THE NIGHTJAR 



[ORDER : Coraciiformes. FAMILY : Caprimulgidce. SUBFAMILY : Caprimulgince] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[F. C. R. JOTJRDAIN. F. B. KIRKMAN. W. P. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



NIGHTJAR [Caprimulgus europdiis Linnaeus. Goatsucker, fern-owl, eve- 

 jar, eve-churr, nighthawk, jenny-spinner, churn-owl, puckeridge, dorhawk, 

 flying-toad. French, engoulevent ; German, Ziegenmelker, Nachtschwalbe ; 

 Italian, aucciacapre], 



I. Description. The nightjar can be recognised at a glance by the huge 

 bristle-guarded mouth, small feet and legs, and the beautiful lichen-grey plumage 

 variegated by streaks and bars of buff and chestnut. There is no seasonal change of 

 plumage. (PI. 79.) Length, 10*5 in. [276'70 mm.]. The male has the upper parts of a 

 silvery grey, minutely freckled and vermiculated, with dark brown and dark chestnut. 

 The crown is broadly, the interscapulars narrowly, striated with rich dark chestnut ; 

 at the nape is a more or less continuous half-collar of rich buff, while the foremost 

 scapulars have the outer webs rich buff, the inner dark chestnut, forming parallel buff 

 and chestnut bands, while the hinder scapulars are silvery grey finely vermiculated 

 with dark brown and shaft streaks of the same hue. The lesser coverts are almost 

 black, with lateral, irregular spots of buff, and buff tips to the minor coverts from a 

 bar across the wing ; the median coverts are silvery grey finely vermiculated with 

 dark brown, the major coverts are of a pale brown, heavily banded with oblique 

 bands of brownish black and shaft streaks of the same hue. The outer secondaries 

 are pale brown transversely barred with darker brown, the inner silver-grey ver- 

 miculated and barred with dark brown, and dark-brown shaft streaks. The primaries 

 are of a dark sepia, with irregular spots and bars of pale brown along the basal 

 portion of the outer webs, forming transverse bars in the closed wing. The second 

 primary has a large oval white spot on the inner web, near its middle, and on the third 



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