THE NIGHTJAR. 205 



have returned to their winter quarters in North 

 Africa. Colonel Irby, in his recently-published 

 volume on the " Ornithology of the Straits of 

 Gibraltar," states, on the authority of M. Favier, 

 that Nightjars cross the Straits from Tangiers 

 to Gibraltar in May and June, and return the 

 same way between September and November. 

 They have been seen on the passage. Dr. 

 Drummond informed the late Mr. Thompson of 

 Belfast,^ that when H.M.S. " San Juan," of which 

 he was surgeon, was anchored near Gibraltar, in 

 the spring of the year, a few Nightjars flew on 

 board. During the passage of H.M.S. "Bea- 

 con " from Malta to the Morea, in the month of 

 April, some of these birds appeared on the 2 7th, 

 and alighted on the rigging. The vessel was 

 then about fifty miles from Zante (the nearest 

 land), and sixty west of the Morea. 



They came singly, with one exception, when 

 two appeared in company. A couple of them 

 were shot in the afternoon. A few others had 



1 See Thompson's " Nat. Hist. Ireland " (Birds), vol. i. p. 

 423- 



