NIGllTJAllS AND KINGnSKEES. 
Swallow-like, the first quill being the longest, the 
second being nearly of equal length, hut the others 
diminishing rapidly. Xone of the quills are emargi- 
nate on either shaft, nor are the margins formed for a 
noiseless flight, hut are entire, like that structure seen 
in the Swallows. The tail is forked. 
This species. Dr. Eichardson says, hears consider- 
able resemblance to some of the FaJconidcB in the 
evolutions it performs in the air, whence, in allusion 
to its food, it obtains the appellation of Mosquito* 
hawk, at Hudson’s Bay. It often remains stationary 
for several seconds, fluttering its wings rapidly, and 
then suddenly shoots off a long w'ay by a gliding 
motion, making a loud vibratory noise, resembling 
that produced by the vibration of a tense thick cord 
ill a violent gust of wind. It also traverses the air 
backwards and forwards, quartering the sky as regu- 
larly as the Hen-harrier surveys a piece of ground. 
The total length of this species is upwards of ten 
inches. The eggs, as with most of the species, are 
deposited on the ground, without any nest being pre- 
pared for them. 
The genus Fodargus exhibits an aberrant form, tlie 
bill being of great strength and convexity, and the 
space around the eyes and base of the bill being fur- 
nished with radiating hairy feathers as in the Owls. 
In some the tarsi arc elongated, and the middle claw 
is sometimes not serrated. A corresponding variation 
in the economy of the birds is made in accordance 
with these differences of structure. 
In Britain we possess only a single species of the 
typical genus, Cagyrimiilgus JEiiropceiis. Most of the 
