84 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



From Tripoli I have specimens of C. europceus, obtained in the 

 month of April. 



Dvu'ing the spring months the Nightjar is verj' abundant in some 

 of the wooded districts of the Regency, as is also the case throughout 

 most Mediterranean countries. In Sicily, during the last week of 

 April and the first fortnight of May, the number of Nightjars passing 

 is sometimes so great that between fifty and one hundred birds are 

 occasionally killed by a single " cacciatore " in a day. I recollect 

 a friend of mine at Palermo once bringing home no less than sixty- 

 four Nightjars, which he had shot in one morning on a small propert)' 

 he owns near that town, and he told me that he might have killed 

 sevei'al more. 



As the flight of this species is at times rather puzzling. Nightjar 

 shooting, as a sport, is considered by no means despisable by the 

 Sicilian sportsman. AVhether the same can be said of the flesh of 

 this bird as an article of food I cannot say, but large numbers of 

 Nightjars are certainly eaten in Sicily and in other countries where 

 the species is plentiful 



The habits of the Nightjar are interesting, but owing to the bird 

 being more or less crepuscular and nocturnal, they are not perhaps 

 observed as often as they otherwise would be. During the daytime 

 the Nightjar generally stays quietly in some thickly foliaged tree, 

 whence it only comes forth towards sundown in j^nrsuit of insects. 

 The bird's mode of resting (one can hardly call it 2^erchi)ig} is peculiar, 

 the body being stretched lengthwise along a branch and pressed 

 closely thereto, which no doubt aids the bird in escaping detection. 

 "Whether the object of the pectinated claw found in birds of this 

 family is to enable them to cling more closely to branches when in 

 this position, it is difficult to say, but the theory is at least as tenable 

 as that of its serving to clean their rictal bristles, or enabling them 

 to take a better hold of their prey. The last supposition, indeed, 

 should be put aside entirely, as the birds' feet are probably never used 

 for the purpose of seizing or holding the insects on which they prey, 

 the latter being captured with the mouth and chiefly on the wing. 



Moths and winged-beetles form the principal food of this and other 

 members of the family, though caterpillars and grubs of various kinds 

 are also eaten by them. 



Owing to its erratic flight and to its peculiar habits generally, the 

 Nightjar is looked upon by many people as a foolish bird, although 



