122 



Nightjar 



warm brown, and sometimes a dead brown, but always a brown of 

 some tint. Stones of any kind are seldom found about the " nest " ; 

 if they were originally in evidence they would have been covered 

 over bv the falling leaves of the previous autumn (gorse, bracken or 

 fir). 



Any stone which does show through will probably be a flint — 

 jagged in shape and dirty in colour — in no way comparable with 

 the shining egg of the Nightjar. 



I can conceive no egg, laid in such conditions, which is so entirely 

 unprotected as regards the colour surroundings. 



The Nightjars — which, after all, must be considered the best 

 judges of the matter, or else they wouldn't have survived — answer 

 the question for themselves. It is the rarest thing in the world to 

 iind a Nightjar's " nest " without at the same time flushing the bird 

 off the eggs. I believe that, from the time the first egg is laid, they 

 remain on the nest, and never leave the eggs exposed for an\' length 

 of time, until the young are hatched. 



They sit so closely that one may almost tread upon them before 

 they will rise, showing how clearly they appreciate the danger of 

 uncovering the eggs. If you pace up and down these commons 

 with the deliberate intention of robbing the Nightjar, you hardly 

 ever see the bird until you accidentally walk within a few feet of 

 the nest, and she reluctantly flutters off the eggs. 



In i8gi, I watched a nest of this species — really to ascertain 

 the time of incubation, but the occasion serves to illustrate my 

 present point. This nest lay in the middle of the Crown Farm 

 Common, and I had "marks," which served to bring me within 

 four or five yards of the spot with speed and certainty. I watched 

 the nest for nearly a fortnight ; the sitting bird always allowed me 

 to come within a few feet's distance without moving. Now, although 

 I knew exactly where the Nightjar ought to be, I had the greatest 

 difficulty in differentiating her brown body from the brown 

 surroundings. I paid many visits, but always had the same 

 difficulty. She sat on a patch of dead gorse-needles, such as I 

 have described, out of which projected a thick gorse stump, cut 

 off six or seven inches above the ground, and making a slanting 

 angle of about 45" with the surface. Against this she sat, her 

 tail resting lengthways on the old stump, her head lower than her 

 body, and her large black eyes closed as though asleep. The effect 

 produced was that the old stump had a lateral branch just above 

 the ground, and that this had been cut off like the main stem. This 

 " lateral branch " was formed by the head and shoulders of the 

 sitting Nightjar ! 



Time after time I came to the spot, but could see nothing of the 

 bird at first, and made up my mind that the nest must have been 

 robbed since my last visit, and that I was only looking at the bare 

 patch of gorse needles and dead stumps : and then, after an interval 

 as my eyes got used to the surroundings, I re-discovered her in the 



