622 



macula alba utrinque notato : subcaudalibus rufescente cervino vix nigro-fusco fasciatis : rostro et hide 

 nigris, pedibus rufescenti-fuscis. 



2 ad. mari similis sed remigibus primariis et rectricibus non albo sed rufescente ochraceo, fusco marmorato, 

 notatis. 



Adult Male (Kareholm, Sweden, 20th May). Upper parts dark ashy grey, richly pencilled and vermiculated 

 with blackish brown ; centre of the crown broadly streaked with black ; scapulars similarly streaked, 

 and with the outer web marked with dull ochre ; most of the feathers on the back more or less streaked 

 with blackish brown ; upper surface of the wings like the back, but marked, especially on the smaller 

 wing-coverts, with warm clay-colour; primaries blackish, on the outer web marked with rufescent 

 ochre, the first three with a large round white spot towards the terminal portion of the inner web ; 

 secondaries marked like the back ; tail dark grey, banded and pencilled with blackish, and on the outer 

 reetrices slightly washed with warm reddish ochre, the two outer rectrices on each side broadly termi- 

 nated with white ; underparts dusky greyish buff, becoming orange-buff on the abdomen and crissum, 

 the entire undersurface being narrowly barred with blackish brown ; on the sides of the throat are two 

 whitish patches (and in some specimens a large white patch on the centre of the throat) ; under tail- 

 coverts orange-buff, slightly barred with blackish ; beak and irides black ; legs reddish brown. Total 

 length about 10 inches, gape l - 2, wing 7'8, tail 5 5, tarsus - 8. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, except that the white spots on the wings and tail are wanting, being 

 replaced by dull orange-buff, slightly marbled with brown. 



Nestling in first feathers (Hampstead, Middlesex). Resembles the female, but is duller in colour. 



This, our common European Nightjar, inhabits Europe generally during the summer season, being 

 met with at least as far east as Persia and Turkestan. It migrates southward at the approach of 

 winter, and at that season of the year does not appear to occur north of the Mediterranean. 



In Great Britain it is very generally distributed and common during the summer season in 

 suitable localities, being most so in our southern counties, accoi'ding to Yarrell particularly in 

 Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and westward to Cornwall. Mr. Cecil 

 Smith informs me that in Somersetshire it is common, but somewhat local, being more numerous 

 in the partially cultivated districts than in the highly cultivated vale. I have met with it very 

 numerous in Kent, Essex, Middlesex, and several of our midland counties. Mr. Stevenson 

 speaks of it as being common in Norfolk ; and it is not uncommon in the northern counties. 

 Mr. Eobert Gray says, it is " a common bird in almost every Scottish county from Wigtown 

 to the north of Caithness, extending also to the inner group of islands, but not, so far as I 

 can learn, reaching the Outer Hebrides. It is not uncommon in Islay, Iona, and Mull, and 

 is generally distributed in Skye, in all of which islands eggs have been found. In the Western 

 Highlands, the haunts of the Nightjar are, for the most part, in retired tracts which are 

 covered with ' brackens,' or in the vicinity of fir-woods, where, on still evenings, its strange 

 jarring cry may be heard till an advanced hour. Occasionally, however, it is seen hawking for 

 insects in parks in the low grounds ; and at times it approaches even large towns like Glasgow." 

 It is included as a straggler in the work on the birds of Shetland by Dr. Saxby, who writes 

 (p. 147), "stragglers have been observed in summer and autumn for many years past; but 



