338 CAPRIMULGUS KELAARTI. 



Mahabaleswar and Ahmednuggur, and also from Raipore, Sankra, and Etawab, while silver-grey and black-mottled 

 birds are found near Simla, altogether out of the accepted range of C. Icelaarti. Moreover in Travancore 

 Mr. Bourdillon has procured both grey and rufous birds, the latter being quite as much so as North-Indian speci- 

 mens. There is no reason, however, that the two species should not inhabit the same regions ; and if we extend 

 the limits of the range of each, this difficulty will be got over. As regards the Ceylonese birds, it is necessary 

 to remark that they are all grey and like typical 0. Icelaarti, which militates against the possibility of suppressing 

 the species in Ceylon, whatever maybe done in future as regards India, where it seems difficult to draw the line of 

 separation between it and C. indieus. Two of Mr. Bourdillon's specimens from Travancore measure— J, wing 

 6'75 inches ; $ , wing 7'25. In Ceylon the females are much the smaller of the sexes. 



Distribution. — This very handsome Nightjar, first noticed in the island by Dr. Kelaart, and named by 

 Blyth from specimens sent him by the Doctor, is almost entirely confined to the mountain-zone, and therein 

 inhabits chiefly the upper ranges and the higher parts of Uva. I have seen it in great numbers about Nuwara 

 Elliya, where its discoverer remarks, in his ' Prodromus/ that it swarms in the dusk of the evening in the 

 marshy plains. It is, however, equally abundant during the S.W. monsoon in all the higher parts of the main 

 range which are open and favourable to its habits, such as the Kandapolla and Elephant Plains and similar 

 localiti s as far south -as the Horton Plain. It appears to leave these high regions for warmer districts 

 during the cold nights of the opposite season, as I found it rare in all the above districts in December, and did 

 not meet with it at all on the elevated plateau between Totapella and Kirigalpotta. In Haputalc and other 

 parts of Uva, as well as in most of the coffee-districts of about 3000 to 4000 feet in altitude, it is common 

 enough throughout the year; but it is almost unknown in Dumbara, its usual limit being the neighbourhood 

 of Deltota and Hewahette on the south of the valley, and Kalcbokka on the north. It does not appear to have 

 been hitherto known from any portion of the low country, although Mr. Holdsworth records as his opinion the 

 probability of its leaving Nuwara Elliya during the cold season; but in August, 187.>, I met with it in one 

 locality of the Eastern Province which is at the sea-level, and where it was not at all to be expected. This was 

 in the forest-region at the base of the Friars-Hood group of isolated hills, which form so prominent an object 

 in the Batticaloa country. This tract is connected with the eastern slopes of Uva by detached groups of 

 hills ; but they spring from a low base, and are not situated in such a manner as to favourably foster a migration 

 from the mountains to such a remote part as the Dcvilanc district ; and I therefore am inclined to think that 

 the species must be resident in portions of the Eastern Province, particularly as I found it there at the season 

 when it flocks to the upper hills. In corresponding parts of the Western Province, which lie much higher 

 than the Friars Hood, it does not appear ever to be found ; nor have I any evidence of its inhabiting the 

 Morowak-Korale mountains, although it doubtless does do so, but has been overlooked by gentlemen collecting 

 in that part of the island. 



On the continent of India, Kelaart's Nightjar is found in the Nilghiris and the wooded Ghats of the 

 ( Yntral Provinces, all over which latter bills Mr. R. Thompson records it as being common. Mr. Bourdillon 

 notes it as a winter visitor to the Travancore hills, occurring rather abundantly from November until March. 

 It must, in this case, ascend the range from the low country, which is the very opposite of its habit in Ceylon. 

 1 observe that Mr. Fairbank did not meet with it on either of his trips to the Palani hills, which does not 

 augur in favour of its being widely spread in the mountains of South India. 



Habits. — This Nightjar affects stony patnas, open glades in the forest, and all the confines of the Downs 

 or so-called Plains which are such a singular feature of the fine jungle-clad ranges of Ceylon. It hides during 

 the day among rocks near the edge of the jungle or among coffee-bushes, and from such places of concealment 

 sallies out early in the evening and on all sides simultaneously is heard its curious call-note, chump-pud, 

 chump-pud, repeated for several minutes and then suddenly stopped on the bird moving out to some conspicuous 

 perch, such as a stump or huge rock, from which it recommences to utter its call. It is a very noisy bird in 

 the breeding-season, but in the cold weather is almost silent, a peculiarity which was curiously noticeable in 

 the birds I met with at Dcvilanc tank, which, on three consecutive evenings before I shot them, were observed 

 silently hawking on the bund of the tank. This species has a bold and dashing flight, rapidly and noiselessly 

 performed, with frequent dexterous turns in the air, as it seizes its prey, and when disturbed in the daytime it 

 quickly darts off and realights on the ground. It is, however, more rarely flushed during the day than either 



