146 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
indeed, and their mouths enormous, often with a row ot 
strong bristles along each side. Their feet are small, 
with three toes in front and a small hind-toe. The front 
toes are joined at the root by a small web, as in a fowl, 
the middle toe is furnished with a claw toothed like a 
comb on the inner side. The plumage is very soft, and 
beautifully stippled and mottled with various shades of 
brown and grey, so as to look like bark or earth ; there 
is little or no difference between male and female ; where 
there exists any, the young resemble the hen in their first 
plumage. They are covered with mottled down, and are 
soon able to run ; but they do not feed themselves, being 
fed by the parents from the bill like the naked helpless 
young of many other birds. There is no nest at all, the 
eggs being simply laid on the bare ground; they are 
mottled so as to look lke pebbles, and so escape 
observation. 
The Nightjars feed entirely on insects, mostly caught 
on the wing, and are among the most useful of birds. 
Their flight is very hight and graceful, and at night, the 
time of their activity, they are almost always on the wing. 
By day they rest either on the ground or on a thick 
branch, on which they sit lengthways, not crosswise like 
other birds. Nightjars are found almost all over the 
world in warm and temperate regions, but are more often 
heard than seen, their notes being very peculiar and re- 
markable. They are commonly known in Hindi as Chip- 
puk, Chappa, Dab-churi or Dabhak. 
Tae Common Inp1an Nicutsar (Caprimulgus asia- 
ticus). This bird is a little over nine inches long, and of a 
