78 J. E. LITTLEBOT BIEDS OBSERVED IJf 1879. 



an occurrence so extremely similar to that reported by Mr. Smith 

 that I shall venture to give a short extract. " I was looking out 

 of my window one morning when I noticed a bird lying on the 

 grass of the lawn ; before long it was up and away out of sight. 

 It soon, however, appeared again, and this time not alone, but 

 accompanied by a water wagtail. It was marvellous to watch the 

 ceaseless attention of the little bird, no injusta noverca, to the wants 

 of its great foster-child, so many times larger than itself. It would 

 run and flit about incessantly, each time catching an insect, with 

 its bill full of which it would then fly to the open mouth it had to 

 fill ; but it never was filled, and the constiint ' psib-psib ' of her 

 adopted child was the way in which it said it wanted more." 



It appears from the remarkable concurrence of testimony that 

 I have just recorded, that, whenever it is available, the cuckoo 

 selects the nest of the wagtail for the deposition of her eggs at 

 least as frequently as that of any other bird. 



The i!^iGHT-JAR {Ca2}rimulgm europceus). — Respecting these birds, 

 I have received one or two interesting notices. I am informed by 

 Mr. William Hill, jun., of Hitchin, that he found two night-jar's 

 eggs deposited on the bare ground near a wood at High Down, 

 and that the hen bird attempted to divert his attention from her 

 eggs by all kinds of feints. On returning to the spot after a 

 week's absence, he found that one of the eggs was hatched, and 

 that the little chick was covered with a dark grey down. He 

 vratched it for several days, but at last failed to find it. About the 

 same time Mr. Hill succeeded in finding, in an adjoining wood, a 

 pair of night-jars with two young birds just hatched, and he states 

 that the parent birds, like the one previously mentioned, attempted 

 to divert his attention from their young by every means within 

 their power. On returning to the spot after a few days, he foiind 

 that the chicks had been moved eleven yards, and alth(jugh they 

 did not leave a circuit of about thirty yards, they were never to be 

 found in the same place on two succeeding days. Mr. Hill states 

 that the parent bird brooded over her young during the day, and 

 that her appearance so resembled a piece of lichen- covered wood 

 that two gentlemen to whom he pointed her out could hardly 

 believe, when not more than two or three yards distant from her, 

 that a live bird was before them. He further informs me that the 

 night-jar always lies lengthways along the branch on which it 

 perches, not crossways, as is ordinarily the case, and that he has 

 been able to find it even in the dusk of evening by following its 

 long, soft whistle. 



A night- jar is reported to have been observed near Odsey Grange 

 on the 31st of Augvist, and again on the 4th of September. 



Miss Selby, of Aldenham, reports the finding of two eggs on the 

 ground, among the scrubbs, at Bricket Wood, on the 20th of last 

 June, and states that no kind of nest appeared to exist. She also 

 informs me that a night-jar was observed sitting on the side of a 

 road near Shenley, and that on being approached the bird flew 

 away, lea-ving a new-laid egg, deposited on the bare road. 



