NIGHTJAR 41 



inch in diameter; against the side of this the nest is glued, so that the upper margin 

 of the nest is on a level with the upper surface of the branch. The nest itself 

 is half of a rather deep saucer, ITS inches in diameter, and about 06 in depth 

 internally. The nest is entirely composed of thin flakes of bark, cemented 

 together by the bird's saliva, and is about an eighth of an inch in tliickness. The 

 %gg is a very elongated oval, obtuse at both ends, and with little or no gloss. It 

 is white, w^ith a slight greyish blue tinge, and measures 094 in length by OGl 

 in breadth." 



The Nightjars. 



Famil}^ Caprimulgid^'E. 



Like the swifts, these birds have very wide and gaping mouths ; while their 

 plumage is mottled and vermiculated, very much resembling that of the owls, near 

 which group they have been placed in many classifications. Beyond the resem- 

 blance of their plumage, and the fact that they are crepuscular birds, coming out 

 to hunt for their prey in the twilight, there is, however, little in common between 

 the two groups ; the former being birds of prey, devouring chiefly animal food and 

 laying white eggs, mostly in a concealed position in the hole of a tree ; whereas 

 the eggs of the nightjars are laid in the open, and are more or less spotted and 

 marked. The number of both the primary quills and tail-feathers in the nightjars 

 is ten ; the palate is of the Passerine (a^githognathous) type ; and the third toe lias 

 a comb-like appendage to the claw, similar to that of the herons and barn-owls. 

 The group may be divided into the two subfamilies Capriiniilgince and Nyctihiiiice, 

 of which the latter contains only the single genus Nycfih'ius, while the former 

 comprises upwards of eighteen genera, with ninety-five species. 



In common with the rest of their kind, the true nightjars have 



True Nightjars. , , ^ , , 1 . 1 , , , • , i i ^ • l^ /• • ^ ^ ^ 



the broad beak thickly beset witli strong bristles 01 considerable 

 length ; while they are specially distinguished by the diflerence in the sexes ; the 

 males having a large patch of white on the quills and at the end of the tail- 

 feathers, which are either absent altogether in the females, or are replaced by 

 rufous ones. The nestlings are thickh' covered witli down, and form an exception 

 to the general rule of young Picarian birds, Avhich are naked when hatched. 

 To this genus belong most of the species of nightjars, including the British 

 Caprimulgus eurojxeus. They are found nearly all over the world, inhabiting 

 both hemispheres, but never going very far north ; and the only locality where 

 they appear to be wanting is in some of the Eastern Pacific Islands. Of the two 

 European species, the common nightjar shown in the upper figure of our illus- 

 tration is a migrant from Africa, wintering in the Cape, and passing south 

 apparently by the Nile Valley and East Africa, as it has not yet been recorded 

 from the west coast. It visits Europe in summer, and breeds throughout the 

 greater portion of the Continent, reaching to the latitude of Archangel and to 

 about G8° north latitude in Scandinavia. The plumage is of a dark, ashy- 

 grey colour, closel}^ vermiculated with black : the scapulars are longitudinally 

 streaked with black and ochraceous bufi': (piills with a rufous-l)ufi" spcjt on both 

 webs, the three outer primaries with a large white spot on the iinit-r web; two 



