CAPRIMULGUS RUFIGENA. 
lines. The lateral and the posterior parts of the neck, in front of interscapulars 
with a rusty buff-orange collar blotched with umber-brown, and on each side 
of the throat, immediately below the angle of the mouth, is a large white spot, 
the one separated from the other by the intervention of a few feathers spotted 
buff and umber-brown. Eyes dark brown. Tarsi and toes intermediate 
between buff-orange and yellowish brown ; claws brownish red. 
Form, &c. — Bill subtriangular, and the culrnen throughout its whole length 
distinctly defined, and considerably curved towards the point ; upper mandible, 
immediately before frontal feathers, with a thin sprinkling of short rigid 
bristles. Wings of moderate length, slightly rounded, and when folded reach 
within an inch of the tip of the tail ; the second and third quill feathers equal 
and longest, the first slightly shorter, and the fourth a little shorter than the 
first. Tail slightly rounded. Tarsi and toes rather slender, the upper half 
of the former, anteriorly, covered with short feathers, the other parts with 
small plates ; claw of middle toe with six, seven, or eight teeth. 
DIMENSIONS. 
Inches. Lines. 
Length from the point of the bill to 
the tip of the tail 9 4 
of the bill to the angle of the 
mouth 1 \\ 
of the wings when folded 6 2 
of the tail 5 0 
Female . — Colours not known. 
Inches. Lines. 
Length of the tarsus 0 10 
of the outer toe 0 3 
of the middle toe 0 7J 
of the inner toe 0 3J 
of the hinder toe 0 2 
During my residence in South Africa, I procured six male birds of this species, but not one 
female. It is chiefly found in the eastern districts of the colony, and, in common with the other 
Cape species, seeks its food generally in the dusk of the evening, and during the early part of 
the night. Districts abounding in brushwood seem to constitute the favourite haunts of the 
African Goat-suckers; and where high roads pass through a country so provided, they are most 
frequently found on or near them, either skimming along them or across them. During the 
day they remain perched on the lower branches of brushwood in retired positions, and if by 
accident they be disturbed, they never fly further than the first copse which proves suitable as 
a place of concealment. 
