Part 8

The only information I have to communicate respecting this beautiful Podargus, is, that it is a native of the brushes of the Clarence and neighbouring rivers in New South Wales, and that several examples have come under my notice, of which one is deposited in the Museum at Dublin, another in the Museum at Manchester, and two are contained in my own collection; of the latter, one was sent to me by Mr. Strange of Sydney, and the other was purchased with other Australian birds in London. It is readily distinguished from all the other Australian members of the genus by the more lengthened form of tail, and by the remarkable and conspicuous tufts of feathers which spring from immediately above the nostrils: considerable variation is found to exist in the colouring of the various specimens, some being much redder than the others, and having the markings on the under surface much less distinct and of a more chestnut tint.

Nothing whatever is known of its habits and economy, points which must remain for future discovery and research to make known.

Tuft of feathers covering the nostrils alternately banded with blackish brown and white; all the upper surface mottled brown, black, and brownish white, the latter predominating over each eye, where it forms a conspicuous patch; the markings are of a larger but similar kind on the wings, and on the primaries and secondaries assume the form of bars; tail similar but paler, and with the barred form of the markings still more distinct; centre of the throat and chest brownish white, minutely freckled with brown; sides of the neck and breast, and all the under surface similar, but with a dark line of brown down the centre, and two large nearly square-shaped spots of brownish white near the tip of each feather; bill and feet horn-colour.

The figures are of the natural size.

EUROSTOPODUS ALBOGULARIS.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

EUROSTOPODUS ALBOGULARIS. White-throated Goat-sucker.

Caprimulgus albogularis, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 194, note.

—— mystacalis, Temm. Pl. Col. 410.

During my visit to Australia I had opportunities of observing a number of this species; it is still, however, a rare bird in all our collections, and how far it may range over the Australian continent is not known; the south-eastern are the only portions in which it has yet been discovered; and although all the specimens I have seen in collections were procured at Moreton Bay, I have killed three or four of an evening on the cleared lands on the Upper Hunter, which shows that it is far from being a scarce bird in that part of New South Wales. In all probability it is only a summer visitant in the colony, as it was at this season only that I observed it. In the daytime it sleeps on the ground on some dry knoll or open part of the forest, and as twilight approaches sallies forth to the open glades and small plains or cleared lands in search of insects; its flight, which is much more powerful than that of any other Goatsucker I have seen, enabling it to pass through the air with great rapidity, and to mount up and dart down almost at right angles whenever an insect comes within the range of its eye, which is so large and full that its powers of vision must be very great. Most of those I shot were gorged with insects, principally coleoptera and locusts, some of which were entire and so large as to excite surprise how they could be swallowed; in several instances they were so perfect, that I preserved them as specimens for my entomological collection.

Of its nidification I have no information to furnish; it doubtless, however, breeds on the ground, and judging from analogy its eggs will be found to be either one or two in number, and in form and colour partaking of the character of those of Caprimulgus, and not of those of Podargus and Ægotheles.

Contrary to what might have been expected, I found that although the sexes are nearly alike in colour, the females always exceed the males in size and in the brilliance of the tints; the males, on the other hand, have the two white spots on the third and fourth primaries more conspicuous than in the female.

All the upper surface very minutely freckled grey and brown; the feathers on the crown of the head and at the occiput with a large patch of black down the centre; behind the ear-coverts a patch of dark brown sprinkled with brownish buff; from the angle of the mouth passing round the back of the neck an indistinct collar of intermingled buff, chestnut and black; scapularies variegated with dark brown on their outer webs and margined with bright fulvous; wing dark brown variegated with fulvous and grey; secondaries dark brown, with a regular series of bright fulvous spots along each web; primaries blackish brown, the two first without any spot, the remainder spotted like the secondaries, the third having a spot of white on its inner and outer web about the centre of the feather, the fourth with a large white spot on its outer web; two centre and outer webs of the remaining tail-feathers dark brown, marbled with irregular bars of grey; the inner webs of the lateral feathers dark brown, crossed with irregular bands of light buff; throat blackish brown, spotted with bright buff; on each side of the throat a large oval spot of white; breast dark brown, spotted above with dull buff, and broadly freckled with dull buff and grey; abdomen and under tail-coverts bright fulvous, crossed with bars of dark brown; irides dark brown; feet mealy reddish brown.

The Plate represents a female of the natural size.

EUROSTOPODUS GUTTATUS.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter, del^t C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

EUROSTOPODUS GUTTATUS. Spotted Goat-sucker.

Caprimulgus guttatus, Vig. and Horsf. in Linn. Trans., vol. xv. p. 192.

Käl-ga, Aborigines of the lowland districts of Western Australia.

Goatsucker, of the Colonists.

As the similitude of its form would lead us to suspect, this species closely resembles the preceding, both in its habits and in the whole of its economy; unlike that species, however, whose range of habitat would appear to be very limited, the present bird is universally, but thinly, distributed over the whole of the southern portion of Australia. I killed it in South Australia and in New South Wales; the collection formed by Mr. Gilbert at Swan River also contained specimens which presented no difference whatever, either in size or markings.

I more than once flushed this bird in open day, when, after mounting rapidly in the air, it performed a few zigzag evolutions and pitched again to the earth at a distant spot. That it breeds on the ground there can be no doubt, as I found a newly-hatched young one on the precise spot from which I had flushed the adult; the little helpless creature, which much resembled a small mass of down or wool, was of a reddish brown colour, not very dissimilar from the surface of the ground where it had been hatched: my utmost endeavours to find the broken shell were entirely unavailing; I am consequently unable to describe the egg, or to furnish any further information respecting the nidification of this singular form.

The sexes are so nearly alike in colour and size that they are not to be distinguished except by dissection; the young, on the contrary, is clothed in a more buffy brown dress until it has attained the size of the adult.

Forehead and centre of the head brownish black, each feather spotted and margined with bright buff; over each eye the feathers are pearly white very finely pencilled with brownish black; lores and sides of the face brown spotted with buff; collar at the back of the head reddish chestnut; back grey freckled with black; scapularies light grey freckled with brownish black, largely tipped with bright buff, with an irregular diagonal patch of black; wing-coverts grey, spotted and freckled with brown, each feather largely tipped with bright buff; primaries and secondaries brownish black, marked on both webs with buff, the buff on the outer webs being in the form of round spots, on the inner webs irregular bars; on the inner web of the first primary is a large spot of pure white, on the second primaries a similar but larger spot, and a small one on the outer web; the third and fourth crossed by a large irregular patch of white; middle tail-feathers light grey, marbled and finely freckled with dark brown; lateral feathers light grey barred with blackish brown and bright buff, and freckled with dark brown, the buff on the outer web of the outside feather forming a regular row of spots; on each side of the throat an oblique line of white; chest dark brown, each feather broadly barred and spotted with light buff; abdomen bright buff, finely and irregularly barred with black; under tail-coverts sandy; bill black; irides very dark brown; feet mealy reddish brown.

The Plate represents an adult male and a young bird of the natural size.

CAPRIMULGUS MACRURUS: Horsf.

J. Gould and H. C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp. ]

CAPRIMULGUS MACRURUS, Horsf. Large-tailed Goatsucker.