THE NIGHTJAR. 2OQ 



sun, and from the disturbed appearance of the 

 soil in some places, I imagine that it dusts itseli 

 as the Skylark does, to get rid of the small 

 parasites with which, like many other birds, it is 

 infested. On the i6th of May this year, at 

 Uppark, Sussex, I found one asleep on the 

 carriage drive within twenty yards of the house. 

 The gravel was quite warm, and the bird was 

 so loth to be disturbed that I almost suc- 

 ceeded in covering it with my hat before it took 

 wing. On another occasion in September, when 

 strolling along the beach near Selsea, I came 

 suddenly upon a Nightjar sitting below high- 

 water mark on the warm shingle, where it ap- 

 peared to be thoroughly enjoying the afternoon 

 sun. It dozes away the greater part of the day, 

 and if disturbed only flies a short distance before 

 re-alighting. Its loud and peculiar whirring 

 note, reminding one of the noise made by a 

 knife-grinder's wheel, is never heard until the 

 evening, when, in districts where the bird is 

 common, it resounds far and near. 



There is something occasionally quite ventri- 

 p 



