13S CASSELL'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



The GIANT OWL SWALLOWS (Podargus) are birds of considerable size, with large flat 

 heads, moderately large wings, in which the first quill exceeds the rest in length, long rounded tails, 

 and short tarsi, furnished with a foot of moderate size, the two innermost toes connected by a fold 

 of skin. The beak is hard, powerful, much broader than it is high, slightly curved at the roof of the 

 upper mandible, ami very decidedy hooked at its tip, which fits into a corresponding groove in the 

 lower portion of the beak ; the gape extends as far as the hindermost corner of the eye. The 

 plumage is soft, and resembles that of the Owl. The beak has but a sparse growth of bristles. 



THE GIANT OWL SWALLOW. 



The Giant Owl Swallow (Podargus /iiuiicralis) is a bird about the size of a Crow. The upper 

 part of the body is brown marked with greyish white and dark brown, the top of the head being 

 streaked with blackish brown, and spotted with white. The quills are brownish black, marked with 

 rows of spots upon the outer, and striped upon the inner web ; the beak is light brown shaded with 

 purple ; the feet and eyes are yellowish brown. The many varieties of this species resemble each 

 other both in appearance and habits. 



" Like the rest of the genus, the Podargus humcralis is strictly nocturnal, sleeping throughout the 

 day on the dead branch of a tree, in an upright position, across and never parallel to the branch, and 

 which it so closely resembles as scarcely to be distinguishable from it. I have occasionally seen it 

 beneath the thick foliage of the Casuarinas, and I have been informed that it sometimes shelters itself 

 in the hollow trunks of the Eucalypti, but I could never detect one in such a situation. I mostly 

 found them in pairs, perched near each other on the branches of the Gums, in places not at all 

 sheltered from the beams of the mid-day sun." — Gould. 



The sleep of the Giant Owl Swallow is so profound that one of a pair may be shot from a branch 

 without the mate that is sleeping at its side being roused, and the heavy sluggard may be pelted with 

 stones, or struck with a stick, without being awakened from its slumbers. Should it at last be roused 

 to consciousness, it scarcely exhibits animation sufficient to prevent it from falling to the ground, as it 

 slowly flutters, in a semi-torpid state, to the nearest tree, when it at once perches, and falls into a 

 sleep as heavy as that from which it has just been disturbed. No sooner, however, has night set in, 

 than the previously drowsy stupid bird becomes a new creature, and after carefully preening its 

 plumage, at once proceeds to run actively and briskly up and down the branches of trees in searcli of 

 Grasshoppers ; it also extracts larva? from under the bark, after the manner of Woodpeckers, or dives 

 down holes and fissures to find any delicate morsels that may be concealed within. Its flight is not 

 particularly good, owing to the shortness of it wings, but it passes with considerable rapidity from 

 tree to tree, and occasionally amuses itself by a variety of manoeuvres in the air. Gould is of opinion 

 that this species lives entirely upon insects, but Verreaux affirms that it frequents morasses during 

 winter, when food is scarce, and consumes snails or other inhabitants of the water, and that in the 

 breeding season it will attack young birds, kill them by repeatedly striking them against the stem of 

 the tree, and then devour them. The pursuit of prey is carried on late in the evening, and again just 

 before dawn, the intermediate hours being devoted to the process of digestion, combined with heavy 

 sleep. The breeding season commences about July, and is ushered in by repeated battles between 

 the males, whose loud voices become louder and more dissonant as they dispute possession of a 

 female, or exert themselves to please her with their vocal efforts. Both parents co-operate in 

 building their small, flat nest, which is most carelessly constructed of fine twigs lined with grass and 

 feathers, and is usually placed in a forked branch at about five or six feet from the ground. The 

 eggs are from two to four in number, their shape is elongate, and their colour pure white, so that 

 they are often distinctly visible through the thin walls of their slightly constructed abode. Both 



