All rights reserved]. [November 190S. 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE 



JOURNAL OF THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



JLhe Besting of the Iftigbtjar in Captivity. 



By W. K. Tkschkmakkr, B.A. 

 Quite the most remarkable achievement probably that has ever been 

 recorded in aviculture is the recent successful breeding of the Nightjar in 

 Germany. Few indeed are the aviarists in this country who have succeeded 

 in keeping this species in good health for more than a very short period, 

 and, when we recollect that in these few cases success has only been at- 

 tained by the patient labour of regular daily hand-feeding, it seems almost 

 unbelievable that no less than two broods of young should have been fully 

 reared in captivity, quite apart from the fact that so shy and retiring a bird 

 should have actually incubated upon a hearthrug in an ordinary sitting 



room. 



When therefore some particulars of this unprecedented event were 



reproduced in The Field of Oct. 18th, I suggested to our Editor that it 

 might be possible to obtain further details for the benefit of our Magazine; 

 but I must own to some astonishment, well as I know the colossal energy of 

 Mr. Page, when almost by return of post I received five numbers of Die 

 Gefiederte Welt, and an intimation that the loan of two blocks had been 

 obtained from the Editor of 1 he Field. Let me in the first place express 

 our great indebtedness to the latter and at the same time mention, by his 

 request, that the blocks were prepared from photographs kindly lent by 

 Dr. O. Heinroth. Dr. Heinioth occupies an official position at the Berlin 

 Zoological Gardens and has a good collection of indigenous birds, chiefly 

 Softbills. He is also the fortunate possessor of a wife, who not only looks 

 after his birds, but is equal to writing an extremely interesting and able 

 account of them, which in this case takes the form of a Diary carefully 

 written up day by day. 



Frau M. Heinroth's paper is far too long to reproduce in its entirety, 

 so I have condensed the narrative and have only translated verbatim the 

 more interesting passages. It should be noted that the second illustration 

 kindly lent us was entitled, when it appeared in The Field, " Young Night- 

 jars eight days old," but some error seems to have crept in, possibly in the 

 translation, because the same photograph is entitled in Die Gefiederte Welt 



"Young Nightjars on the day of hatching." 



***** 



This Nightjar {Capriuinlgns europaeus) is one of the rarest of cage- 

 birds and little is recorded in the text-books of its habits in captivity. My 



