CHAPTER XVII 
THE ORDER OF ODD FAMILIES 
MAC ROC HIRES 
With certain exceptions, the different Orders of American birds are founded on reasonable grounds 
and built up of homogeneous materials. As a rule, a few moments’ examination of a bird enables 
one to name the Order to which it belongs. There is no difficulty about the birds of prey, swimmers,, 
fishers, waders or woodpeckers. 
Unfortunately, however, Nature has turned out of her workshop so many odd forms that it has 
been found necessary to have a certain number of Orders for them. In mammals we have seen 
that the Order Ungulata is of this character. In birds, there are two such Orders. One is that 
which contains the cuckoos, road-runners and kingfishers, and the other is that which forms £jie 
subject of this chapter. 
The Order Macrochires means literally “odd ones,” and its members do not belie the name. On 
the strength of certain resemblances in anatomical structure, observable only after the birds are dead 
and dissected, our humming-birds, swifts and goatsuckers (i.e., birds like the whippoorwill and night- 
hawk) are grouped together in this Order, in three Families, as follows: 
EXAMPLES. 
cap-ri-MUL'GI-dae, . Nighthawk, Whippoorwill. 
MI-CRO-POD' l-DAE, . . Chimney-Swift. 
tro-CHIL’ i-DAE, . . . Ruby-Throated Humming-Bird. 
THE GOATSUCKER FAMILY. 
Caprimulgidae. 
The Nighthawk 1 is far from being a true 
hawk. It belongs to a Family of birds which 
have soft, owl-like plumage, and enormous 
mouths, fringed above with a row of stiff bristles, 
for use in capturing insects on the wing. Many 
years ago, when people believed many things 
that were not true, some believed that these big- 
mouthed birds sucked goats; hence the absurd 
name applied to the Family. 
Whenever, during the hour just before sun- 
set, you see a good-sized bird with dark plumage, 
long, sharp-pointed wings, and a big white spot 
on the under surface of each wing, — wheeling, 
soaring, dropping and circling through the air, — 
you may know that it is a Nighthawk, catching 
insects. Its flight is graceful and free, and when 
1 Chor-dei'les virginianus. Length, about 9.50 
inches. 
207 
THE NIGHTHAWK. 
on the aerial war-path it is a very industrious 
bird. Some people compare this bird on the 
wing with bats; but I see no resemblance save 
the bare fact of semi-nocturnal flight. 
FAMILIES. 
ORDER 
MACROCHIRES. 
Goatsuckers, 
Swifts, . . . 
Humming-Birds, 
