334 CAPRIMULGID.E. 



barred with ashy-grey and rufous, also barred with black, all the feathers being distinctly 

 margined and tipped with rufous. In a second specimen the rufous markings are not so 

 prominent, the large white wing spot is confined to the first four primaries, inner primaries with 

 a rufous tip. Length iii inches, wing 8-4, tail 6'4." 



In colour these birds vary as much as does Podargus sirigoides ; one bird in the collection 

 obtained by Mr. G. iMasters at Port Darwin has the prevailing hues, light ashy-grey, sandy-rufous 

 and brownish -l>lack. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland met with this species in great numbers, while a member of the Calvert 

 Exploring Expedition in Western and North-western Australia; he has also forwarded me its 

 eggs taken by Mr. Field at Alice Springs, and by Mr. C. E. Cowle at Illamurta, in Central 

 Australia. From Mr. H. G. Barnard I have also received the eggs of this species, taken by him 

 at Duaringa, Dawson River, Queensland. Gould remarks that he " killed it in South Australia 

 and New South Wales." 



In the "Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum," '■■ Dr. Ernst Hartert points out that 

 the type specimen of the Nightjar described by Messrs. Vigors and Horsfield in the " Transactions 

 of the Linnean Society of London," in 1826, under the name of Caprimulgus guttafiis, which is in 

 the British Museum, is only the young of Euvostopus nlbigiihiris, and uses Rosenberg's specific 

 name of argus, applied in 1867 to specimens from the Aru Islands. Further evidence, if necessary, 

 showing that Dr. Hartert was correct in doing so, is given by Vigors and Horsfield in the notes 

 following their description. \ " Mr. Caley informs us that the bird was picked up dead on his 

 premises, in its present imperfect state, and was supposed to have been killed by a cat." Caley 

 lived at Parramatta, fifteen miles from Sydney, where Euvostopus albigularis is fairly common, 

 and E. argus does not occur. .Mthough E. argus is apparently numerous in Western New South 

 Wales, judging by the following notes of the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, I have never seen a 

 specimen in the flesh from any part of the State, and there is only a single example in the 

 Australian Museum collection procured in New South Wales. The specimen referred to was 

 obtained by the late Mr. K. H. Bennett, at Moolah, who wrote: — " Eurostopus guttatus, although 

 plentiful in the back or timbered country, is rarely met with during the day, and always on the 

 ground, but as twilight comes on, should there be any tank or waterhole m the vicinity there 

 numbers of them will be found, as they come there regularly every evening to drink. This they 

 do by skimming rapidly over the surface of the water and scooping it up with wide open mouths, 

 while darting about with rapid zig-zag flight. They remain but a short time at the water, and 

 having satisfied their thirst skim rapidly off in quest of noctural insects, which constitutes their 

 food." 



While resident at Point Cloates, North-western Australia, Mr. Tom Carter sent me the 

 following notes : — " Eurostopus argus is a resident species, and is fairly common about the ranges. 

 During the drought of 1889-91 they were generally seen flitting about the camp fires at night. 

 The natives are very superstitious about this bird, and pretend to believe that it steals babies 

 at night time." 



Like the preceding species the Spotted Nightjar makes no nest, but deposits its egg on the 

 bare ground, frequently on the side of a stony ridge. The egg is elliptical or a rounded oval in 

 form, the shell being close-grained, smooth and slightly lustrous. They are usually of a yellowish- 

 green, or a greenish-white slightly tinged with olive ground colour, sparingly marked with 

 rounded spots and blotches of purplish-brown or brownish-black. An egg in the South Australian 

 Museum, Adelaide, taken by Dr. E. C. Stirling at Lake Eyre, in September 1899, is marked 

 with purplish-black, one of them being a very large blotch. An egg taken by Mr. H. G. Barnard, 

 at Duaringa, on the i5th October, 1892, measures — Length 1-4 x 0-98 inches. Another taken 



* Vol. XVI., p. 607 (1892). t Vol. XV., p. 193 (1826). 



