THE NIGHTJAR 139 



The Nightjar lives ahnost entirely on insects. It catches 

 the various species of night-flying beetles and the large- 

 bodied nocturnal moths which dreamily flutter over its 

 favourite haunts. The ghost swift-moth is eagerly sought 

 after ; and I have sometimes watched this pretty bird feeding 

 on the meadows near the woods where this insect has been 

 flying in abundance in the bright moonlight, picking them 

 from the tall stems of herbage as it fluttered lightly over 

 them, or swept impetuously up and down under the drooping 

 branches of the trees. It is specially fond of cockchafers ; 

 and all the indigestible portions of its food are cast up in the 

 form of pellets. 



The Nightjar is one of the latest birds to breed, and its 

 eggs are seldom found before the beginning of June. Summer 

 reigns supreme during the breeding season of this interesting 

 little bird ; and almost as soon as the young are safely reared 

 it begins to think of Africa and the south. The Nightjar's 

 nest is only a little depression in the ground which is selected 

 amongst the bracken and the heather in its haunts. It often 

 chooses a site on the common or heath where the vegetation 

 is scanty ; and I have seen its eggs at the foot of a tree in a 

 little clearing in the forest, and under a gorse bush. The 

 eggs of no other British bird can be confused with those of 

 the Nightjar, and few are so beautiful in colour. They 

 are two in number, and very similar in shape to those of the 

 Swift, but are about as large as those of the Turtle Dove, 

 pure white or pale creamy-yellow in ground colour, mottled, 

 veined, clouded, and streaked with various shades of brown 

 and violet-gray. They vary considerably in the character of 

 the markings, some being streaked and pencilled like a 

 Bunting's ^g^, others boldly splashed and blotched with rich 

 colour. The Nightjar occasionally removes her eggs to safer 

 quarters if she is much disturbed during the period of incu- 

 bation. She is a remarkably close sitter, depending for her 



