32 COMMON BRITISH BIRDS 



tricts, and then they attract considerable attention 

 among the residents who are not usually so favoured. 

 I remember one year when a bird used to sing nightly on 

 the extreme borders of North Shropshire, quite near 

 part of Flintshire, and numbers of people went almost 

 every evening to hear the stranger. 



NIGHTJAR. (S.M. Nightjars.) 



Size. Blackbird, large. 



Colour. Ashy-grey, with dark -brown mottlings 

 and narrow bars and streaks of black and yellowish - 

 buff. Each outer tail-feather has a large white spot. 

 The mouth is very wide, the corners of the gape reaching 

 behind the eye. 



Note. A peculiar jarring, heard at night, and con- 

 tinued for a considerable time without ceasing. 



Distinguishing Feature. The Nightjar is an evening 

 bird, coming out at night from its hiding-place among 

 the fern or other cover, and hunting for moths, looking 

 in the dusk with its curious bat-like flight almost like 

 a huge moth itself. The note is also heard at night, and 

 can hardly be mistaken for that of any other bird. 



Nest. Practically none. 



Eggs. Are laid on the ground, and are white, with 

 pots and mottlings of brown and grey. 



Haunts. Wooded districts with open ferny glades. 



NUTHATCH. (R. Nuthatches.) 



Size. Sparrow, slightly larger. Stiffly built, with 

 thick-set head and fairly long, strong beak. 



Colour. Above slate-grey, dark streak through eye 

 to ear-coverts, throat and chest reddish-white deepening 

 into chestnut lower down. 



Note. A liquid note like ' wheet, wheet,' often heard 

 from the tops of 1all trees in spring. 



Distinguishing Ftatire. The Nuthatch, like the Tree 

 Creeper, chiefly finds its food on the barks of trees, but 

 creeps up and down the trunks ; rather a short stumpy- 

 looking bird. The blue-grey back, black eye-streak, 

 and chestnut under-parts, with the woodpecker-like 

 beak, should suffice to identify it. 



Nest. In hole in tree. If entrance be too large, the 

 Nuthatch will build it partly up with clay. 



Eggs. White, spotted with red. 



Haunts. Parks and wooded districts. 



