316 BRITISH BIRDS. 



collection with the bird shot by his gamekeeper. An old proverb says 

 "that it never rains but it pours." On the 31st of December last Giglioli 

 wrote to me from Florence that he had secured an example of C. agyptius 

 from Sicily, making the sixth recorded occurrence of this bird in Europe. 



The breeding-range of the Isabelline Nightjar is very restricted. Hitherto 

 it has only been obtained in Western Turkestan, Baluchistan, Egypt, and 

 Nubia. Both Heuglin and Severtzow say that it is only a summer visitor 

 to its breeding-grounds, which probably also include Arabia. Its winter- 

 quarters are unknown, but may probably be somewhere in the valley of 

 the Upper Nile. 



Scarcely any thing has been recorded of the habits or nidification of 

 this, to British ornithologists, now most interesting species. It is a bird 

 of the desert and the sand, on which it almost exclusively lives, and where 

 its pale isabelline plumage effectually conceals it from enemies. From the 

 meagre details of its life-history that have already been published it would 

 appear to resemble very closely in its habits our Common Nightjar. Like 

 that species it skulks during the day, coming out in search of its meal in 

 the twilight. It passes the day crouched low on the sand, where it is said 

 to make a little hollow, or amongst cracks and excavations in the earth. 

 It is said not to be a very shy bird, and as evening approaches it may be 

 seen flitting about on almost noiseless wing chasing insects, and every 

 now and then uttering a croaking cry. Severtzow says that the haunts 

 this bird affects in Turkestan are the sandy parts of the country, never 

 very far from water, and amongst bush and scrubby vegetation. Captain 

 Shelley met with it in Egypt, where he says they are most numerous 

 in spring and autumn, appearing at these seasons usually in flocks. He 

 met with a party of four individuals, all males, in the month of March, 

 and suggests that these birds travel to their breeding-grounds in flocks or 

 parties of the same sex, and do not pair until their arrival. These four 

 birds were sitting on the sand, and when disturbed flew off and took refuge 

 amongst some tamarisk-bushes, frequently uttering a slight snapping 

 sound as they went. He sometimes saw them flitting over the water near 

 sunset. Heuglin also met with this species on migration in April, May, and 

 September in Lower Egypt ; and the fact that he only shot females from 

 -one large flock of more than fifty individuals confirms the previously 

 expressed opinion that the sexes separate to migrate. He found them 

 frequenting the small acacia-groves on the borders of the desert, and also 

 amongst the halfa- or ulfa-grass. Here they rise very reluctantly ; and he 

 states that they often ran from one bush to another with puffed-out 

 throats, uttering their curious cry. 



Very little is known respecting the nidification of the Isabelline 

 Nightjar; but now that it has received the dignity of being included in 

 the British list, it is very probable that the new and increased interest 



