Bird Notes and News 



39 



for a little while ; then he started to make a 

 peculiar jarr-r-ring noise, and at once I knew 

 it was a Nightjar. 



I searched again next day in the hope of 

 finding the nest, especially in the place where 

 there had been a nest last year. A Nightjar 

 flew up out of the bracken again and flew about, 

 holding one wing limp as if hurt ; she then 

 settled on a branch, still holding her wing in that 

 peculiar way ; so I crept up, but she flew away 

 with a loud clapping of the wings like a Wood- 

 pigeon. She made a wide circuit round the 

 place where she had risen, but did not go any- 

 where near it. I went back to that place, 

 and there, in a patch of silver moss, I found an 

 egg. There was no nest of any description ; 

 it was just laid on the bare ground in a little 

 hollow in the moss, and was most difficult to 

 discern. It was quite cold, for my bird had 

 not started to sit. The spot was most un- 

 secluded, being a foot or two away from a small 

 bypath and not far from the lane. I went 

 again next evening and there was stiU one cold 

 egg, but the next day there were two eggs 

 and the bird was sitting on them. She heard 

 me approach by the breaking of a dry piece 

 of bracken, and flew off, pretending to be 

 hurt as before, and, tumbling about over the 

 bracken, disappeared. This time I did not 

 follow her. 



The eggs were lying side by side and they 

 were not pointed like most eggs but the same 

 width each end. They were mottled all over 

 with brown, from the lightest to the darkest 

 shades, with patches of mauve and grey at 

 one end, and the second egg was much brighter 

 than the other with patches of dark brown 

 all over it. They looked just as if they were 

 made of marble and were very glossy. My 

 bird started to sit the next day, and when I 

 went near she flew off swiftly, making a low 

 chucking noise resembling a Blackbird when 

 frightened off its nest. 



I did not go near the nest after that for 

 almost a week for fear she might forsake it. 

 But I followed the male bird about in his 

 haunts and got many good glimpses of his 

 colours. He was mottled all over in different 

 shades of brown and the feathers were mar- 

 gined with white. He also had white streaks 

 on his wings which were very noticeable 

 in the dark. There was a diamond-shaped 

 white mark on each wing which expanded on 

 flight. He had a flat dark brown head streaked 

 with white, and I noticed some blue on his 

 wings. His legs were very dark red, and he 

 had a small curved black beak with a tuft 



of spines on the top, very long wings, and a 

 short forked tail. 



When I went to the nest again my bird 

 flew off very silently, and only clapped its 

 wings when it was a good distance from the 

 nest. I covered the eggs over with bracken 

 so that they would not be discovered while 

 my bird was absent. I crept up to my nest 

 through the bracken nearly every other day, 

 and in about ten days I found that one of the 

 eggs was hatched, which was to my great 

 satisfaction and delight, for she had now been 

 sitting for over a fortnight, and I thought 

 that perhaps they were rotten. The young 

 one was a very pretty little bird, just like a 

 ball of fluff, and an exact miniature model 

 of its parents, especially in the crouching 

 attitude of its body with the beak slightly 

 raised. It looked like a pretty little kitten 

 curled up. The other egg was hatched the 

 next day, and the eggshells lay about a foot 

 away from the young ones, but it was difficult 

 to tell which was the youngest, for they were 

 much more matured than the young of birds 

 generally are. They were covered aU over 

 with fawn-coloured and dark brown fluff, 

 which enveloped their heads so that their 

 beaks were hardly discernible. Their beaks 

 were black and their legs dark pink and 

 tinged with black. Their wings were very long 

 according to the size of the body, which 

 was about that of an ordinary sparrow. My 

 bird was very alarmed at my approach, so I 

 went into an adjacent bush and watched 

 her circling round and round her young ones, 

 but in this bush the father bird was reposing, 

 and he flew out uttering his peculiar " ooee, 

 ooee, ooee " very quickly. This seemed to 

 greatly disturb the mother bird and she 

 dropped flat on the ground with wings out- 

 spread, and frequently flapping them and 

 pretending to be hurt, and as I hid behind 

 the bush I perceived that she was not so 

 bright as the male and she was much smaller. 



The young ones grew very fast, for in two 

 days their eyes were open, and they made a 

 quaint little squeaking noise. They did not 

 look so pretty when their feathers were coming. 

 One day I bent down to them, and they both 

 jumped up and opened their beaks, and I 

 was surprised and taken aback at the size 

 of their mouths with such a tiny beak. The 

 insides of their mouths were pale pink. The 

 mother bird was not with them on that day, 

 but I saw her afterwards with the male bird, 

 and they were catching moths. This appeared 

 to be their chief food, for I never saw them 



