20 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Length 13 inches, tail 6'8, wing 8*4, tarsus *7, bill from gape 1*4. 

 The female is rather smaller, the wing ranging down to 8' I. 



The Large Bengal Nightjar is very similar to the next, and is liable to 

 be confounded with it. The two species, in fact, grade into each other 

 with respect to size, and had I more birds available for examination I 

 should probably be led to unite them. 



The present bird occurs on the Pegu hills, where I found it not far 

 from the frontier; and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it at Tonghoo. 

 Mr. Davison does not appear to have met with it in Tenasserim. 



It has been observed in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal, and it is spread 

 over the greater portion of Northern India. 



This species, as far as my own observations go, is confined to the forests 

 on the hills. In India it appears to breed from March to May ; and, like 

 the other Nightjars, it lays two eggs on the ground without making any 

 nest. 



This species and the next two have the tarsus covered with feathers. 



417. CAPRIMULGUS MACRURUS. 

 THE MALAY NIGHTJAR. 



Caprimulgus macrurus, Horsf, Trans. Linn. Soc. xiii. p. 142 ; Jerd. B. Ind. i. 

 p. 195 ; Salvad. Ucc. Born. p. 117 ; Hume, S. F. iii. p. 46 j Bl. fy Wald. B. Burm. 

 p. 83 ; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 588 ; Hume 8f Dav. S. F. vi. p. 58 ; Crippa, 

 8. F. vii. p. 258 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 j Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 150 ; Kelham, 

 Ibis, 1881, p. 376. 



Description. Plumage much the same as in C. albonotatus ; but the 

 buff tips to the wing-coverts and scapulars narrower, and the black patches 

 on the scapulars larger and much more conspicuous ; the lower plumage is 

 also darker, especially on the breast ; the main difference, however, lies in 

 its being a smaller bird. 



Length 12 inches, tail 6*3, wing 7*2 to 7*8, tarsus *7, bill from gape T4. 

 The female does not appear to vary much from the male in size. 



This species varies in size, becoming smaller towards the south. 

 Australian specimens have the wing only 7 inches in length, whereas the 

 average length of the wings of Burmese birds is 7'5 inches. 



The Malay Nightjar seems to be generally spread ever the whole of 

 British Burmah, except perhaps in the vast grassy plains of the south of 

 Pegu, where it is rare, if not altogether absent. 



It has a great range, extending on the south through the Malay peninsula 

 and islands to Northern Australia, and it is found in Cochin China, the 

 Indo-Burmese countries and Bengal. 



