4i8 



CORACIIFORMES 



CHAP. 



occupy nearly the whole globe, except the coldest parts, the Eastern 

 Pacific Islands and New Zealand. 



Sub-fam. 1. Gaprimulginae. — Caprimulgus europaeus, the 

 Nightjar, Goatsucker, or Fern-Owl, visits Britain for the summer, 

 and extends from Europe and North Africa to South Mongolia 

 in Asia, reaching North-West India and South Africa in winter. 

 G. ruficollis of South- West Europe and the neighbouring portions 

 of Africa has once occurred in England, as has 0. aegyptius of 

 North-East Africa and West Asia. The genera Seleotlireptus 

 of Brazil and Argentina, and Macrodipteryx of Tropical Africa, 

 contain respectively one and two members, remarkable for the 

 extraordinary elongation of the remiges in the male. H. anomalus 

 has the first six primaries curved inwards, the seventh, eighth, 



Pig. 87. — Nightjar or Goatsucker. Caprimulgus europaeus. x J. 



and ninth prolonged — especially the eighth ; 31. vexillarms, the 

 Pennant-winged Nightjar, has the same three feathers produced, 

 but the ninth in particular ; M. macroclipterus has the ninth alone 

 extended, with long bare shaft and racquet-like tip : and this is 

 at times erected when the bird is sitting on the ground. Scotornis 

 climacurus of the north of Tropical Africa, the four species of 

 Hydropsalis, inhabiting South America southwards to Argentina, 

 and the three of Macropsalis, ranging from Panama to Bolivia 

 and South-East Brazil, have enormously elongated rectrices, the 

 median pair being highly developed in the first-named, the whole 

 number in the second, and the lateral pair in the last. These long 

 feathers seem to impede the flight but little, though Hydropsalis 

 constantly opens and shuts its tail in the air. 



Sub-fam. 2. Nyctiliinae. — Six species of Nyctihius occur in 

 Tropical America, including Jamaica, and utter wailing cries. 



