ISABELLINE NIGHTJAR. 317 



attaching to it will cause British ornithologists to pay more attention to 

 this little stranger. Heuglin says that they breed in some numbers on 

 the sand islands in the province of Dongolah in Nubia, and that its nesting- 

 season is during July and August. He describes the nest as a mere 

 depression in the sand near a tuft of halfa-grass, or under the shelter of a 

 stunted bush. Its eggs appear to be two in number, which he describes as 

 more yellow in tinge than the eggs of the Common Goatsucker, also 

 smaller and paler. He states that the old bird sits very close, and when 

 disturbed only runs a little distance from the nest. Severtzow says that 

 the young keep in company with their parents until about the end of 

 August, and that after quitting them they are found in pairs. 



The food of the Isabelline Nightjar is composed exclusively of various 

 kinds of insects, so far as is at present known. Nothing definite appears 

 to have been written on its song or call-notes ; but they probably resemble 

 in a great measure those of the common species. 



Pale varieties of the Common Nightjar occasionally occur which may be 

 mistaken for the Isabelline Nightjar, but the two species are perfectly 

 distinct. In the Isabelline Nightjar the sexes are alike, and neither have 

 the white patches on the wings and tail which distinguish the male of the 

 Common species. From the female of that bird the Isabelline Nightjar 

 may at once be distinguished by the colour of the inside webs of the 

 primaries. In the Isabelline species the pale portion is pure white and 

 continuous, the dark bars only reaching about halfway across the webs ; in 

 the Common species the pale portion is chestnut-buff, and forms a series 

 of spots, the dark bars reaching entirely across the webs. The general 

 colour of the Isabelline species is much paler, and the dark centres to the 

 feathers of the upper parts are almost obsolete. 



The claim of the Red-necked Nightjar * to be included in the list of 

 British birds rests upon a single example which was shot on the 5th of 

 October, 1856, at Killing worth, near Newcastle, and was purchased on the 

 following day in the flesh by Mr. John Hancock from Mr. Pape, a game- 

 dealer in that town (Hancock, ' Ibis/ 1862, p. 39). This species has a 

 very restricted range, and is only known to breed in North-west Africa 



* CAPRIMULGUS RUFICOLLIS. 



RED-NECKED NIGHTJAR. 



(PLATE 17.) 



Caprimulgus ruficollis, Temm. Man. cTOrn. i. p. 438 (1820) ; et auctorum pluri- 



morum Gould, De gland 8f Oerbe, Sounders, Newton, Dresser, Sec. 

 Caprimulgus rufitorquis, Vieitt. Encycl. Meth. Orn. p. 546 (1823). 

 Caprimulgus rufitorquatus, fie ill. Faun. Fran^. p. 142 (1828). 

 Capriinulgus torquatus, Brehm, Naumannia, 1855, p. 270. 



