90 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



ones, about three days old. On the 19th I inspected the double 

 brood, and again saw the old one fly off from two very small 

 downy young ones, the eggs being hatched and the egg-shells 

 lying near. I did not see the fledged young of the former brood 

 on the 19th, but the next day one of them flew up with the 

 mother from the newly-hatched young ones. 



On the 7th of August I saw the old one and the two last- 

 hatched young ones fly from the spot where they were hatched, 

 or within a yard or two of it, for they had shifted their home a 

 few feet now and then. I also saw a fourth bird — evidently one 

 of the older young ones of the former brood — fly from a spot 

 about three yards from the others. 



I never saw more than two Nightjar's eggs in one clutch, 

 but have heard of a brood of three young ones found, about the 

 the year 1868, by an old woodman, who showed me where he 

 found them. He was well acquainted with the bird and its 

 eggs and habits. Another man, in 1877, told me he had once 

 seen three "Night-hawk's" eggs in one clutch. 



On the 29th of June, 1870, in Hockering Wood, I saw a 

 female Nightjar sitting on her two young ones, which were 

 nearly feathered. The old bird on my approach remained 

 motionless, except that it closed — or nearly closed — its large 

 eyes, or at any rate that eye which I could see, as if it was 

 aware that its eyes were the most conspicuous part of it. 



All the newly-fledged Nightjars seen by me are of a lighter 

 and more uniform brownish grey colour than the old birds, and 

 do not exhibit the white spots which are so visible on the tail 

 and wings of old males. 



In woods of oak or mixed timber, the Nightjar usually 

 chooses a small bare spot of ground in the "low fell" — i.e. 

 where the brushwood had been cut a year or two ago and the 

 stumps are growing bushy again. In such places there are 

 many " spoil-heaps" and scattered " spoils" on the rough butt- 

 ends which have been chopped oflf from the felled underwood 

 in making hurdle- stakes, bobbin-wood, and hoop-wood. These 

 "spoils" vary from six inches to about eighteen inches in 

 length, and they are so irregular in shape and colour that it 

 is no easy matter to identify a sitting Nightjar amongst them. 



On open treeless heaths the barest soil is chosen, such as 

 •where a few turfs have been cut, and one or two short rotten 



