42 



PICARIAN BIRDS. 



outer tail-feathers also with a large white spot at the end of the inner web; 

 under surface ochraceous buff, with blackish bars on the abdomen and the under- 

 wing and tail-coverts ; the breast marked like the upper surface of the body ; and 

 the throat blackish, narrowly barred with rufous buff, and spotted with white. 

 The total length is 10^ inches. The red-necked nightjar (C. rujicollis) is a larger 

 bird, measuring 12 inches in length. It has large white spots on the quills and 

 outer tail-feathers, but differs in having the hind-neck rufous, forming a broad 



COUHON AND RED-NECKED NIGHTJARS (^ nat. size). 



collar, which has gained the species its familiar name of red-necked. It inhabits 

 the countries of South- Western Europe and Northern Africa, nesting in Spain, 

 Algeria, and Morocco ; migrating occasionally into Southern France ; and it has 

 even reached Great Britain on one occasion, but its winter-quarters are unknown. 

 The food of the nightjar consists entirely of insects, in pursuit of which the bird 

 may be seen flying over the heather or the fields in the twilight, often, as it flies, 

 producing a clapping noise, apparently by striking its wings together above its 

 back, like a pigeon. The " churring " note which the birds make is familiar to all 



