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GOATSUCKER

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 165 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOATSUCKER , a See also:

bird from very See also:ancient times absurdly believed to have the See also:habit implied by the See also:common name it bears in many See also:European See also:tongues besides See also:English—as testified by the Gr. aiyoOi7Xas, the See also:Lat. caprimulgus, Ital. succiacapre, Span. chotacabras, Fr. tettechevre, and Ger. Ziegenmelker. The common goatsucker (Caprimulgus europaeus, Linn.), is admittedly the type of a very See also:peculiar and distinct See also:family, Caprimulgidae, a See also:group remarkable for the See also:flat See also:head, enormously wide mouth, large eyes, and soft, pencilled plumage of its members, which vary in See also:size from a See also:lark to a See also:crow. Its position has been variously assigned by systematists. Though now judiciously removed from the Passeres, in which See also:Linnaeus placed all the See also:species known to him, See also:Huxley considered it to See also:form, with two other families—the swifts (Cypselidae) and humming-birds (Trochilidae)—the See also:division Cypselomorphae of his larger group Aegithognathae, which is See also:equivalent in the See also:main to the Linnaean Passeres. There are two ways of regarding the Caprimulgidaeone including the genus Podargus and its See also:allies, the other recognizing them as a distinct family, Podargidae. As a See also:matter of convenience we shall here comprehend these last in the Caprimulgidae, which will then contain two subfamilies, Caprimulginae and Podarginae; for what, according to older authors, constitutes a third, though represented only by Steatornis, the singular oil-bird, or See also:guacharo, certainly seems to require separation as an See also:independent family (see GUACHARO). Some of the See also:differences between the Caprimulginae and Podarginae have been pointed out by Sclater (Pioc. Zool. See also:Soc., 1866, p. 123), and are very obvious. In the former, the See also:outer toes have four phalanges only, thus presenting a very uncommon See also:character among birds, and the See also:middle claws are pectinated; while in the latter the normal number of five phalanges is found, possessing this valuable quality, but those of See also:Kashmir, See also:Tibet and See also:Mongolia are the most esteemed.

The Nubian See also:

goat, which is met with in See also:Nubia, Upper See also:Egypt and See also:Abyssinia, differs greatly in See also:appearance from those previously described. The coat of the See also:female is extremely See also:short, almost like that of a See also:race-See also:horse, and the legs are See also:long. This breed therefore stands considerably higher than the common goat. One of its peculiarities is the See also:convex See also:profile of the See also:face, the forehead being prominent and the nostrils sunk in, the See also:nose itself extremely small, and the See also:lower See also:lip projecting from the upper. The ears are long, broad and thin, and hang down by the See also:side of the head like a lop-eared See also:rabbit. The horns are See also:black, slightly See also:twisted and very short, flat at the See also:base, pointed at the tips, and recumbent on the head. Among goats met with in See also:England a See also:good many show signs of a more or less remote See also:cross with this breed, derived probably from specimens brought from the See also:East on See also:board See also:ships for supplying See also:milk during the voyage. The Theban goat, of the See also:Sudan, which is hornless, displays the characteristic features of the last in an exaggerated degree, and in the form of the head and See also:skull is very See also:sheep-like. The See also:Nepal goat appears to be a variety of the Nubian breed, having the same arched facial See also:line, pendulous ears and long legs. The horns, however, are more See also:spiral. The See also:colour of the See also:hair, which is longer than in the Nubian, is black, See also:grey or See also:white, with black blotches. Lastly the See also:Guinea goat is a See also:dwarf breed originally from the See also:coast whence its name is derived.

There are three varieties. Besides the 'commonest Capra recurva, there is a rarer breed, Capra depressa, inhabiting the See also:

Mauritius and the islands of See also:Bourbon and See also:Madagascar. The other variety is met with along the White See also:Nile, in Lower Egypt, and at various points on the See also:African coast of the Mediterranean. As regards See also:wild goats other than the representatives of Capra hircus, the members of the See also:ibex-group are noticed under IBEX, while another distinctive type receives mention under See also:MARKHOR. The ibex are connected with the wild goat by means of Capra nubiana, in which the front edge of the horns is thinner than in either the European C. ibex or the See also:Asiatic C. sibirica; while the See also:Spanish C. pyrenaica shows how the ibex-type of See also:horn may pass into the spirally twisted one distinctive of the markhor, C. falconeri. In the See also:article IBEX mention is made of the See also:Caucasus ibex, or tur; C. caucasica, as an aberrant member of that group` but beside this See also:animal the Caucasus is the See also:home of another very remarkable goat, or tur, known as C. pallasi. In this ruminant, which is of a dark-See also:brown colour, the relatively smooth black horns diverge outwards in a manner resembling those of the See also:bharal among the sheep rather than in goat-See also:fashion; and, in fact, this tur, which has only a very short See also:beard, is so bharal-like that it is commonly called by sportsmen the Caucasian bharal. Common Goatsucker. and the claws are smooth, and other distinctions more recondite have also been indicated by him (torn. cit. p. 582). The Caprimulginae may be further divided into those having the gape thickly beset by strong bristles, and those in which there are few such bristles or none—the former containing the genera Caprimulgus, Antrostomus, Nyctidromus and others, and the latter Podargus, Chordiles, Lyncornis and a few more. The common goatsucker of See also:Europe (C. europaeus) arrives See also:late in See also:spring from its See also:winter-See also:retreat in See also:Africa, and its presence is soon made known by its habit of See also:chasing its See also:prey, consisting chiefly of moths and cockchafers, in the evening-See also:twilight.

