The Standard-winged Nightjar iil 



the eggs on leaving the nest, so that these are often quite 

 concealed. I have found many nests of the Little Grebe 

 {Podicipes JIuviatilis) which looked like a mass of decayed 

 and rotting water-plants, and have been somewhat sur- 

 prised on disturbing the covering to find a number of 

 eggs underneath. The eggs, which are at first white, soon 

 become stained by their surroundings, and in many in- 

 stances are even quite cold, so that it would not appear 

 that they are covered up by the birds for the sake of being 

 hatched out by the fermentation of the decayed water- 

 plants, as has been supposed. In the case of the Great 

 Crested Grebe, Seebohm distinctly states that he found the 

 fig^s, where the complement was complete, covered up 

 with damp moss and quite warm, whereas those nests 

 which had only one or two eggs were uncovered and the 

 eggs cold. 



It is of course during the breeding season that the 

 decorative faculty in birds is displayed to the utmost, and 

 every bird that possesses any striking or fantastic orna- 

 ments displays them for the attraction of his mate. This is 

 especially the case with Game-birds, some of the Pheasants 

 making a great exhibition of their beautiful colours at the 

 season of nesting, but perhaps one of the most interesting 

 assumptions of nuptial ornament is to be seen in two 

 African Nightjars. In South xA-merica the most fantastic 

 of the family Capriinidgida is the Fork-tailed Nightjar of 

 Brazil {Hydropsalis lyra), which has an extravagantly long 

 forked tail. In Africa the wings of two of the Nightjars 

 show an extraordinary development. Thus the Standard- 

 winged Nightjar {Cosmc/oriiis vcxillaritis) of the Zambesi 

 is remarkable for the elongation of the seventh and 

 eighth primaries, while the ninth is developed into a 

 streamer, which floats to a distance of nearly two feet 

 behind the bird. It is also found on the West Coast 

 of Africa in the Niger region, and on the waters and 



