46 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
truncated in front, and basipterygoid processes are present. 
The spinal feather-tract is well defined on the neck, but is 
forked on the back, as in the Swallow. A hind-toe is always 
present, and is connected with the flexor perforans digitormn. 
The mouth is widely split, the gape opening to behind the eye, 
and is furnished with strong bristles. As a rule in this Family, 
the sexes arc very much alike in colour, but the male has a white 
spot on the primaries and at the end of the outer tail-feather, 
this being replaced in the female by a fulvous spot. The wing 
Ventral aspect of cranium of Caprimulgits mropmiis (enlarged) to show 
the vomer. Letters as before. [From the Catalogue of Osteological 
Specimens in the Royal College of Surgeons,] 
is very long and pointed. The young are covered with down, 
and are helpless for some time after birth, being fed by their 
parents. 
Night- Jars are found over almost the entire surface of the 
globe, the species which visit the northern temperate regions 
being strictly migratory ; but in the Tropics a large number of 
resident species are found, and are met with everywhere, except 
in the extreme south of South America and the islands of 
Oceania. 
