130 THE NIGHTJAR: OR FERN OWL. 



are hard enough to see even a few yards away 

 from the nest. As a matter of fact the nightjar's 

 eggs are not white, but are most artistically 

 blotched with grey and amber. The one colour 

 overlies the other so distinctly as to look as 

 though the eggs had been coloured by hand, 

 first with a brush of the grey paint, and then 

 with a second brush containing the richer brown. 



They are in form, no less than in colouring, 

 quite unmistakable; and should not be con- 

 founded with those of any other British bird 

 even if the situation of the nest but there is no 

 nest were unknown. They are almost an exact 

 oval, that is to say the thick and the thin ends 

 are hard to detect. In shape and size, as well 

 as in polish, they are like a woodpigeon's; so 

 much so that a clever artist in days to come, 

 when nightjar's eggs are as valuable as those 

 of the great auk, might colour the pure white 

 eggs of the woodpigeon so as to deceive many 

 a buyer. 



The nightjar's family, like the pigeons, con- 

 sists of two; so that the single egg I saw had 

 probably been laid that day. Had not I felt 

 sure it could not escape detection, being so very 

 close to a footpath, I should have left it : but, 

 knowing how all the boys of the village would 

 be upon the prowl on the Whitmonday holiday, 

 it would have been too mortifying to seek out 

 the place the next day and find nothing. In 

 all probability the birds made another home, as 

 the female would be bound to lay her second 

 egg, and I felt that by taking this one I should 



