35G Capt. B. Alexander on the 



182. Taciiornis parva (Liclit.). 



Tachornis parva Hartert, Cat. B, xvi. p. 4G3 (189.2) ; id. 

 Nov. Zool. vi. p. 411. 

 Garabaga. 

 These specimens belong to the pale form of the speeies. 



183. Caprimulgus ruficollis Temm, 



Caprimulgus ra/icollis Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 259; 

 Hartert, Cat. B. xvi. p. 531. 



An adult female, March 28, 1901, Gambaga. 



This was the only occasion on which we observed this 

 Nightjar at Gambaga. It was a solitary individual, and to 

 all appearances a migrant. 



I have carefully examined the British Museum examples 

 of this species. In the collection there are several pale 

 isabelline specimens from Spain, Morocco, and Algeria. The 

 pale plumage has generally been considered to denote a 

 variety of the adult. It is, however, I think, nothing more 

 than the first winter dress of the young bird. Specimens 

 frum Spain obtained in May — the breeding-season — and also 

 an example (ad. c?) from Ben Moussar, Algeria, are darker 

 and much more shaded with rufous. From the same locality 

 as the latter bird there is a female in the pale plumage, that 

 is, having the under parts shaded with isabelline ; the feathers 

 of the chest mottled and narrowly barred with grey, so as to 

 form an irregular band across the chest. This specimen is 

 identical with another from Morocco, and with an immature 

 female obtained in August 1869 at Grenada, Spain. The Ben 

 Moussar male example, however, agrees perfectly with our 

 female from Gambaga; but both shew slight indications of 

 their first winter plumage, a few of the chest-feathers being 

 still mottled and barred with grey, and the general coloration 

 a shade paler than the specimens from Spain. 



Three fairly distinct phases in the plumage of this species 

 may accordingly be observed — the pale isabelline coloration 

 of the first winter plumage, gradually passing into a more 

 rufous shade, and then becoming deeper and darker in the 

 adult breeding-dress. 



Unfortunately, with the exception of a nestling, there are 



