DIARY OF THE HABITS OF NIGHTJARS. 497 



is very greedy, and seems to get more than the other ; but getting 

 dark now. A bird (I think the partner) flies near quaw-eeing. 



9.20. — Bird leaves chicks. 



9.25. — Bird back on stump. Too dark now to see which one, 

 though I believe it to be the hen. However, I get outline of 

 beak against the sky, and it is not broken by anything projecting 

 from it. In a minute bird flies down and feeds chicks in the 

 usual way, her actions being almost exactly those of a Dove. 

 Both chicks, I think, are fed, but too dark to be sure. It is the 

 old bird, I feel sure, that makes the croodling noise. The chicks 

 have a plaintive, piping note, and the two notes are often being 

 made at the same time. The croodling is always made by the 

 old bird when the chicks want to be fed, but she has nothing for 

 them. Equally therefore when she feeds and does not feed them, 

 so that my inference to the contrary was wrong. 



9.35. — Croodling again, meaning that chicks are trying to be 

 fed. The chicks begin now to hold up their wings, and wave or 

 flap them more than at first. 



9.40. — A bird (doubtless the partner) flies close by quaw- 

 eeing, and the other bird flies from chicks. The partner then 

 settles near and " churrs " softly for a moment, then flies to 

 chicks, feeds them, and instantly flies away. I thought I recog- 

 nized the dark bird's voice — the male's, as I take it to be. It is 

 not likely that the hen, after flying off, would have returned 

 almost instantly and fed the chicks again. Moreover, since the 

 eggs have hatched out I have not heard her " churr."* 



Left at 9.45. Both birds away. 



July 6th. — Arrived at 8.40 p.m., and found chicks alone quite 

 three feet nearer to me than the original place where the eggs were. 



8.44. — Hen bird perched on elder-stump. Held nothing in 

 beak. The light good. She opened and shut her beak once, and 

 I saw the light between the mandibles. Wings, when thus 

 perched, reached very nearly to end of tail ; would do quite, I 

 think, were they straight instead of the tips curved towards — 

 sometimes crossing — each other. 



8.47. — Bird flies to chicks and feeds them in the usual way. 



* After the hatching of the eggs the hen bird never greeted the male 

 with a soft " churr " as he came up, or, indeed, paid any attention to him. 

 This is human ! 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. III., November, 1899. 2 k 



