Birds of the Indian Hills 



THE CAPRIMULGID^ OR NIGHTJAR 

 FAMILY 



Nightjars, or goatsuckers, to give them their 

 ancient and time-honoured name, are birds 

 that lie up during the day in shady woods and 

 issue forth at dusk on silent wing in order to 

 hawk insects. The most characteristic feature 

 of a nightjar is its enormous frog-like mouth ; 

 but it is not easy to make this out in the 

 twilight or darkness, so that the observer has 

 to rely on other features in order to recognise 

 goatsuckers when he sees them on the wing, 

 such as their long tail and wings, their curious 

 silent fluttering flight, their dark plumage with 

 white or buff in the wings and tail, their 

 crepuscular and nocturnal habits, and their 

 large size. Nightjars are as large as pigeons. 



The common species of the Nilgiris is the 

 jungle nightjar (Caprimulgus indicus). For a 

 couple of hours after nightfall, and the same 

 period before dawn in the spring, this bird 

 utters its curious call — a rapidly-repeated cuck- 

 chug-chuck-chuck. 



Horsfield's nightjar (C. macrurus) is per- 

 haps not sufficiently abundant on the Nilgiris 

 to deserve mention in this essay. A bird which 



2l3 



