ISABELLINE NIGHTIJAR. 317 
attaching to it will cause British ornithologists to pay more attention to 
this little stranger. Heuglin says that they breed in some numbers on 
the sand islands in the province of Dongolah in Nubia, and that its nesting- 
season is during July and August. He describes the nest as a mere 
depression in the sand near a tuft of halfa-grass, or under the shelter of a 
stunted bush. Its eggs appear to be two in number, which he describes as 
more yellow in tinge than the eggs of the Common Goatsucker, also 
smaller and paler. He states that the old bird sits very close, and when 
disturbed only runs a little distance from the nest. Severtzow says that 
the young keep in company with their parents until about the end of 
August, and that after quitting them they are found in pairs. 
The food of the Isabelline Nightjar is composed exclusively of various 
_ kinds of insects, so far as 1s at present known. Nothing definite appears 
to have been written on its song or call-notes ; but they probably resemble 
- in a great measure those of the common species. 
Pale varieties of the Common Nightjar occasionally occur which may be 
‘mistaken for the Isabelline Nightjar, but the two species are perfectly 
distinct. In the Isabelline Nightjar the sexes are alike, and neither have 
the white patches on the wings and tail which distinguish the male of the 
Common species. From the female of that bird the Isabelline Nightjar 
may at once be distinguished by the colour of the imside webs of the 
primaries. In the Isabelline species the pale portion is pure white and 
continuous, the dark bars only reaching about halfway across the webs; in 
the Common species the pale portion is chestnut-buff, and forms a series 
of spots, the dark bars reaching entirely across the webs. The general 
colour of the Isabelline species is much paler, and the dark centres to the 
feathers of the upper parts are almost obsolete. 
The claim of the Red-necked Nightjar * to be included in the list of 
British birds rests upon a single example which was shot on the 5th of 
October, 1856, at Killingworth, near Newcastle, and was purchased on the 
following day in the flesh by Mr. John Hancock from Mr. Pape, a game- 
dealer in that town (Hancock, ‘ Ibis, 1862, p. 39). This species has a 
very restricted range, and is only known to breed in North-west Africa 
*CAPRIMULGUS RUFICOLLIS. 
RED-NECKED NIGHTJAR. 
(PLATE 17.) 
Caprimulgus ruficollis, Temm. Man. d’ Orn. i. p. 438 (1820); et auctorum pluri- 
morum— Gould, Degland § Gerbe, Saunders, Newton, Dresser, &c. 
Caprimulgus rufitorquis, Vieill. Encycl. Méth. Orn. p. 546 (1823). 
Caprimulgus rufitorquatus, Veer. Faun. Frang. p. 142 (1828). 
Caprimulgus torquatus, Brehm, Nawmannia, 1855, p. 270. 
