on Birds from Shendi, Sudan. 21 



good many scattered stones and tufts of grass. We never 

 saw one of the birds amongst the trees or in thick scrub. 

 During the day, hke other Nightjars, they lie very close and 

 are seldom noticed ; they harmonize most perfectly with their 

 surroundings and are exceedingly difficult to see. On one 

 occasion we only detected one by its shuffling along an inch 

 or so to avoid being trodden on by a camel. At uight they 

 are on the wing very soon after sunset, when they come down 

 to the river. They fly up and down the banks or out over 

 the water, often touching the surface either to drink or to 

 catch an insect ; after half an hour or so they seem to retire 

 towards the desert. We never saw one of these Nightjars 

 perched on a tree ; they sit on the ground and oUten '' churr '^ 

 for several minutes at a time. Tlie " churr " is distinctly 

 of a lower pitch than that of Scotornis clmiacwus. 



We saw this species also at Wad-Habushi, halfway 

 between Shendi and Khartnm, in a locality very similar to 

 that near Shendi. It may therefore perhaps be presumed 

 that C. eximms will eventually be found to be resident in this 

 region wherever ground suitable to its habits exists ; that is 

 to say, from the Atbara right up the Nile and the White Nile 

 almost as far as Fashoda. It is a bird which might very 

 easily be overlooked : had we stopped a few days only at 

 Shendi, we should certainly not have found it ; in fact, it 

 was not until we had been there very nearly a month that we 

 became acquainted with its habits. 



We found three nests, or rather breeding- spots, on March 

 16th, 20th, and 27th ; the first two contained two eggs each, 

 very much incubated, the third contained one young bird 

 just hatched and an addled egg. There was no pretence at a 

 nest, not even a depression, the eggs being laid on the bare 

 ground near a tuft of grass, under which the bird often hides. 

 They are of the usual character of those of Nightjars and vary 

 considerably in markings and shape ; some are darker than 

 others, some are oval, and some a little pointed at one end. 

 The ground-colour is a dirty greyish buff, thickly spotted all 

 over with liver-brown or greyish-brown patches and under- 



