THE NIGHTJAR. 165 



grow fainter till it dies away, and then gives the cry or 

 hoot which is always uttered on the wing. The bird 

 rarely appears in daylight, though I have heard one 

 occasionally during the brightest summer afternoon. At 

 half-past eight at midsummer they begin to appear, and 

 continue till shortly after ten ; but on moonlight evenings 

 they may be heard till midnight. They lay earlier in the 

 year than is generally supposed. On June 25 I found 

 two ' nests ' (?), each containing eggs ; one lot had been 

 sat on for some little time, and a keeper assured me that 

 on June 19 he found young birds. When the hen is dis- 

 turbed on her nest, if only one egg is laid, she flies straight 

 away ; but if she is sitting she will draw the intruder away 

 by feigning a broken wing, at the same time uttering a 

 cry of distress. The eggs are laid on the ground, not the 

 slightest pretence of a nest being made ; in one case, how- 

 ever, some fallen pine-needles had been scraped away till 

 the bare soil was reached. The hen-bird appears to select 

 her breeding-place some time before laying, notwithstanding 

 the absence of a nest. When the eggs are reached there 

 is difficulty in seeing them, so much do they resemble the 

 ground ; few better examples of ' protective mimicry ' 

 could be given, the eggs exactly matching in colour the 

 leaden sand with its white stones found in the district of 

 Berkshire where these notes were taken. T. N. POSTLE- 

 THWAITE, Millom, Cumberland." 



The nightjar is a summer migrant, arriving in May and 

 departing in September. 



