482 



The Living Animals ot the World 



a note which has been likened to the noise made by a spinning-wheel, and so iiowerful as to 

 be audible half a mile off. This note is made while on the ground : on the wing, while toying 

 with its mate, another equally peculiar sound is made, which has been likened to the noise 

 made by swinging a whip-thong through the air. 



No nest is made liy this bird ; but the eggs, two in number and beautifully marked, 

 are laid on the bare ground. The young are covered with down, and remain in the nest 

 for some time. 



Another very remarkal)le feature is the flict that the claw of the iniddle toe has its inner 

 edge curiously serrated, forming a sort of comb, the function of which is unknown. This 

 comb-like claw occurs also in some few other birds — bitterns, for instance. 



A very remarkable kind is the Pennant-avimjed Night-jar, in which one of the quill- 

 feathers in each wing is produced into a " ])ennant " of some 17 inches in length. The shaft 

 of the feather is bare for the greater part of its length, and ternunates in a feathery blade. 

 It is an Abyssinian species about which not much is known. 



iSonie of the niglit-jars, as the 

 New World Night-hawk and the 

 Old World Eared Night-jars, are 

 particularly owl-like, a resemblance 

 imparted by long " ear-like " tufts 

 of feathers which rise from the 

 back of the head. Others, as 

 the jMore-pork of the Tasmanian 

 colonist, or the Frog-mouth, as it 

 is called in Australia, are remark- 

 able for the huge size of the 

 mouth, bounded, as it appears to 

 be, by huge lips, represented by 

 the siiort, round-edged beak. 



"\'ery nearly related to the 

 night-jars is the OiL-lURD of South 

 America, which lives in caves in 

 Trinidad, Ecuador, and Peru, where 

 it builds a nest which has been 

 likened in apjjearance to a huge 

 cheese, and in which are laid from 

 two to four white eo-^s. Like the 

 night-jars, these birds feed by 

 night, emerging from their gloomy 

 retreats at twilight with much noise and in great numbers. Their food, however, is entirely 

 of a vegetable nature, consisting of oily nuts or fruits. 



The young, soon after they are hatched, become perfect masses of fat, and on this account 

 are much in demand by the Indians, wlio make a special business of killing them and extracting 

 the oil. 



J'kulo b^ \Y. hncdlc-K,.,d, l:z..s.\ 



MOEE-POBKS. 

 So calluJ fmm the note they Titter, 



[ildJ'urd-uil-SLa. 



SWIFI'S. 



In general appearance .ShtI'TS bear a strong superficial resemblance to Swallows; in reality 

 they are related, not to those harbingers of spring, but to the Night-jars on the one hand 

 and the Hummmg-birds on the other. 



The Common Swift arrives in England during the early part of May, and stays till 

 the end of August, or sometimes till Septemlier has half run its course. Black in colour, 

 relieved only by a white throat, it has little in the sense of beauty to recommend it ; 

 nevertheless, thei-e are jirobably few who do not cherish tender feelings towards this bird. 



