1883-92 THE NIGHT-JAR 255 



succeeded in finding a nightingale's nest, though 

 more than one pair annually rear their brood in 

 the garden. On one of these occasions the nest 

 was hidden near the base of a holly ; the soft, 

 warm, nursing chamber was walled round by a 

 ring of dead and shed holly leaves stuck upright 

 with their margins overlapping each other. 



' Night-Jar, or Churn Owl ( Caprimulgus 

 europceus). — I owe an occasional sight and more 

 frequent hearing of this strange bird to the ad- 

 vantageous location of my garden and abode. 

 Close to it begins a preserve, which extends along 

 the eastern boundary of the park to near Roehamp- 

 ton Gate. On one side of the preserve is the 

 park with old oaks ; on the other side is the 

 quietest and least frequented of commons, hight 

 " Pale-well," from the spring of pure water rising 

 therein. No cultivation is carried on outside the 

 garden wall. Such are the conditions suitable to 

 the night-jar's singular habit of oviposition and 

 hatching of the eggs, usually a pair, on the bare 

 ground ; of nest-building the bird seems ignorant. 

 She selects some bare spot with which her own 

 colours so closely match that she is hard to 

 recognise even when you are near, and she is so 

 hardy that you may stand and contemplate her 

 for some time, and may have to move a step or 

 two nearer before she takes to flight. Since my 

 first acquaintance I have never disturbed mother 

 or eggs, but always quietly retired when I have 



