629 



CAPRIMULGUS J1GYPTIUS. 



(EGYPTIAN GOATSUCKER.) 



Caprimulgus aegyptius, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 59 (1823). 

 Caprimulgus isabellinus, Temm. PI. Col. 379 (1825). 

 Caprimulgus arenicolor, Sev. Ibis, 1875, p. 491. 



Figures notabiles. 

 Temm. I. c. ; Shelley, B. of Egypt, pi. 8. 



Ad. supra isabellino-cinereus, delicatissime nigro-fusco irroratus et vermiculatus : remigibus extus et in parte 

 apicali cinereo-isabellinis nigro vermiculatis et fasciatis, pogoniis internis basin versus albidis : rectri- 

 cibus dorso concoloribus nigro fasciatis, binis externis albo isabellino terminatis: eorpore subtus 

 isabellino-cinereo, anguste nigro-fusco fasciato, macula gulari conspicue alba : pedibus rufescenti- 

 fuscis : rostro saturate fusco : iride nigra. 



Adult Male (Turkestan) . Upper parts sandy isabelline with a greyish tinge, finely vermiculated and narrowly 

 barred with black ; quills on the outer web and on the terminal portion sandy grey, barred and vermi- 

 culated with black, on the inner web, near the shaft, blackish brown, with black bars going nearly half 

 across the web, the rest of the web white ; inner secondaries coloured like the back, but boldly barred 

 with blackish brown ; tail greyish isabelline finely vermiculated with black, the central rectrices finely, 

 and the rest somewhat boldly barred with black, the external ones with the tips unmarked with black ; 

 underparts sandy isabelline narrowly barred with blackish, a patch on the throat white ; legs reddish 

 brown; beak dark brown; iris black. Total length about 10- 5 inches, gape 1 - 1, wing 8 - I, tail 5 - 3, 

 tarsus - 9. 



Adult Female (Egypt) . Differs scarcely from the male in plumage, being a trifle duller and less clearly 

 marked. 



This Goatsucker is easily distinguishable from Caprimulgus europceus, not only by its pale sandy- 

 grey coloration, but by lacking the bold black stripes on the upper parts, in having the tail more 

 finely barred, and especially in having the basal and outer part of the inner webs of the 

 primaries white. Its range is not very extensive ; for it is found in North-east Africa, ranging 

 eastward to Turkestan ; and it has even straggled as far north as the island of Heligoland, whence 

 one was lately brought by Mr. H. Seebohm, who writes (Ibis, 1877, p. 163) that it was shot 

 there on the 22nd June 1875. Elsewhere in Europe proper it has not been obtained ; but, 

 Captain Shelley writes (B. of Egypt, p. 175), it is found throughout Egypt and Nubia, and appears 

 to be most plentiful in spring and autumn, when it is generally in flocks. " In the Fayoom," he 

 adds, " in March, I met with a small party of four, all of which were males, from which it 

 would appear that these birds travel in flocks of the same sex, and do not pair until shortly 

 before breeding. Those I met with in the Fayoom were sitting on the bare sand ; and as they 



