14 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS 
of the sun, nor, in spite of its crepuscular habits, does its sight appear to be at 
all affected by bright sunshine; it is very frequently found on sandy roads and 
paths, where it dusts itself, after the manner of the game-birds.” 
Although eggs of this species are occasionally found before the end of May, 
they are rarely deposited before the end of June. It has been said that the 
Nightjar only rears one brood in the year, and this may perhaps be the case, but 
if the first eggs are taken it certainly lays again, for fresh eggs have been 
obtained as late as the roth August (cf. Zoologist, 1883, pp. 380 and 429). Mr. 
J. H. Gurney, Junr. (l.c.) observes that according to his experience ‘‘eighteen days 
is the period of incubation.” Of the eggs figured on plate viii, figs. 257 and 262, 
are from Mr. A. B. Farn’s collection, and the remaining four from Mr. Frohawk’s 
series: my own eggs resemble one or two of these varieties, and therefore were 
not required. Mr. Frohawk has taken eggs early in July: he has known a 
male Goatsucker to roost for a whole season upon the same old furze branch; 
he has timed the whirring note, which is often continued until after 11 p.m., and 
has heard the same bird keep it up without cessation for over a quarter of an hour. 
To show what enormous quantities of insects a Nightjar destroys Mr. Frohawk 
says that in August, 1880, he shot a female in whose mouth were twelve moder- 
ately large /Voctuzd moths, several of which were still alive: and as evidence of 
the difficulty of putting up a sitting female, he notes that on the 21st June, 1874, 
his brother was out moth-catching, and seeing a moth which he wanted stooped 
to box it, almost kneeling on a Nightjar, which rose from just below his knee, 
exposing two partly incubated eggs. 
This species was exhibited at the sixth exhibition of the Ornis Society, in 
Berlin, and Dr. Karl Russ thus speaks of it:—‘‘ Mrs. Kalwach who came over 
expressly to the Ornis Exhibition and brought with her many saleable birds, also 
showed amongst them some very remarkable rarities, owing to which the collection 
was at a premium. Three Night-swallows (Caprimulgus europaeus, L,.) excited most 
attention, since they had previously never been seen alive at any exhibition or any 
zoological garden—and rightly too, as the difficulty of rearing these birds is best 
illustrated by the fact which Engineer Pallisch (co-editor of the Proceedings of the 
Ornithological Society of Vienna ‘ Die Schwalbe’) has published therein, namely— 
that in no instance have Night-swallows survived, which have been nourished in 
captivity; in every case, at much about the same age, they have infallibly become 
permanently constipated. The Night-swallows at the Ornis Exhibition were, how- 
ever, tolerably sprightly, and will we hope fall into the hands of a bird-keeper who 
will be able to look after them, not only with care, but with full intelligence.” 
Gefiederte Welt xx, p. 100. 
