INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
35. Athene connivens . Vol. I. PI. 34. 
Buteo connivens, Vieill. Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., torn. iv. p. 481. 
36. Athene strenua, Gould Vol. I. PI. 35. 
37. Athene rufa, Gould Vol. I. PI 36. 
Order INSESSORES, Fig. 
Family CAPRIMULGIDyE, Fig: 
Genus iEaoTHELEs, Fig\ 8f Horsf. 
The known species of this genus are two in number, both of which, so far as has yet been ascertained, are 
confined to Australia. In many of their actions, and in their nidification, they are very owl-like, depositing, like 
those birds, their four or five round white eggs in the hollows of trees, without any nest. 
38. TEgotheles Novee-HoUandige Vol. II. PI. 1. 
Inhabits the whole of the southern parts of Australia and Van Diemen's Land. 
39. vEgotheles leucogaster, Gould Vol. II. PI. 2. 
Inhabits the northern or intertropical parts of Australia, where it represents the M. Nov(B-Hollandice. 
Genus Podargus, Cuv. 
With no one group of the Australian birds have I had so much difl&culty in discriminating the species as the 
genus Podargus. It is almost impossible to determine with certainty the older species described by Latham ; 
could this have been done satisfactorily, even in a single instance, it would have greatly facilitated the investigation 
of the remainder. Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield regarded the specimens in the Linnean Collection as referable to 
three species, and have described them under the names of Stanleyanus, humeralis, and Ciivieri; Latham's descrip- 
tion of the species named by him megacephalus accords so well with the P. Stanleyanus, that I suspect both those 
terms have been applied to one and the same species, an opinion strengthened by Latham's remarks as to the great 
size of the head and mandibles of his bird, the total length of which he states to be thirty inches, which is evidently 
an error. 
After examining a large number of specimens comprising individuals of all ages, I have come to the con- 
clusion that the Australian members of this genus constitute six species ; four of which, namely, P. megacephalus, 
P. humeralis, P. Cuvieri, and P. hrachypterus, are most closely allied to each other ; and two, namely, P. plumiferus 
and P. Phalcenoides, which present specific characters that cannot be mistaken. We have then in Australia a large 
group of nocturnal birds of this form destined, as it would seem, to keep in check the great families of Cicadce 
and Phasmidce, upon which they mainly subsist ; but they do not refuse other insects, and even berries have been 
found in their stomachs. They are an inanimate and sluggish group of birds, and do not procure their food on 
the wing so much as other Caprimulgi, but obtain it by traversing the branches of the various trees upon which 
their favourite insects reside ; at intervals during the night they sit about in open places, on rails, stumps of trees, 
on the roofs of houses and on the tombstones in the churchyards, and by superstitious persons are regarded as 
omens of death, their hoarse disagreeable voice adding not a little to the terrors induced by their presence. 
In their nidification the Podargi difi^er in a most remarkable manner from all the other Caprimulgidce, 
inasmuch as while the eggs of the Mgothelce are deposited in the holes of trees, and those of the members of the 
other genera of this family on the ground, these birds construct a flat nest of small sticks on the horizontal 
branches of trees for the reception of theirs, which are moreover of the purest white. 
Although I have no satisfactory evidence that these birds resort to a kind of hybernation for short periods 
during some portions of the year, I must not omit to mention that I have been assured that they do occasionally 
retire to and remain secluded in the hollow parts of the trees ; and if such should prove to be the case, it may 
account for the extreme obesity of many of the individuals I procured, which was often so great as to prevent me 
from preserving their skins. I trust that these remarks will cause the subject to be investigated, by those who are 
