86 
VERTEBRATA. 
THE GOLD KIVER GOAT-SUCKEE. . THE GEBAT IBIJAIT. 
Genus STEATOENIS : Steatornis. — ^This includes tlie Oil-Bird or the Gfacharo Bird, S. 
caripensis. It is about the size of a common fowl, and is strictly nocturnal in its habits, passing 
the day and breeding in dark caverns, from which it only issues in search of food, in the twilight. 
Its food, however, is very different from that of its allies: it consists of fruits and seeds; and the 
Indians assured Humboldt that the bird never pursues insects. The young become exceed- 
ingly fat, and at a certain season — that is, about midsummer — they are collected by the natives and 
boiled down for the sake of their oil, which is said to resemble olive-oil, and to be of such an ex- 
cellent quality that it will keep for more than a year without becoming rancid. These birds make 
a horrible noise when their caverns are invaded, and as their abodes are generally regarded with 
a superstitious dread by the Indians — who beHcve that the spirits of their ancestors dwell in them — 
in their pursuit of the young birds for their "oil harvest," as they call it, they seldom venture far 
from the entrance. The principal resort of these strange birds is the cavern of Guacharo, in the 
valley of Caripe, in Yenezuela. This cave has a grand entrance, fifteen hundred ^eet above the 
level of the sen, and extends four thousand feet into the bowels of the mountains. In the hid- 
den apartments of this gloomy temple, these birds roost by thousands during the day, issuing 
forth only at night. They have been also found at Bogota, and in the islands of Guadeloupe and 
Trinidad. 
