48 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



71. Caprimulgus Infuscatus, Hupp, Atlas, 



16 ; C. Nubicus, Licht. ; Ibis, Vol. 1859, p. 242. 



GENERAL colour reddish -grey, finely mottled with black; 

 chin, throat, patch on wing, and two external tail-feathers 

 white. Length, 8" ; wing, 5" 3'" ; tail, 3J". 

 Natal : Ayres " Ibis " loc.cit. noh vidi. 



72. Oaprimulgus Atrovarius. (Sundevaii.) Le 



Vaillant, PL 49 ; C. Pectoralis, Vieil ; C. Africanus, 

 Steph. 



MAY be distinguished by its much darker and distinct 

 colouring, and broad rufous collar ; four outer wing and two 

 outer tail feathers marked with white. Length, 10" ; wing. 

 7" ; tail, 5" 9"'. 



This is the bird that I identify with. Le Vaillant' s " Engoulevent a 

 Collier." It is found about (Jape Town, frequenting gardens and 

 orchards. It is common at Rondebosch, and along the forest-clad 

 Eastern face of Table Mountain. 



Like all its congeners, it flies abroad as soon as the twilight begins 

 to darken, and often perches on the rails of garden-fences, sitting 

 lengthways along them. It has the churring note of the other goat- 

 suckers, and lays two greyish, cream-coloured eggs, shaped much the 

 same at each end, freckled and blotched with brown spots and patches : 

 axis, 14"' ; diam., 10'". 



The nest is a mere depression in the soil, under the shelter of a large 

 stone or bush. At Mr. Vigne's farm, on the River Zorder End, a bird 

 of this species has hatched her eggs, for several successive years, in a 

 flower-bed close to a well-used path. I saw her sitting in the beginning 

 of November : she allowed me to approach within two or three feet of 

 her, and never once moved from her nest, though I visited her daily. 

 Her eyes were always closed to within a mere thread-like crack, out of 

 which she watched every movement, and she generally rested her head 

 on a small dead branch that lay beside the nest. 



73. Oaprimulgus Forficatus, vieU; c. Fur- 



catus, Cuv., Vol. 2., p. 78 ; L' Engoulevent d queue 

 fourchue, Le Vail, PI. .47 et 48. 



GENERAL colour brown, variegated with black, red, and 

 white, the latter chiefly on the belly, tail, greater wing- 

 covers, scapularies, and under tail-covers. The black mark- 

 ings of the chest are larger than on other parts ; the wing 

 and tail feathers are marbled brown ; the throat is reddish, 

 transversely barred with black lines ; tail deeply forked. 

 Length, 26". 



This species may, according to Le Vaillant, be distinguished from 



