POPETUE GOATSUCKER. 



165 



Virginian Goatsucker, to which it has not the 

 least affinity, and from which it differs mate- 

 rially : in the first place this species has no bristles 

 on the edges of the upper mandible, which most 

 of the species possess ; and in the next place the 

 tail is greatly forked, whereas in the Virginian 

 species it is rounded. Edwards, in his sixty-third 

 plate, has given a tolerably correct figure of the 

 bird, but he has ornamented its gape with bristles : 

 Pennant has described it after him, but has figured. 

 theshort-wingedGoatsucker,or Chuck-wills-widow, 

 instead of this bird. Vieillot and Wilson have 

 described and figured it as distinct, by which they 

 have given an example of their accuracy. The 

 former of those authors thus describes it : the 

 beak is black; the upper parts of the head and 

 shoulders brown black, spotted with white and 

 reddish ; which colours are repeated on the upper 

 wing-coverts, the secondary wing- quills, and the 

 middle feathers of the tail, which are likewise 

 spotted with pale cream-colour: the primary quills 

 are entirely black, with the exception of the thirdy 

 fourth, and fifth, which have a large white spot 

 towards the middle, and which appears to be 

 transparent when the bird has got to a certain 

 elevation : on the breast and under parts of the 

 body the colours are placed transversely : the 

 lateral tail-feathers are black, barred with reddish 

 white : the tail itself is forked : the feet are 

 brown : it is in length eight inches and three 

 quarters : the male has a white spot on the throat, 

 and likewise on most of the tail-feathers, of which 



