NIGHTJARS. 
43 
of the feather bare and ending in a racket, so that, as the bird flies, the wing 
has a long pennant, or streamer, on each side. This is probably only developed 
in the breeding-season, and is not found in the female. The species is only found 
in Africa, where it occurs in Western Abyssinia, and on the west coast from 
Senegambia to the River Niger. Two other members of the genus are known, 
standard-winged As in the preceding genus, this nightjar ( Gosmetomis vexil- 
Nightjar. larius ) has an elongation of the primary quills, of which the seventh 
and eighth are greatly developed, while the ninth is prolonged into a streamer 
which floats behind the bird as it flies. The shaft, however, is not bare as in the 
Leona nightjar, but feathered throughout its whole extent. This bird is an 
inhabitant of Africa, and its range extends from Equatorial Africa westwards to 
the Benue River and Fernando Po, and south throughout Eastern Africa to the 
Zambesi and Damaraland. The following account of this nightjar has been 
published by Sir J. Kirk, who met with it in Nyasaland, and writes that it “ was. 
dwellers in the country, and hence its name of churn-owl, by which it is known 
in many districts. Waterton has recorded the notes of one of the species in 
Demerara as represented by the words, work away ! work, work, work away ! 
Another calls who are you ? who, who are you ? while another cries mournfully, 
willy-come-(jo! willy, willy, willy-come-go ! and a fourth, the one represented in 
the accompanying figure ( G . virginianus), tells you to whijp-jpoor-will! whip- 
poor-will ! in tones wonderfully clear and startling. 
Leona Nightjar ^ ie beautiful and rare bird ( Macrodipteryx macrodipterus ) 
thus named is but seldom obtained in its full perfection of plumage, 
since the peculiar, long-shaped primary, which forms the distinguishing character 
of the genus, is often missing or not developed. The male of the Leona nightjar 
has the ninth primary quill developed to an extraordinary length, with the shaft 
VIRGINIAN NIGHTJAR (f nat. size). 
