432 AC ANTHYLLIS CAPRIMULGUS 



under tail-coverts white ; rest of under parts sooty brown, but flanks 

 white, mixed with glossy blue-black ; bill black ; legs livid purplish ; iris 

 brown. Gape 0'75, wing 1*0, tail 2 '4, tarsus 0'7 inch. Sexes alike. 



Hob. Eastern Asia, as far west as Irkutsk, and north as 

 Jakutsk ; Mongolia, Manchuria, China, and Japan ; Australia and 

 Tasmania in winter ; has been twice obtained in England, but 

 nowhere else in Europe. 



As a rule it is a gregarious species being usually seen in 

 flocks, and nests in communities. Like the true Swift it is 

 always to be seen on the wing, and is the swiftest of all the 

 family. Unlike the Swift its note is weak and more like that of 

 the Swallow. Its food consists of insects which it captures on the 

 wing. It breeds in holes in rocks and cliffs and in hollow trees. 

 I have not seen a nest, which probably resembles that of C. 

 melba, but have two eggs, obtained in Manchuria which are 

 pure white, in grain of shell like those of Cypselus melba, and 

 measure 1/22 by 0-78 and T24 by 076 respectively. 



CAPRIMULGUS, Briss., 1760. 



618. EUROPEAN NIGHTJAR. 



CAPRIMULGUS EUROPJEUS. 



Caprimulgus europwus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 346 (1766) ; Hewitson, i. 

 p. 270, pi. Ixvi. ; Naum. vi. p. 141, Taf. 148 ; Gould, B. of E. ii. 

 pi. 51 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. ii. pi. 1 ; Newton, ii. p. 377 ; Dresser, iv. 

 p. 621, pi. 271 ; Hartert, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xvi. p. 526 ; Blanf. F. 

 Brit. Ind. Birds, iii. p. 187 ; Saunders, p. 267 ; Lilford, ii. p. 29, 

 pi. 13 ; C. smithii, Bp. Consp. i. p. 59 (1850) ; C. unwini, Hume, 

 Ibis, 1871, p. 406 ; Hartert, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xvi. p. 528 ; C.plumi- 

 pes, Prjev. Mongol, i Strana Tangut. ii. p. 22 (1876), Hartert, torn, 

 cit. p. 530. 



Engoulevent ordinaire, French : Noitibo, Portug. ; Papa- 

 vientos, Span. ; Nottolone, Ital. ; Ziegenmelker, Tagschl&fer , 

 German ; CfeitenmelJcer, Dutch ; Natteraon, Dan. and Norweg. ; 

 Nattskarra, Swed. ; Kehrdja, Finn.; Kozodoy - polunotschnik , 

 Russ. 



ad. (Sweden). Upper parts dark ashy-grey pencilled, vermiculated 

 and streaked with blackish brown and warm buff ; primaries blackish, 

 marked with rufous on the outer web, the first three with a white spot 

 near the end of the inner web ; tail with the two outer feathers on each 

 side broadly terminated with white ; under parts greyish buff, narrowly 

 barred with blackish brown, the abdomen and crissum orange buff ; on 

 each side of, and in the middle of the throat a white patch ; beak and 



