388 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



AN OBSERVATIONAL DIARY OF THE HABITS 

 OF NIGHTJARS (CAPRIMULGUS EUROP^US), 

 MOSTLY OF A SITTING PAIR. NOTES TAKEN 

 AT TIME AND ON SPOT. 



By Edmund Selous. 



June 22nd, 1898. — Crawled up behind a small elder bush 

 some three paces from where a Nightjar had laid her eggs. When 

 nearly there the bird flew down, not on to nest, but close to it. 

 Shortly afterwards the other bird flew down beside it, and im- 

 mediately I heard a very low and subdued " churr," expressive of 

 quiet contentment, I think, and very different from the ordinary 

 loud note of the bird. After I had got up under cover of the 

 bush the following occurred : — One of the birds came on to the 

 eggs, and began to " churr " softly. The other bird then flew down 

 and sat close beside it, also churring (I think, but cannot be 

 certain if both churred together). The bird last arrived then 

 flew away, leaving the other on the eggs. This one, after ten 

 minutes or so, also flew away, uttering the " quaw-ee " note. In 

 a little while one of the birds returned, and settled near the eggs. 

 Its mate very shortly joined it; and I now heard another note, a 

 low croon, quite distinct from the " churr " uttered by one or 

 both of them. One bird then flew away, and the other came and 

 sat on the eggs, and began to "churr" softly at first, then loudly, 

 the ordinary churring note. In some ten or fifteen minutes' time 

 it flew off. In a little while one of the birds returned, and was 

 followed almost at once by the other. Both flew down near the 

 eggs, and soon one settled itself on to them, the other flying 

 away. I had now got my watch out, and this bird sat for fifty- 

 five minutes silently (no " churr," no sound at all), at the end of 

 which time its partner flew near by clapping its wings, and then 

 sat on a bush close behind me (as I judged, for I could not turn), 

 and "quaw-eed."* Upon this, as in answer to a summons, the 



* As it flew off no doubt, for this note " quaw-ee quaw-ee" is, according 

 to niy observation, only made in the air. 



