122 CASSIN'S MONOGRAPH OF THE GENERA 



4. Anirostomus vociferus. (Wilson.) 



Caprimulgus vociferus. Wilson, Am. Orn. v. p. 71, pi. 41. 



Caprimulgus damator. Vieill. Nouv. Diet. x. p. 234. (1817.) 



" Caprimulgus virginianus. Linn. Gm." Vieill. Ois. d'Am. Sept. i. p. 65, pi. 23. 



(1807.) 

 Caprimulgus macromystax. Wagler, Isis 1831, p. 533 1 



Form. — Typical, but smaller than either of the preceding. Wings with the third 

 primary slightly longest; tail ample, rounded. 



Dimensions. — Total length (of skin) from tip of bill to end of tail about 9^ inches; 

 wing 6 J ; tail 5 inches. 



Colors. — 6 Head above ashy gray, with a longitudinal stripe of brownish black ; 

 back and rump brownish, with minute points and irregular lines of gray; scapulars 

 very light grayish with brownish longitudinal stripes. 



Quills brownish black, with interrupted bars of rufous, exposed ends of primaries 

 same^as the back. 



Throat nearly black, neck with an uninterrupted collar of white before and fulvous 

 behind. Under parts handsomely mottled with pale reddish white and brownish 

 black, the latter most conspicuous on the breast, the former on the abdomen and 

 under tail coverts. Four central tail feathers mottled with gray and brownish black, 

 the latter forming irregular bands, external feathers of the tail brownish black, largely 

 tipped with silky white and with traces of rufous bars towards the base, 



9 Smaller than the male, total length (of skin) about 9 inches, very similar in 

 color, but with the collar on the neck before, pale fulvous, which is also the color of 

 the tips of the external tail feathers. 



Hah. — North America. 



Qj)s. — A common and well known bird of the United States, remarkable for its 

 loud and constantly repeated notes in the season of courtship and incubation. 



There are in the collection of the Academy two specimens, one of which is from 

 Mexico and the other from California, which are slightly darker in color and have 

 the nuchal collar less observable than in any specimens of the present species that I 

 have seen. I have hitherto considered them as being the C. macromijsiax, Wagler, 

 whose notice of the specimen on which he founds the species (in Isis 1831, p. 533) 

 is insufficient for determination. Dr. Le Conte of New York, (the distinguished 

 entomologist,) who has made a protracted visit to California, informs me, however, 

 that there is undoubtedly in that country a species whose note, most frequently heard 

 in the evening, is quite different from that of either A. vociferus or A. Nuttallii, both 

 of which he has heard. Hoping to see a specimen of it soon, I must suspend my 

 judgment of A. macromystax for the present. 



