625 



To the eastward C. europceus is met with at least as far as Persia and Turkestan, and is 

 stated by Dr. G. Eadde to occur at Irkutsk. Mr. Taczanowski also writes (J. f. 0. 1872, p. 350) 

 that it is " very rare in Kultuk, commoner in the neighbourhood of Irkutsk, has not been met 

 with at Darasun. A young specimen in first plumage differs not from European specimens of 

 the same age." There is, however, a possibility that in some instances Caprimulgus jotaka may 

 have been mistaken for it. Mr. Blanford writes that the present species appears to extend 

 throughout the Persian highlands, at all events in summer. He did not meet with it in 

 Baluchistan. Major St. John obtained one in the forest west of Shiraz, at an altitude of 

 7000 feet, but says that it is commoner about gardens and irrigated land, though nowhere 

 very plentiful. Mr. Blanford remarks that " the specimens vary much in colour. Those from 

 Northern Persia agree well with European birds; the others are rather paler; and the three 

 skins from Bam and Sar-i-jum are greyer than the rest. One skin of a male from Bam differs 

 so much from typical birds that for some time I thought it distinct, the prevailing colour above 

 and below being dusky grey ; but the specimen does not differ in its markings or dimensions 

 from others. A young bird from the Elburz is very pale-coloured, but more rufous than the 

 other specimens ; there is a similar skin from Syria in the British Museum." Mr. Severtzoff also 

 remarks that Turkestan specimens are lighter than others from Europe, but says that on the 

 Don and in the Ural he has seen examples intermediate in coloration. He speaks of it as being 

 common throughout Turkestan during the breeding-season, but seldom met with below 1000 feet 

 altitude, being most numerous from that to 8000 feet. 



During the day-time the Nightjar remains resting in some shady place, either amongst the 

 ferns or else seated lengthways on a bough. I have sometimes started one up when walking in 

 the fern-covered glades of some of our parks, and have on one or two occasions seen one flying 

 about during the day-time, evidently untroubled by the sun-glare. Its American ally, Chordeiles 

 popetue (Vieill.), I have still more often seen hawking after insects in the full glare of a southern 

 sun. Still these are exceptions, and it is not until the shades of evening set in that the Nightjar 

 or Fern-Owl, as it is frequently called, comes out of its concealment ; and in a still evening its 

 churring note may be heard all through the open glades in the woodlands. Its flight, like 

 that of all nocturnal birds, is noiseless ; and as it sweeps round fluttering, turns suddenly to catch 

 a passing moth, shooting off again, it gives one the idea of a large nocturnal Swallow. The 

 whirring or churring note, something like that produced by a spinning-wheel, is uttered whilst 

 the bird is perched on a branch ; and when flying it every now and again strikes the points of its 

 wings together, making a sound which may be heard at a considerable distance, at the same time 

 uttering a whistling note. It is by some observers said to possess the power of ventriloquism ; 

 but I think that from turning its head when uttering its note it makes it appear now close and 

 now distant from the listener. Macgillivray's correspondent furnished some very interesting 

 notes on the whirring note uttered by the Nightjar, which were published by Macgillivray (Brit. 

 Birds, iii. p. 641) as follows: — " In this parish only one Nightjar has this season (1839) made its 

 appearance. On Wednesday evening, the 5 th of June, between eleven and twelve o'clock, while 

 standing at the door of my house, I heard a male Nightjar uttering very distinctly his whirring 

 sound. On the evenings of the 8th and 9th of the same month he was heard in a moor about 

 the distance of half a mile from the former situation. He remained silent until Tuesday evening 



4b2 



