352 GOATSUCKER. 



fields in preference to woods, and frequents moist places ; chaces 

 insects in full day-light ; found chiefly in pairs, but sometimes in 

 troops of more than 100 ; said to lay two eggs on the ground without 

 any kind of nest; length ten inches and a half, breadth twenty-seven. 

 This is variegated in plumage, as some others, but chiefly distin- 

 guished by a kind of white narrow horse-shoe, passing from one 

 corner of the mouth to the other under the chin ; tail brown, barred 

 deeper brown, and even at the end; shins olive: said to be a new 

 species, but probably allied to the last. 



22— WHIP-POOR-WILL GOATSUCKER. 



Caprimulgus vociferus, Whip-poor-Will, Am. Om. v. p. 71. pi. 41. f. 1. 2. 3. Nat. 

 Misc. pi. 1053. 



THIS is nine inches and a half long, and extends nineteen. 

 Bill blackish, a quarter of an inch long, and stouter than in the 

 Virginia Species ; nostrils prominent ; gape very large, and the 

 mouth beset with long, thick, elastic bristles, some extending more 

 than half an inch beyond the point, end in fine hair, and curve 

 inwards; irides bluish black; plumage above variegated with black, 

 pale cream brown, and rust-colour; sprinkled and powdered in such 

 minute streaks and spots, as to defy description ; crown light 

 brownish grey, with a longitudinal streak of black, and others 

 radiating from it ; back darker ; scapulars light, whitish ochre, 

 variegated with two or three oblique deep black streaks ; tail 

 rounded ; the three outer feathers blackish brown for half the length, 

 from thence pure white to the end ; but the exterior edged deep 

 brown nearly to the tip, and regularly studded with light brown 

 spots; the four middle ones marked with herring-bone figures of 

 black, and light ochre, finely powdered the whole of their length ; 

 cheeks brown orange, or burnt-colour ; chin black, streaked with 

 brown ; across the throat a narrow white crescent ; breast and belly 



