1894
March 18
(no 3)
Trinidad, B.W.I
Caparo

In the late afternoon we walked up the road and
lingered there until dark. For the fourth time we found
our big Goatsucker (Nyctibius jamaicensis) on his favorite
stub and for the second  time we saw him come to
it from the forest. He appeared about half an hour
after sunset high above the tops of the tallest trees
and on set wings, without a single flap, sailed slowly
and majestically two hundred yards or more until
directly above the stub to which he descended in
a broad spiral sweep of two turns ending a yard
or so below the top of the stub where he pitched sharply
upward closing his wings just as his feet struck 
the perch. I have rarely if ever seen so beautiful
a flight before and for a Goatsucker it was simply
extraordinary. The strong afterglow in the west against
which the big bird found a dusky silhouette added
no doubt to its impressiveness.
[margin] Habits of "Pom-me-one" [/margin]

After he has taken his perch our bird always behaves 
in precisely the same manner on different occasions.
He sits bolt upright the long axis of his body parallel
with, or rather forming a continuation of, that of the 
stub against which his tail is firmly pressed. He
invariably faces the west but his head is kept
moving or rolling from side to side in the manner
of a [?]. Were it not for, or indeed probably in
spite of, this motion he would be surely taken for an
Owl or Hawk [?] on his perch.
At short irregular intervals - usually two or three times
in a minute, he launches out after flying insects
flying in a perfectly straight line - usually ascending 
slightly, with firm and vigorous yet easy wing beats