GEACHAKO BIHD8. 
257 
tooth) and m its feet without the membranes which unite 
the anterior phalanges of the claws. It is the first ex- 
ample ot anocturnai bird among the Passeres dontvrostrali. 
its habits present analogies both with those of the goat- 
suckers and of the alpine crow * The plumage of the <ma- 
charo is of a dark bluish grey, mixed with small streaks°and 
specks of black. Large white spots of the form of a heart, 
and bordered with black, mark the head, wings, and tail, 
ihe eyes of the bird, which are dazzled by the light of day are 
blue, and smaller than those of the goatsucker. The spread 
ot the wings, which are composed of seventeen or eighteen 
quilt feathers, is three feet and a half. The guacharo emits 
the cavern at nightfall, especially when the moon shines! It 
is almost the only frugderous nocturnal bird yet known • the 
conformation ot its feet sufficiently shows that it doe^ not 
hunt like our owls. It feeds on very hard fruits, like the 
defw' ^ t t nd *i e - Pf n ' hoco , rax - Tflc ] atter nestles also in 
clefts of rocks, and is known by the name of the night-crow. 
" ed lls to* guacharo does not pursue 
the lamollicornous insects or those phaheme which 
sene as food to the goatsuckers. A comparison of the 
beaks of the guacharo and the goatsucker serves to denote 
!?°" muc .h their habits must differ. It would be difficult to 
lorm an idea of the horrible noise occasioned by thousands 
ot these birds m the dark part of the cavern. Their shrill 
and piercing cries strike upon the vaults of the rocks, and 
are repeated by the subterranean echoes. The Indians 
showed us the nests of the guacharos by fixing a torch to 
the end of a long pole. These nests were fifty or sixty 
teet ingh above our beads, in holes in the shape of funnels 
vuth which the roof of the grotto is pierced like a sieve’ 
ihe noise increased as we advanced, and the birds were 
b J f e % ht of t,le torches of copal. When this 
loise ceased a few minutes around us, we beard at a dis- 
Stfn 16 ™ CneS 0i ! the birds roostin S ™ other rami- 
hcations of the cavern. It seemed as if different groups 
answ ered each other alternately. 8 1 
. „ * Corvus Pyrrhocorax. 
not n° rV Z Ca , ry ° Ca iM eS ' C ' Kl»ndariu S . Our Alpine crow builds its 
« h f P °l “ ou " 1 Llb:in «s, in subterranean caverns, nearly 
the guacharo. It also has the horribly shrill cry of the latter. 
VOL. I. 
