Nightjar 



121 



particular care, no one can doubt who knows anything of the bird. 

 With us the choice commonly falls on the sepia-brown needles of 

 the gorse. 



In the lambing season, gorse is in great requisition for " fencing " 

 the lun-dles, as a protection against the cold winds of spring. A 

 clump is often half cut down for this purpose, and when enough has 

 been collected, the remainder of the bush is left standing. In such 

 a case, a bare, semi-circular area is left thickly carpeted with the 

 fallen gorse needles and the " stubbs " of the cut gorse branches 

 projecting a few inches above the ground. The remaining half of the 

 gorse-bush forms a background four or five feet high, affording an 

 admirable shelter against wind from most quarters. 



Around and, in some cases, through the barren area, the young 

 shoots of the bracken are just beginning to burst forth. These will 

 supply protection later on, when the young are hatched. 



Another site sometimes chosen is on the rich brown fronds of 

 the dead bracken of the previous year, which are still lying thickly 

 on the ground. Here we have the brown ground-colouration 

 again, and the certainty that in due course, cover will be afforded 

 b\' the new growths of this year's bracken bursting through the 

 ground. 



Yet a third selection may be the dead brown needles of the 

 Scottish Fir, Austrian Pine or other coniferous tree. On some of 

 these commons, firs of one sort or another have been planted in 

 small clumps and plantations. These, especially while the trees 

 remain small, are rather a favourite resort of the Nightjar. 



Of all the " nests " I have seen, I ne\'er found an egg which was 

 not on one or other of these brown surfaces, gorse or fir or bracken ; 

 three different shades of brown, but each and all eminently calculated 

 to render the sitting bird invisible. 



It is sometimes said that the eggs of this species are protectiwly 

 coloured. The late Professor Newton, in a footnote to the fourth 

 edition of Yarrell (vol. ii., p. 383), writes : " No reasonable person 

 can doubt the protective nature of the colouring of these eggs, 

 exposed as they are to innumerable dangers." 



The late ]\Ir. Seebohm, in the introduction to the second volume 

 of his "British Birds" (p. xxv.) says: "The true Goat-suckers, of 

 which our Common Nightjar may be taken as an example, lay eggs 

 on the bare ground of protective tints, as well as depending on the 

 sober colours of their plumage for safety." 



Both these authorities are agreed that the eggs of our European 

 Nightjar are in themselves protectiveh" coloured. If they are 

 protected at all, it must be from their resemblance to rounded stones, 

 and I can quite believe that it miglit l)e very difficult to discover 

 them if they were deposited on a pebbl\- beach, like the eggs of the 

 Terns and Ringed Plovers. Even then, I think that the shining, 

 white surface would be more than likely to betray them. But, as 

 a matter of fact, they are laid on a brown surface ; sometimes a 



