356 Capt. B. xA.lexaiKlcr en tlie 
182. Tachornis parya (Licht.). 
Tachornis parva Hartert, Cat. B. xvi. p. 463 (189.2) ; id. 
Nov. Zool. vi. p. 411. 
Gambaga. 
These specimens belong to the pale form of the species. 
183. Caprimulgus ruficollis Temm. 
Caprimidgus ryficoUls Saunders^ Man. Brit. B. p. 259; 
Hartert, Cat. B. xvi. p. 531. 
An adult female, March 28, 1901, Gambaga. 
This was the only occasion on which we observed this 
Nightjar at Gambaga. It was a solitary individual, and to 
all appearances a migrant. 
I have carefully examined the British Museum examples 
of this species. In the collection there are several pale 
isabelline specimens from Spain, Morocco, and Algeria. The 
pale plumage has generally been considered to denote a 
variety of the adult. It is, however, I think, nothing more 
than the first winter dress of the young bird. Specimens 
from Spain obtained in May — the breeding-season — and also 
an example (ad. ^ ) from Ben INIoussar, Algeria, are darker 
and much more shaded with rufous. From the same locality 
• 
as the latter bird there is a female in the pale plumage, that 
is, having the under parts shaded with isabelline ; the feathers 
of the chest mottled and narrowly barred with grey, so as to 
form an irregular band across the chest. This specimen is 
identical with another from Morocco, and with an immature 
female obtained in August 1869 at Grenada, Spain. The Ben 
Moussar male example, however, agrees perfectly Avith our 
female from Gambaga ; but both shew slight indications of 
their first winter plumage, a few of the chest-feathers being 
still mottled and barred with grey, and the general coloration 
a shade paler than the specimens from Spain. 
Three fairly distinct phases in the plumage of this species 
may accordingly be observed — the pale isabelline coloration 
of the first winter plumage, gradually passing into a more 
rufous shade, and then becoming deeper and darker in the 
adult breeding-dress. 
Unfortunately, with the exception of a nestling, there are 