As the See also:

season advances the See also:song of the See also:cock, from its singularity, attracts See also:attention amid all rural sounds. This song seems to be always uttered when the bird is at See also:rest, though the contrary has been asserted, and is the continuous repetition of a single burring See also:note, as of a thin See also:lath fixed at one end and in a See also:state of vibration at the other, and loud enough to reach in still See also:weather a distance of See also:half-a-mile or more. On the wing, while toying with its See also:mate, or performing its rapid evolutions See also:round the trees where it finds its See also:food, it has the habit of occasionally producing another and equally extraordinary See also:sound, sudden and short, but some-what resembling that made by swinging a thong in the See also:air, though whether this See also:noise proceeds from its mouth is not ascertained. In See also:general its See also:flight is silent, but at times when disturbed from its repose, its wings may be heard to smite together. The goat sucker, or, to use perhaps its commoner English name, nightjar,' passes the See also:day in slumber, crouching on the ground or perching on a See also:tree—in the latter See also:case sitting not across the See also:branch but lengthways, with its head lower than its See also:body. In hot weather, however, its song may sometimes be heard by day and even at noontide, but it is then uttered, as it were, drowsily, and without the vigour that characterizes its See also:crepuscular or nocturnal performance. Towards evening the bird becomes active, and it seems to pursue its prey throughout the See also:night uninterruptedly, or only occasionally pausing for a few seconds to alight on a See also:bare spot—a pathway or road—and then resuming its career. It is one of the few birds that absolutely make no See also:nest, but See also:lays its pair of beautifully-marbled eggs on the ground, generally where the herbage is short, and often actually on the See also:soil. So See also:light is it that the See also:act of brooding, even where there is some See also:vegetable growth, produces no visible depression of the grass, See also:moss or See also:lichens on which the eggs rest, and the finest See also:sand equally fails to exhibit a trace of the parental act. Yet scarcely any bird shows greater See also:local See also:attachment, and the precise site chosen one See also:year is almost certain to be occupied the next. The See also:young, covered when hatched with dark-spotted down, are not easily found, nor are they more easily discovered on becoming fledged, for their plumage almost entirely resembles that of the adults, being a mixture of reddish-brown, grey and black, blended and mottled in a manner that passes description. They soon attain their full size and See also:power of flight, and then take to the same manner of See also:life as their parents.

In autumn all leave their summer haunts for the See also:

south, but the exact See also:time of their departure has hardly been ascertained. The habits of the nightjar, as thus described, seem to be more or less essentially those of the whole subfamily—the differences observable being apparently less than are found in other See also:groups of birds of similar extent. A second species of goatsucker (C. ruficollis), which is some-what larger, and has the See also:neck distinctly marked with rufous, is a summer visitant to the south-western parts of Europe, and especially to-See also:Spain and See also:Portugal. The occurrence of a single example of this bird at Killingworth, near See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne, in See also:October 1856, has been recorded by Mr See also:Hancock (See also:Ibis, 1862, p. 39); but the season of its appearance argues the See also:probability of its being but a casual straggler from its proper home. Many other species of Caprimulgus inhabit Africa, See also:Asia and their islands, while one (C. macrurus) is found in See also:Australia. Very nearly allied to this genus is Antrostomus, an See also:American group containing many species, of which the chuck-will's-widow (A. carolinensis) and the See also:whip-poor-will (A. vociferus) of the eastern See also:United States (the latter also reaching See also:Canada) are See also:familiar examples. Both these birds take their common name from the cry they utter, and their habits seem to be almost identical, with those of the old See also:world goatsuckers. Passing over some other forms which need not here be mentioned, the genus Nyctidromus, though consisting of only one species (N. albicollis) which inhabits Central and See also:part of South See also:America, requires remark, since it has tarsi of sufficient length to enable it to run swiftly on the ground, while the legs of most birds of the family are so short that they can ' Other English names of the bird are evejar, See also:fern-See also:owl, See also:churn-owl and See also:wheel-bird—the last from the bird's song resembling the noise made by a See also:spinning-wheel in See also:motion.make but a shuffling progress. Heleothreptes, with the unique form of wing possessed by the male, needs mention. See also:Notice must also be taken of two African species, referred by some ornithologists to as many genera (Macrodipteryx and Cosmetornis), though probably one genus would suffice for both. The .See also:males of each of them are characterized by the wonderful development of the ninth See also:primary in either wing, which reaches in fully adult specimens the extraordinary length of 17 in. or more.

