8 Mr. A. Haagner on the Protective 



therefore be idle to attempt to give a list of those species 

 endowed with it. I am well acquainted with the habits of 

 many of the species, and have often noticed bow incon- 

 spicuous they are when sitting amongst the grass or bushes 

 of their usual haunts. They are, moreover, for the most part 

 of retiring habits. 



Order Picari^. 



Family Caprimulgid^. 



The members of this family are on the whole very well 

 endowed with assimilative coloration. I have noticed this 

 fact in regard to the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus 

 enropceus). Crouching on the ground it is a most incon- 

 spicuous object, even on brightly moonlit nights. I first 

 became acquainted with the case of the Rufous-cheeked 

 Nightjar (C rufigena) on the 27th September, 1898. During 

 a collecting excursion to a farm about 5 miles S.W. of Kaal- 

 fontein Station, I happened to be resting under a tree. 

 Staring aimlessly up into the foliage overhead, my gaze was 

 arrested by an irregular bump or protuberance on a bough 

 about 12 feet above my head. I could not make out what it 

 was, so, thinking it might be a nest of some sort, I ascended 

 the tree and was considerably astonished to find a Nightjar 

 fly up from almost under my nose. The bird had been sitting 

 lengthways on the bough, flattened up against it, and the 

 assimilative nature of its plumage was most marked, the 

 mottled grey-brown and rufous feathering harmonizing 

 beautifully with the bark of the tree on which the Nightjar 

 sat. I followed the bird with my eyes as it flew up, and 

 descending to the ground I proceeded to the tree it had taken 

 refuge in, but was forced to study every branch before I 

 located it again. Being mostly nocturnal in habits, a pro- 

 tectively coloured plumage would nnturally be of very 

 material assistance to them when in hiding during daylight 

 in some recess or on a bough. Since this occasion I have 

 repeatedly verified this experience, as this bird is fairly 

 common in the Modderfontein district. In the ne'ghI;our- 



