146 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



indeed, and their mouths enormous, often with a row ol 

 strong bristles along each side. Their feet are small, 

 with three toes in front and a small hind -toe. The front 

 toes are joined at the root by a small web, as in a fowl, 

 the middle toe is furnished with a claw toothed like a 

 comb on the inner side. The plumage is very soft, and 

 beautifully stippled and mottled with various shades of 

 brown and grey, so as to look like bark or earth ; there 

 is little or no difference between male and female ; where 

 there exists any, the young resemble the hen in their first 

 plumage. They are covered with mottled down, and are 

 soon able to run ; but they do not feed themselves, being 

 fed by the parents from the bill like the naked helpless 

 young of many other birds. There is no nest at all, the 

 eggs being simply laid on the bare ground ; they are 

 mottled so as to look like pebbles, and so escape 

 observation. 



The Nightjars feed entirely on insects, mostly caught 

 on the wing, and are among the most useful of birds. 

 Their flight is very light and graceful, and at night, the 

 time of their activity, they are almost always on the wing. 



By day they rest either on the ground or on a thick 

 branch, on which they sit lengthways, not crosswise like 

 other birds. Nightjars are found almost all over the 

 world in warm and temperate regions, but are more often 

 heard than seen, their notes being very peculiar and re- 

 markable. They are commonly known in Hindi as Chip- 

 ~puk, Chappa, Dab-churi or Dabhak. 



THE COMMON INDIAN NIGHTJAR (Caprimulgus asia- 

 ticus). This bird is a little over nine inches long, and of a 



