NIGHTJAR 1 1 1 



constructed nest of straws and feathers, in which 

 they lay generally two, rarely three, pure white eggs. 

 A white Swift is recorded. Field, Sept. 1, 1900. 



Fam. CAPRIMULGID^. 



NIGHTJAR. Capriniulgus europmus, Linnaeus. PI. 17, 

 figs. 8, 8«. Length, 10 in. ; wing, 7'25 in. ; tars., 075. 



A summer migrant, generally dispersed through- 

 out the British Islands to the north of Caithness, and 

 extending even to the inner group of the Hebrides. 

 It is not uncommon in Islay, lona, and Mull, and is 

 generally distributed in Skye, in all of which islands 

 the eggs have been found. Very local in Ireland. 



The most westerly point in England at which 

 the Nightjar has been found breeding is the moor 

 below Carn Galva, near Penzance, where, in July 

 1880, Mr. E. D. Marquand discovered the eggs, 

 from which the parent bird was disturbed (Trans. 

 Penzance Nat. Hist. Soc, n.s., vol. i. p. 283). 



The Nightjar is said to move its eggs and trans- 

 port them in its large mouth if disturbed (ZooL, 1884, 

 p. 89), also to transport its young in the same way 

 {Trans. Norf. Nat. Soc, v. p. 76, 1890). In the 

 article last quoted, Mr. J. H. Gurney states that 

 incubation lasts nineteen days, and that the young 

 are not fed exclusively on insects ; the stomach 

 of a nestling opened for examination contained 

 vegetable fibre and seeds. 



The name " Goatsucker," applied by some writers 

 to this bird, is of course a misnomer, and has been 

 bestowed from inaccurate observation of its habits. 



