190 RUSSET-NECKED NIGHTJAR. 



spots on the throat, and the reddish collar from which 

 it derives its name. C Europeeus is a very common 

 bird in Malta during the vernal and autumnal migrations. 

 Before the capture of this species, C rujicollis was 

 unknown as a Maltese visitor." 



C ruficollis is apparently a rare and local bird in 

 Europe, except Spain. It is not mentioned by Mr. 

 Salvin, in his interesting "Five Month's Bird-nesting 

 in the Eastern Atlas," or in Lord Lilford's "Notes 

 upon the Birds of the Ionian Islands," published in 

 the "Ibis." Neither is it mentioned by Count Muhle, 

 or Dr. Lindermayer, as a visitor to Greece. 



In Mr. Tristram's "Notes from Eastern Algeria," 

 however, I find the following, (Ibis, vol. ii., p. 374:) — 

 "As evening drew near the Bed-necked Goat-sucker, 

 {Caprimulgtis rujicollis,) flitted about the glades, and 

 the note of the Scops-Eared Owl floated on the air, 

 with its plaintive 'Maroof, maroof,' from which it derives 

 its local appellation." It is also mentioned by Captain 

 Loche as inhabiting the three provinces of Algeria. 



Dr. D. Antonio Machado, in his "Catalogo De las 

 Aves observadas en Algunas provincias de Andalucia, 

 Sevilla, 1851," says of this bird, — "It inhabits the woody 

 flat ground of the mountains; it appears in spring, 

 and leaves again in October: very common. It has no 

 nest, but places its eggs in hollows in the ground, or 

 under the shelter of some shrub. It frequents the 

 roads where there is much horse or mule traffic, and 

 the vulgar notion is that it feeds upon the dung which 

 it finds there; but it is much more probable that it is 

 in search of the beetles which live among it, and which 

 are its principal food. 



I have ventured to place among the synonymes of 

 this bird that of Scotornis trimaculatus, as it agrees in 



