This species is noticed by Wagler, as above, from a Mexican specimen,
and his description is essentially a comparison with the _Caprimulgus
europæus_. It is stated that the bristles at the base of the bill are
very long, or “nearly as long as the head without the bill,” and the
plumage generally bearing a resemblance to the European species
mentioned.
There is in the collection of the Philadelphia Academy, a specimen from
Mexico, and another from California, differing in shade of color only
from the _Antrostomus vociferus_, and from which the distinctive
characters are too slight to establish a separate species. We regard
these specimens as _C. macromystax_. The length of the bristles in
Wagler’s description applies as well to _A. vociferus_, and we think it
probable that his name is a synonyme.
The following is a translation of Wagler’s description or notice as
above cited, and is at the end of an elaborate and valuable paper, in
which he describes several new American species of birds:—
“At the conclusion of these descriptions of birds, I will yet remark
that we have received from Mexico, also, a Caprimulgus (which specimen
unfortunately is without the tail), that nearly resembles ours in size
and color, but which nevertheless may be distinguished at a glance; the
tarsi on their upper sides are hardly feathered to the middle, and the
bristles on both sides of the upper mandible are uncommonly stiff, and
longer than in any other American Night Swallow, nearly as long as the
head without the bill, and are turned _rake-like_ obliquely downwards. I
have named it, therefore, _Caprimulgus macromystax_. The feet are short,
as in ours; also as in ours, the claw of the middle toe on its inner
border is pectinated, the primaries are small, the second, third, and
fourth, externally from their middles to their ends, are strongly
sinuated; they are brown-black, without white spots, but have internally
and externally rust-red angular dots.”
2. Caprimulgus minor. Forster. Catalogue of the Animals of North
America, p. 13. London, 1771.
A name given without being accompanied by a description, though probably
applicable to _Antrostomus vociferus_, which was known to some of the
older naturalists, and, previous to the introduction of the binomial
nomenclature, was called _minor_, in distinction from the _Caprimulgus
europæus_.
The catalogue by Forster above referred to is a pamphlet, and is, so far
as We know, the first attempt at an enumeration of the species of all
classes of animals inhabiting North America. There is also a catalogue
of the Plants of North America by the same author.