FENG © DEOR Cu EOANE XXVI

35. Athene connivens : : : : : ; : Wolly IE Ia Bye
Buteo conniwens, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat., tom. iv. p. 481.

36. Athene strenua, Gould : 4 : ; ; : ) : Noles Son

37. Athene rufa, Gould . e i : 5 : 2 : : : Wolk} Ele 36.

Order INSESSORES, Vig.
Family CAPRIMULGIDAE, Vig.

Genus Aicornetes, Vig. & Horsf.

 

The known species of this genus are two in number, both of which, so far as has yet been ascertained, are
confined to Australia. In many of their actions, and in their nidification, they are very owl-like, depositine, like
J 3 2 d J i) ] So?

those birds, their four or five round white eggs in the hollows of trees, without any nest.

38. Aigotheles Novee-Hollandize : : : : ; : : Wolk, Wt Je. 1,

Inhabits the whole of the southern parts of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land.

 

39. AXgotheles leucogaster, Gould  . : : : : Wolk 10, Tell, @.

Inhabits the northern or intertropical parts of Australia, where it represents the 47. Nove-Hollandie.

Genus Popareus, Cur.

With no one group of the Australian birds have I had so much difficulty in discriminating the species as the
genus Podargus. It is almost impossible to determine with certainty the older species described by Latham ;
could this have been done satisfactorily, even in a single instance, it would have greatly facilitated the investigation
of the remainder. Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield regarded the specimens in the Linnean Collection as referable to
three species, and have described them under the names of Stanleyanus, humeralis, and Cuvieri; Latham’s descrip-
tion of the species named by him megacephalus accords so well with the P. Stanleyanus, that I suspect both those
terms have been applied to one and the same species, an opinion strengthened by Latham’s remarks as to the great
size of the head and mandibles of his bird, the total length of which he states to be thirty inches, which is evidently
an error.

After examining a large number of specimens comprising individuals of all ages, I have come to the con-
clusion that the Australian members of this genus constitute six species; four of which, namely, P. megacephalus,
P. humeral, P. Cuviert, and P. brachypterus, are most closely allied to each other; and two, namely, P. plumiferus
and P. Phalenoides, which present specific characters that cannot be mistaken. We have then in Australia a large
group of nocturnal birds of this form destined, as it would seem, to keep in check the great families of Cicade
and Phasmide, upon which they mainly subsist ; but they do not refuse other insects, and even berries have been
found in their stomachs. They are an inanimate and sluggish group of birds, and do not procure their food on
the wing so much as other Caprimulyi, but obtain it by traversing the branches of the various trees upon which
their favourite insects reside ; at intervals during the night they sit about in open places, on rails, stumps of trees,
on the roofs of houses and on the tombstones in the churchyards, and by superstitious persons are regarded as
omens of death, their hoarse disagreeable voice adding not a little to the terrors induced by their presence.

In their nidification the Podargi differ in a most remarkable manner from all the other Caprimulgide,
inasmuch as while the eggs of the Agothele are deposited in the holes of trees, and those of the members of the
other genera of this family on the ground, these birds construct a flat nest of small sticks on the horizontal
branches of trees for the reception of theirs, which are moreover of the purest white.

Although I have no satisfactory evidence that these birds resort to a kind of hybernation for short periods
during some portions of the year, I must not omit to mention that I have been assured that they do occasionally
retire to and remain secluded in the hollow parts of the trees ; and if such should prove to be the case, it may
account for the extreme obesity of many of the individuals I procured, which was often so great as to prevent me

from preserving their skins. I trust that these remarks will cause the subject to be investigated by those who are