CAPBIMULGID.E 



CAPRIMULGUS 



41 



ing to Alexander, no call note as in the European bird. Ayres states 

 that he saw a male seated crosswise on a branch, though this is 

 contradicted by Bohm, an observer in German east Africa. Little 

 is known about the breeding of this species. Ayres found an egg 

 on the Bembesi river in Mashonaland on October 19, but gives 

 no further details. Eeichenow states that the eggs are white 

 spotted with grey and brown, and measure 24 x 18 mm. (i.e., 

 0-94 x 0-70). 





398. Caprimulgus natalensis. Natal Nightjar. 



Caprimulgus natalensis, A. Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pi. 99 

 (1845) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 243, 1860, p. 204 ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 46 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 88 (1875) ; Hartert 

 Cat. B. M. xvi, p. '564 (1892) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 107 (1896) ; 

 Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 86 (1899). 



Description. Male. General colour above, a rufous-brown 

 mottled and streaked with black ; a narrow eyebrow and supra- 

 loreal streak isabelline ; no sign of a collar ; scapulars with marked 

 triangular black spots, wing-coverts mottled black, white and pale 

 fulvous ; quills dark brown with fulvous mottlings on their inner 

 edges and white spots on the first three only ; central tail-feathers 

 mottled black and fulvous crossed by narrow well-marked black 

 bars; outer tail-feathers with a white outer web and a white tip 

 occupying about half the feather, next pair with only the white 

 tips occupying a little less than half the feathers ; a well-marked 

 white spot on the throat ; upper breast mottled black and ochre ; 

 lower breast ochre barred with black ; abdomen and under tail- 

 coverts plain ochre unbarred. 



Iris dark brown. 



Length about 9-25 ; wing 5-8 ; tail 4-25 ; culmen 0-45 ; tarsus 

 0-70, hardly feathered at all. 



Female resembling the male but distinguished by its paler back 

 and rump, the spots on the primaries being smaller and sandy-buff, 

 and the outer tail-feathers being brown barred with sandy-buff. 



Distribution. Natal, re-occurring in the Gold Coast. The type 

 was obtained by Sir A. Smith, close to Durban, it has been also 

 obtained at Pinetown by Ayres, and was observed by Stark near 

 Maritzburg. Hitherto this bird has not been recorded elsewhere 

 in South Africa, but a closely allied species, only distinguished by 

 its smaller size, occurs in West Africa, while Hartert includes in 



