on Birds from Shendi, Sudan. 21 
good many scattered stones and tufts of grass. We never 
saw one of the birds amongst the trees or in thick scrub. 
During the day, like other Nightjars, they lie very close and 
are seldom noticed ; they harmonize most perfectly with their 
surroundings and are exceedingly difficult to see. On one 
occasion we only detected one by its shuffling along an inch 
or so to avoid being trodden on by a camel. At night they 
are on the wing very soon after sunset, when they come down 
to the river. They fly up and down the banks or out over 
the water, often touching the surface either to drink or to 
catch an insect ; after half an hour or so they seem to retire 
towards the desert. We never saw one of these Nightjars 
perched^ on a tree ; they sit on the ground and often ^' churr " 
for several minutes at a time. Tiie " churr " is distinctly 
of a lower pitch than that of Scotornis climacwus. 
We saw this species also at Wad-Habushi, halfway 
between Shendi and Khartum, in a locality very similar to 
that near Shendi. It may therefore perhaps be presumed 
that C. eximius will eventually be found to be resident in this 
region wherever ground suitable to its habits exists ; that is 
to say, from the Atbara right up the Nile and the White Nile 
almost as far as Fashoda. It is a bird which might very 
easily be overlooked : had we stopped a few days only at 
Shendi, we should certainly not have found it ; in fact, it 
was not until we had been there very nearly a month that we 
became acquainted with its habits. 
We found three nests, or rather breeding- spots, on March 
16th, 20th, and 27th ; the first two contained two eggs each, 
very much incubated, the third contained one young bird 
just hatched and an addled eg^. There was no pretence at a 
nest, not even a depression, the eggs being laid on the bare 
ground near a tuft of grass, under which the bird often hides. 
They are of the usual character of those of Nightjars and vary 
considerably in markings and shape ; some are darker than 
others, some are oval, and some a little pointed at one end. 
The ground-colour is a dirty greyish buff^, thickly spotted all 
over with liver-brown or greyish-brown patches and under- 
