294 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
Norse. — The third order, Psittacit (parrots and their allies), 
is not represented in New England. Its members have toes in 
pairs, and an essentially raptorial bill. (See Chap. III.) 
§20. The Caprimulgide (or goatsuckers, of which the 
American species are typical, and belong to the subfamily 
Caprimulgine) and the Cypselide (or swifts, §21, pl. 1, fig. 23) 
form a natural group possessing the following features: gape 
extensive, and about six times as long as the culmen (or upper 
outline of the bill); feet small and weak; primaries ten; 
tail-feathers ten. The goatsuckers may be distinguished from 
“the swifts by the more or less bristled bill, the feet slightly 
webbed at the base, and the elevated hind-toe. This last fea- 
ture, however, also belongs to the Cheturine, a subfamily con- 
taining the Chimney “ Swallows,” and differing further from 
the true swifts in having unfeathered tarsi. The Cheetura 
(§ 21, I) have mucronate tail-feathers, in which the shaft pro- 
jects beyond the webs. (PI. 1, fig. 22.) 
The swifts probably possess powers of locomotion superior 
to those of any other living creatures. With their long, pointed 
wings, they are said to fly sometimes at the rate of two hun- 
dred and fifty miles in an hour. They are-strictly insectivo- 
rous and migratory, and more or less colonial. ‘They never 
perch, but many resort to hollows, as in trees, for the purpose 
of roosting and of nesting.” Their nests are attached to some 
more or less perpendicular surface, and are constructed partly 
or even wholly of a gummy saliva. The eggs are white, and 
rather elongated. 
The goatsuckers are generally nocturnal or crepuscular, and, 
as a rule, do not fly about in the day-time, unless when cloudy. 
When resting, they do so on the ground, or perch lengthwise 
on a bough or fence. They are insectivorous, capturing moths 
and smaller insects at some height in the air, also migratory 
and often gregarious. They are larger than the swifts, who 
are also somewhat crepuscular, and their plumage is much va- 
tiegated. They build no nest, but lay two eggs on the ground, 
or near it. There are two American genera. 
