NIGHTJAR. 385 



breeds in Morocco, and it is said to occur in Algeria even 

 in winter. It is also recorded from Madeira. Throughout 

 Europe, short of the limits already assigned, it is very gene- 

 rally distributed. 



The upper mandible is black, the lower also black near 

 the tip, but pale brown at the base : the irides dusky-black : 

 the upper plumage generally is greyish-brown, produced by 

 minute specks of blackish-brown on a yellowish-white ground, 

 with blackish-brown stripes on the head, the scapulars, 

 and middle of the back, varied also in places, especially 

 behind the nape and on the margin of the scapulars, with 

 buff patches ; the fore part of the wing is dark brown, the 

 feathers mostly tipped with deep buff; the wing-quills are 

 brown, irregularly barred with deep buff, and near the tip 

 marbled with dark grey, the first three primaries on each 

 side, in the male, with a large well-defined white spot on the 

 inner web ; the middle tail-feathers greyish-brown, freckled 

 and irregularly barred with brownish-black ; on the lateral 

 quills this dark barring increases in width, occupying the 

 greater extent of the webs, and the lighter spaces are tinged 

 with buff; the two outermost quills on each side, in the 

 male, are broad, tipped with white ; the sides of the head 

 and ear-coverts are buff, closely barred with dark brown ; the 

 chin is the same, but bounded beneath the gape by an in- 

 definite streak of buffy-white ; the throat generally presents 

 a white patch tinged with buff, varying much in extent ; the 

 breast greyish-brown closely barred and freckled with dark 

 brown, but on the lower parts the ground-colour becomes 

 buff and the bars and freckling are less numerous, until, on 

 the belly, flanks and tarsi, the latter wholly disappears and 

 on the lower tail-coverts the former are far apart : the legs, 

 toes and claws, orange-brown. 



The whole length is ten inches and a half : from the 

 carpus to the tip of the wing, seven inches and three-eighths. 



The female is darker and less ferruginous than the male, 

 and wants the white spots on the quills of the wings and tail. 



The young, when first hatched, are clothed in down, 

 greyish-buff at the base and dark brown at the top, forming 



