556 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. X 



This, the larger form, is exceedingly common all over these hills, but 

 more especially so in the immediate vicinity of my bungalow, so that 

 I have had exceptional advantages in watching their habits and 

 movements. 



My house is built on a hill, the garden on the steepest side coming 

 up to the very brow of the steep, almost precipitous grass slope, leaving 

 room only for a narrow footpath for the servants and hill people just 

 outside the fence. This pathway is the favorite haunt after dusk of this 

 fine Night-jar, and I, seated motionless on the bank, often have had them 

 approach me within a few feet, so near indeed that I have more than 

 once tried to catch them with a short butterfly net. I believe it is 

 not at all generally known how much these birds feed on the ground, 

 but I have constantly observed them so feeding, and butterflies or other 

 dead large insects which were placed near their favourite resting-places 

 were greedily eaten by them. Their movements on the ground are 

 stronger and quicker than might be expected judging from the 

 formation of their feet, and they run in exactly the same manner as do 

 martins and swallows when collecting mud for their nests. 



A very remarkable trait in this bird is the fact that the female will 

 accept the advances of more than one male ; but remarkable as it is 

 it is undoubtedly the fact, for on one occasion I was a witness of it 

 nor could there be any mistake, for both males were present at the same 

 time and within three yards of me. 



The actions of the young are very peculiar ; tiny mites, still blind—' 

 their eyes do not seem to open until the seventh day— will, when first 

 discovered or when they hear a heavy tread near them, lie flat on the 

 ground, their colour closely assimilating with the dead bamboo leaves 

 or other material on which they lie ; should, however, the danger of 

 discovery become very imminent, they will crawl under the leaves and 

 hide from sight altogether. 



(461) Capkdiulgus monticola. — Franklin's .Night-jar. 

 Hume, No, 114 ; Cat., B. Museum^ Vol. XVI, p. 549. 



Rare everywhere and more so in the hills than in the plains. 



(462) Capeimulgus jotaka. — The Japanese Night-jar. 

 Hume, No. 107, Bis ; Cat,, B. Museum, Vol. XVI, p. 552. 



I have only seen specimens of this form from the plains, never, 

 as far as I can remember, from any height over some 500 or 400 feet. 



