BIRDS OF NEW YORK 1 63 



cavity at the bottom and the eggs are laid on a layer of chips. They are 

 5 to 8 in number, pure white in color, slightly less glossy than those of 

 the Red-headed woodpecker, and average i.io by .85 in dimensions. 



Order IVIACROCHIRBS 



Goatsuckers, Swifts, Hummers etc. 



Suborder CAPRIIMULGI 



Family CA.F'RI]VIUIvGIDA.]£ 



Goatsuckers 



Palate schizognathous ; basipterygoids small; 2 carotids; sternum two 

 or four-notched; pliunage af tershafted ; oil gland small and bare; 10 prima- 

 ries; rectrices 10; bill weak, small and deeply fissured; habits more or less 

 nocturnal; eggs 2, laid on the bare ground; young downy but not pre- 

 cocious; wings long and pointed, the elongation being principally beyond 

 the carpal joint and in the feathers; plumage mostly soft and owllike; 

 colors marbled, mottled and intricately blended; tarsus very short; feet 

 small and weak; the lateral toe very short; the 3 forward toes movable, 

 webbed at the base; middle claw pectinate; hind toe short, elevated and 

 partly lateral; formula of the phalanges or toe joints 2-3-^4-4. 



The goatsuckers, or nightjars, are largely cosmopolitan in distri- 

 bution, consisting of about 125 species, only 2 of which are natives of New 

 York. On account of their small, weak feet they are hardly able to alight 

 in trees, and when they do must sit lengthwise of the larger branches. 

 They are mostly, nocturnal or crepuscular, the Nighthawk, however, often 

 going out by day. The eggs are always two as in the case of Humming 

 birds, and are almost perfectly elliptical in shape. The Whippoorwill 

 and Nighthawk are among our most valuable birds, feeding on flying 

 insects, the Whippoorwill, especially, on moths which are destructive to 

 trees and vegetation in general, the Nighthawk on all kinds of insects, 

 particularly on ants, beetles, flies and moths. These birds should be 

 protected and encouraged as much as possible for the valuable services 

 they render to the Commonwealth. 



