146 



THE BIRDS OF ESSEX. 



Family CAPRIMULGID^. 





NIGHTJAR, 1/5. 



(After Bewick). 



Nightjar : Caprimiilgus europaus. Locally, " Night Hawk '' 

 (Orsett). 



A regular summer visitor, but very sparingly distributed, except 

 in a few spots which are peculiarly suited to its habits, as Epping 



Forest, Ongar Park 

 Wood, and the woods 

 and commons round 

 Dan bury, Tiptree, War- 

 ley, and elsewhere In 

 most parts of the county 

 it is seen occasionally 

 when on migration. It 

 usually arrives about the 

 middle of May, and de- 

 parts in September. 



Albin says (3. i. 10), "I have seen them on Epping Forest and divers 

 other places." Mr. Buxton says (47. 93) they are " frequently seen during 

 summer in the Forest, where they breed." " J. H." records (29. Jan. 13, 1883) 

 that in 18S3 he found a couple of nests in the Forest, and I found a nest 

 near Ambresbury Banks in 1870. I also saw a nest — or rather eggs — in Ongar 

 Park Wood in 1877. Mr. C. Walford wrote in 1838 : This bird " appears 

 to have been unusually numerous in this county during the last season, several 

 having been sent tome to be preserved." (19. 74). According to King (20) it is 

 ' rather rare " round Sudbury. At Harwich it is fairly common and breeds 

 (Kerry), Round Orsett, where there is very little woodland, it is "not common " 

 (Sackett), but Dr. Laver speaks of it as "common in both the Colchester and 

 Paglesham districts." Mr Clarke states (24) that one or two were killed in 

 most years round Walden, where in 1880 I knew of two nests, although I know 

 the bird to be decidedly uncommon there, except round Chesterford, where Mr. 

 Brewis tells me it breeds commonly. Mr. W. C. Emson of Littlebury also in- 

 forms me that they breed there every year. It abounds among the woods and 

 commons round Danbury and Little Baddow, and on Tiptree Heath. My cousin, 

 Mr. R. W. Christy, saw a specimen in Nightingale's Wood, Ro.xwell, on several 

 different days during frosty weather in the winter of iSSl-82. This is a very 

 remarkable occurrence, though it has on other occasions been known to remain 

 till November. Mr. Fitch has once found the eggs in Hazeleigh Hall Wood. 



specimen (29. Nov. 23 & 30, 1878) which is said to have been preserved by Morris, a bird-stuflfer, 

 of Low Leyton, Essex, but nothing further is known about it. Ambrose of Colchester, through 

 whose hands the specimen passed, did not believe it had been set up from a skin. 



