NIGHTJARS AND KINGFISHERS. 
7 
fences, and thence sweeping around in pursuit of 
insects which fly at night. It is seen, says Audubon, 
sweeping over cotton-fields or sugar plantations, cut- 
ting all sorts of figures, mounting, descending, or sail- 
ing with so much ease or grace that one might he led 
to call it Fairy of the Xight. J^fow it follows a road 
or path on the wing, and alighting here and tliere to 
pick up the beetle emerging from its retreat ; again it 
rises high in air, and gives chase to insects floating 
there. At other times it poises itself on its wings 
opposite the trunk of a tree, and seizes the insects 
crawling on the bark, in this manner inspecting the 
Avhole tree, with motions as light as those by which 
the Humming-bird flutters from one flower to 
another. 
The Trogons {Trogonidce) resemble the Groatsuckers 
in several particulars. They live in the deepest and 
most gloomy shades during day, Avhere they sit, ahnost 
motionless, on a dead branch. During the morning and 
evening they are more active ; at these times they go 
into the more open parts of the forest, and taking a 
shady station, dart upon winged insects, particularly 
hard-coated beetles ; at other times, says Mr. Swain- 
son, they feed upon fruits, especially upon the rich 
j^urple berries of the difierent Melastomoe, at which 
they invariably dart precisely the same as if they were 
insects capable of getting away ! The Trogons, like 
the Groatsuckers, have remarkably thin skins ; like 
them they feed upon the wing ; the feet of both are 
so short and feeble, as scarcely to be of any other use 
than to rest the body ; the bill in both is remarkably 
short ; the plumage in both is soft and loose ; both 
