesh there is 

 tasting more like that of a sucking-pig than any other, but 

 yet with a flavour and lusciousness peculiarly its own. But 

 what is most extraordinary is, that in a family supposed to be 

 wholly insectivorous, this should constitute a singular and 

 solitary exception, and be found to subsist, at least during 

 the breeding season, entirely on fruit ; for on examining the 