The former of these birds, the Caprimulgus macrodipterus of See also:

Adam See also:Afzelius, is considered to belong to the See also:west coast of Africa, and the See also:shaft of the elongated remiges is bare for the greater part of its length, retaining the See also:web, in a spatulate form, only near the tip. The latter, to which the specific name of vexillarius was given by See also:John See also:Gould, has been found on the east coast of that See also:continent, and is reported to have occurred in Madagascar and Socotra. In this the remigial streamers do not lose their barbs, and as a few of the next quills are also to some extent elongated, the bird, when flying, is said to look as though it had four wings. Specimens of both are rare in collections, and no traveller seems to have had the opportunity of studying the habits of either so as to suggest a See also:reason for this marvellous sexual development. The second group of Caprimulgidae, those which are but poorly or not at all furnished with rictal bristles, contains about five genera, of which we may particularize Lyncornis of the old world and Chordiles of the new. The species of the former are remarkable for the tuft of feathers which springs from each side of the head, above and behind the ears, so as to give the bird an appearance like some of thq " horned " owls—those of the genus Scops, for example; and remarkable as it is to find certain forms of two families, so distinct as are the Strigidae and the Caprimulgidae, resembling each other in this singular See also:external feature, it is yet more remarkable to note that in some groups of the latter, as in some of the former, a very curious See also:kind of dimorphism takes See also:place. In either case this has been frequently asserted to be sexual, but on that point doubt may fairly be entertained. Certain it is that in some groups of goatsuckers, as in some groups of owls, individuals of the same species are found in plumage of two entirely different hues—rufous and grey. The only explanation as yet offered of this fact is that the difference is sexual, but See also:evidence to that effect is conflicting. It must not, however, be supposed that this common feature, any more than that of the existence of tufted forms in each group, indicates any See also:close relationship between them. The resemblances may be due to the same causes, concerning which future observers may possibly enlighten us, but at See also:present we must regard them as analogies, not homologies. The species of Lyncornis inhabit the See also:Malay See also:Archipelago, one, however, occurring also in See also:China.

Of Chordiles the best-known species is the night-See also:

hawk of See also:North America (C. virginianus or C. popetue), which has a wide range from Canada to See also:Brazil. Others are found in the See also:Antilles and in South America. The general habits of all these birds agree with those of the typical goatsuckers. We have next to consider the birds forming the genus Podargus and those allied to it, whether they be regarded as a distinct family, or as a subfamily of Caprimulgidae. As above stated, they have feet constructed as those of birds normally are, and their sternum seems to present the See also:constant though comparatively trivial difference of having its posterior margin elongated into two pairs of processes, while only one pair is found in the true goatsuckers. Podargus includes the bird (P. cuvieri) known from its cry as morepork to the Tasmanians,2 and several other species, the number of which is doubtful, from Australia and N6'w Guinea. They have comparatively powerful bills, and it would seem feed to some extent on fruits and berries, though they mainly subsist on See also:insects, chiefly Cicadae and Phasmidae.. They also differ from the true goatsuckers in having the outer toes partially reversible, and they build a flat nest on the See also:horizontal branch of a tree for the reception of their eggs, which are of a spotless white. Apparently allied to Podargus, but differing 2 In New See also:Zealand, however, this name is given to an owl (Sceloglaux novae-zelandiae). among other respects in its mode of See also:nidification, is Aegotheles, which belongs also to the Australian sub-region; and farther to the northward, extending throughout the Malay Archipelago and into See also:India, comes Batrachostomus, wherein we again meet with species having aural tufts somewhat like Lyncornis. The Podarginae are thought by some to be represented in the new world by the genus Nyclibius, of which several species occur from the Antilles and Central America to Brazil. Finally, it may be stated that none of the Caprimulgidae seem to occur in See also:Polynesia or in New Zealand, though there is scarcely any other part of the world suited to their habits in which members of the family are not found.

(A.

End of Article: GOATSUCKER

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GOBAT, SAMUEL (1799—1879)

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