192 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



by membrane, and tlie hallux Is also slightly connected with 

 tlie inner toe. They all live on insects, which they capture on the 

 wing. They perch upon branches, not across them, for their feet 

 are not suited for grasping, but in direction of the branch. They 

 have usually only two eggs, which are laid in a hollow of the bare 

 gi'ound, more or less under shelter. The use of the pectinated 

 claw has been a subject of much discussion ; some naturalists 

 having asserted that they seize their food with their feet, and 

 others that it is used as a comb to scratch their heads to free them 

 from vermin. Both hypotheses are alike untenable, and its pre- 

 sence appears to me to be purely analogical. It is possessed by a 

 few Owls, by some Herons, and by Pelicans. 



Gen. Caprimulgus, Lin. 



Char. — Bill very sliort, flexible, broad at base, compressed and 

 bent at the tip ; rictal bristles very strong, numerous, directed for- 

 wards ; other characters as in the sub-family. 



The different species are not distinguished by the natives in 

 general, who apply to them all the following names, Chippak, or 

 chappa, Hind ; vulgo-Dab-chitri, or Dabhak, i. e., Squat-bird, also 

 Ajidhe-churi, or hlmdhird; As kappri gadu, Tel., vulgo Kappa 

 pitta, i. e., Frog-bird; Tamor pho, Lepch. 



The tolerably numerous Indian species form themselves into 

 four groups. 



1st Group. — Male with all, except the middle, tail-feathers, 

 having a subterminal white spot ; tarsus feathered. 



107. Caprimulgus Indicus, Latham. 



Jerdon, 111. Ind. Orn., letter press to pi. 24 (In part) — Blyth, 



Cat. 409 (In part) — Horsf., Cat. 133 — C. cinerascens, Vieillot, 



— C. satiiratlor, Hodgs. (the young). — C. europaeus (?) of Sumatra, 



apud Raffles. 



The Jungle Night-jar. 



-* 

 Descr. — Prevalent hue light ashy, with dusky pencilHngs and 



black streaks on the feathers of the middle of the head, back, 



scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts, and fulvous blotches on 



