AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 243 



note, which is difficult to describe, but has been 

 compared to the sound of a spinning-wheel. We 

 have occasionally noticed the Nightjar during this 

 performance, which appears always to be produced 

 whilst the bird is at rest ; but these birds frequently 

 utter a very different note whilst flying, which the 

 editor of the fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British 

 Birds ' likens to the swinging of a whip-thong in the 

 air. This species generally arrives in this country in 

 the first fortnight of May, we have found eggs on the 

 21st of that month : no nest is made, the eggs being 

 laid on the bare ground, and the same spot used 

 year after year. So much do these birds adhere to 

 their favourite nesting-haunts that, on one occasion, 

 in Merionethshire, on asking a lad if he knew of any 

 " Fern-birds' " eggs, he told us that he had not seen 

 any that season, but could take us to some at once, 

 and immediately did so, the eggs in four out of five 

 cases being found on, or within a few inches of, the 

 spot on w^hich our companion had found them in 

 previous years. The Nightjar's complement of eggs 

 seems never to exceed two ; their ground-colour is 

 white, Avith a varied and beautiful marbling of 

 various shades of brown and lilac ; to our eyes they 

 are amongst the most handsome of British birds' 

 eggs. The flight of the Nightjar is silent, rapid, and 

 buoyant, with constant twists whilst in pursuit of 

 prey, which consists principally of moths and cock- 

 chafers ; in Devonshire the small chafers locally known 

 as " fern-web " appear to be the favourite food of this 

 species. This bird, though fond of the shade, 

 delights in warmth, and may often be found basking 

 upon bare stony spots in old quarries and similar 

 localities in the full glare of the sun, nor, in spite of 



r2 



