NIGHTJAR. 119 



syllabic 'ja-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r' whence the descriptive name. 

 It has besides a' 'dec, dec,' which it utters when launching 

 on the wing, and also a third 'variation' a sort of squeak. 

 The Nightjar, like the Corncrake, has considerable powers of 

 ventriloquism, for, the cause perhaps being alarm at your 

 approach, when you think that you are close upon the vocalist, 

 it seems, 'presto,' like the 'will o' the wisp,' to have moved 

 by magic; 'abiit, evasit;' and yet all the while you are as 

 close to it as you were at first. The sound of the Nightjar's 

 hum is exceedingly pleasing to me; it is one thoroughly 

 associated with sylvan scenes. 



In the middle or the end of May, nidification, so to speak 

 where no nest is found, commences. 



The nest, if a few chance leaves in a hollow of the ground 

 are to be called such, is found in the open rides and walks 

 in woods, as also in their bordering neighbourhood, in moors 

 and barren places, among heath, grass, or fern, from the latter 

 of which one of its secondary names is derived. It is fre- 

 quently placed at the foot of a tree or bush. 



The eggs are generally two in number, but three have been 

 known in two instances: in one by Mr. Eddison, and in the 

 other by the Rev. J. Pemberton Bartlett, namely, in the latter 

 case, two young birds and an egg. They are very beautiful, 

 and of nearly a perfect oval shape, the ground colour being 

 white, which is most beautifully clouded and streaked with 

 bluish grey and yellowish brown. The eggs are laid the 

 beginning, and the young are hatched in the middle, of July. 



The whole plumage is remarkably soft and downy. Male; 

 weight, between two and three ounces; length, about ten 

 inches and a half; bill, very short and weak, black, dark 

 brown colour at the tip, the lower one light brown at the 

 base a few white feathers below the corner of it; it has a 

 tooth on each side of the hooked tip: a line of white runs 

 backwards from its corner; iris, inordinately large, 'the better 

 to see with,' and dull black; nine or ten strong bristles, made 

 to diverge or contract, project downwards from the under 

 edge of the upper mandible. Head, on the hinder part of the 

 sides, dark brown, edged below and behind with pale yellowish 

 brown, making a 'line of demarcation' between it and the 

 markings of the head and back ; the shafts are margined with 

 deep black; crown, pale greyish brown, the ground colour 

 being yellowish white, and dotted over with dusky specks; 

 two dark stripes of blackish brown feathers pass centrally to 



