CAPRIMULGID^. 



267 





THE NIGHTJAR. 



Caprlmulgus europ.'EUS, Linnaeus. 



The Nightjar is the latest of our regular summer migrants to 

 arrive, and is seldom noticed before the middle of May ; while it 

 usually leaves us in September, though it has been known to remain 

 until November in the mild south-west of England. Uncultivated 

 ground more or less covered with ferns, gorse or heather, and 

 the cool shade of woodland glades, are its favourite haunts, and 

 the species is consequently local ; but it is distributed as far as 

 the northern extremity of the mainland of Scotland, as well as in 

 the western islands, except the Outer Hebrides, to which, as to the 

 Orkneys and Shetlands, it is only an irregular visitor. In Ireland it 

 is rather common in some of the southern and central counties, but 

 rare in the north and west. 



The Nightjar sometimes visits the Freroes, and in Scandinavia it 

 has been found nesting up to about 63^ N. lat; but in Russia it has 

 a less extensive range, while eastward it does not reach beyond 

 Lake Baikal in Siberia. Throughout the summer it is found over 

 the greater part of Europe, down to the elevated districts of Spain ; 

 but in the south of that country (though common on passage early 

 in May, and obtained as late as December nth), its place is chiefly 



