(PLATE 5A.)
_Small Wood-Owle_ Sloane, Voy. Jamaica II, p. 296, pl. 255, fig. 1
(1725).
_Caprimulgus americanus_ Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., Ed. X, p. 193 (1758--Ex
Sloane. "Habitat in America calidiore").
_Chordeiles americanus_ Bonaparte, Consp. Av. I, p. 63 (1850).
_Siphonorhis americanus_ Sclater, P.Z.S. 1861, p. 77; id. P.Z.S. 1866,
p. 144; Cory, B. W. Indies, p. 139 (1889); Hartert, Cat. B. Brit. Mus.
XVI, p. 592 (1892).
The whole diagnosis of Linnaeus is "Caprimulgus narium tubulis
eminentibus," but the prominent tubular nostrils are just the character
which distinguishes _S. americanus_ most strikingly from all the other
goatsuckers, and I think that Sloane's figure and description are
sufficient to indicate this bird. Sloane says as follows:--
"This was seven Inches from the end of the Bill to that of the Tail, and
ten from the end of Wing to Wing expanded, it had a quarter of an Inch long
crooked black bill, with two _Tubuli_ about one eight Part of an Inch long
for the Nostrills, along the upper Mandible were several bristly Hairs in a
Line, like those of a Cat's Mustachoes of a black Colour, the _Aperture_ of
Chaps or Swallow was extraordinary large. The Feathers on the Head and
under the Chaps were many, the Tail was four Inches long, the Head and Back
were cover'd with Feathers of a mixt Colour of _Feuille Morte_, grey and
black, the Wings and Tail were of the same Colour only Lighter under the
Chaps, Breast and Belly was also of the same, the Legs and Feet were an
Inch and half cover'd with brown Scales, the Toes four, three before, that
in the middle three-quarters of an Inch long, and one behind. {44}
"Its Stomach was not very muscular, it was fill'd with Scarabei, &c. The
rest of the Bowells agreed in everything with those of the greater Sort,
concerning which see the description above.
"They feed on _Scarabei_ and other Insects of that Kind.
"They are found with the former."
Specimens of this Goatsucker are very rare in collections, and I am only
aware of the existence of examples in American museums and of the pair
obtained by Osburn in Jamaica about half a century ago, and now in the
British Museum. Recent collectors have failed to procure it, and it is
therefore to be feared that, like _Aestrelata caribbaea_, it has been
exterminated by the introduced mongoose and other animals.
Habitat: Jamaica.
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