. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. 368 NATURAL MlHTOliY. THE TENTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTKAL PICARIAN BIRDS.—THE NIGHTJARS, OR GOATSUCKERS {Caprimulgida-). Fioin tht at1]oiinm; ^voodcut it will be seen that a Nightjar is indeed a Fissirostral, or wide- gapini; Imc! md tins 1 iit'e mouth is tharacteristic of the whole family. Their soft mottled j)lumage, their large eyes, and their habit of flying by niglit, have induced many naturalists to place them in close proximity to the OwLs, with which family of bii-ds, however, they have nothing further in common. Members of the fa
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. 368 NATURAL MlHTOliY. THE TENTH FAMILY OF THE FISSIROSTKAL PICARIAN BIRDS.—THE NIGHTJARS, OR GOATSUCKERS {Caprimulgida-). Fioin tht at1]oiinm; ^voodcut it will be seen that a Nightjar is indeed a Fissirostral, or wide- gapini; Imc! md tins 1 iit'e mouth is tharacteristic of the whole family. Their soft mottled j)lumage, their large eyes, and their habit of flying by niglit, have induced many naturalists to place them in close proximity to the OwLs, with which family of bii-ds, however, they have nothing further in common. Members of the family of Goatsuckers are distributed nearly all over the world, with the exception of the islartds of Oceania, and a great difference is observable in their size and form, and to some extent in their habits. Thus the Guacharo, or Oil-bird {S'teatornis* caripensis), is met with only in the island of Trinidad, where it is also called Biahlotin, and where it inhabits the inmost recesses of caverns, either by the sea or inland. The birds spend the entire day in these dark recesses, and come out only at night to procure their food, which consists of the fruits of different palms, the seeds of which are rejected, and form, with the droppings of the birds, a thick flooring of guano in some of the caves. Sometimes the bird forms a huge cradle of this deposit, apparently for the greater security of its young ones ; and one of these singular nests, if such they may. JF Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Duncan, P. Martin (Peter Martin), 1821-1891; Metcalf Collection (North Carolina State University). NCRS. London [etc] Cassell & Company, Limited
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
