THE JAPANESE NIGHTJAR. 21 



This Nightjar is an inhabitant of forests and well-wooded localities. It 

 is remarkable for the monotonous and persistent characters of its call, 

 which is uttered all night long. It resembles the word " tuk " repeated 

 five or six times, with a certain metallic ring about it. The eggs of this 

 species have not yet been found. 



418. CAPEIMULGUS JOTAKA. 

 THE JAPANESE NIGHTJAR. 



Caprimulgus jotaka, Temm. et Schleg. Faun. Jap., Aves, p. 37, pis. xii., xiii. ; 

 Wald. in JBl. B. Burm. p. 83; Godw.-Aust. J. A. S. B. xliii. pt. ii. p. 163; 

 Dav. et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 67; Anders. Yunnan Exped. p. 588; Hume Sf Dav. 

 S. F. vi. p. 56 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 85 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 236. Caprimulgus 

 indicus, apud Bl B. Burm. p. 83 ; Hume fy Dav. S. F. vi. p. 56. 



Description. Male. Of very dark colour, most of the marks on the 

 upper plumage being black ; first primary with a white spot on the inner 

 web, not reaching to the shaft ; no patch on the outer web ; second and 

 third primaries with a patch of white across both webs ; fourth primary 

 with a white patch on the inner web and a rufescent one on the outer ; in 

 some specimens the patches on the outer webs of the second and third 

 primaries are rufous ; all the tail-feathers, except the central ones, with a 

 band of pure white near the tip, about half an inch wide, and the same 

 distance from the tip. 



The female has the same dark plumage as the male ; the patches on the 

 primaries are rufous, small and ill-defined ; there is no white whatever on 

 the tail, all the feathers being black barred with rufous. 



Length 12 inches, tail 5'5, wing 8'4 to 8'8, tarsus "65, bill from gape 1*4. 

 The female is of about the same size. 



Mr. Blyth recorded C. indicus from Burmah ; but both Lord Tweeddale 

 and Mr. Hume identify their Burmese specimens with C. jotaka. It is 

 not likely that both species occur ; and I therefore include only C. jotaka 

 in this work. C. indicus differs in being smaller, the wing being seldom 

 or never more than 7*6 in length. The white on the tail-feathers in the 

 male is terminal and not subterminal, as in C. jotaka. The females can 

 only be separated by size. 



I have examined a considerable series of C. jotaka from Japan, and find 

 that the wing is never less than 8*4 in length. 



The Japanese Nightjar is apparently a rare bird in British Burmah. 

 The late Colonel Lloyd sent a specimen to Lord Tweeddale from Tonghoo ; 

 and Mr. Davison met with it in Tenasserim on two occasions only in the 

 south of the Division. I did not observe it in Pegu. 



