EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 163 



THE NEEDLE -TAILED SWIFT. 

 (Chcetura caudacuta.) * 



The Needle-tailed Swift has been obtained twice in the British 

 Islands. It breeds in South-east Siberia, East Mongolia, Japan, 

 and North China. Schrenck and Radde found it on the Ainoor ; 

 Dybowsky records it from Lake Baikal ; and my Siberian collector 

 has sent me several specimens from Krasnoyarsk, which appears 

 to be the most westerly limit of its breeding-range in Siberia. 



Of the nidification of this bird nothing positive is known. Some 

 writers state that it nests in holes of rocks and trees, whilst others 

 assert that it builds a glutinous nest like that of the Edible 

 Swallow. Of its eggs nothing is known at present ; but they are 

 most probably white in colour, as are those of all the Swifts, 

 so far as is known. 



FAMILY CAPRIMULGID/E, 



OB NIGHTJARS. 



Of the three British Nightjars, one is a regular summer visitor, 

 and the other two accidental ones. 



THE COMMON NIGHTJAR. 

 ( Cap rimu Igus eu rop ceus.) 



Plate 47, Figs. 4, 5, 6. 



The Common Nightjar, or Goatsucker, is a summer migrant to 

 the British Islands, and is found more or less commonly in almost 

 every county, but is more numerous in the south of England than 

 in the north. It breeds throughout Europe and South-west 

 Siberia. In Scandinavia and West Russia it is found as far north 

 as lat. 63° ; but in the Ural Mountains and the valley of the 

 Yenisei it has not been recorded further north than 1-at. 59°, nor 

 does it appear to occur further east than Irkutsk. 



It makes no nest, and deposits its eggs upon the ground, some- 

 times at the foot of a tree, in rare instances on a fallen trunk 



* Acanthyllis caudacuta — Saunders, Manual, p. 43. 



