THE ALGERIAN RED-NECKED NIGHTJAR. 19 



Characters and allied forms. — G. r. ruficollis (south Spain and 

 Portugal, Marocco) is considerably darker grey and less rufous- 

 buff on upper-parts, tail and wings darker and under-parts darker 

 with bars more distinct. Rufous nuchal collar, pale colour, larger 

 white patch on chin and comparatively long 3rd primaries dis- 

 tinguish species. 



Field -characters. — Inhabits forest-clad hillsides, but often more 

 open country than Common Nightjar, with scanty vegetation and 

 bushes. Whirring sound same as Common Nightjar, habits similar. 

 (E.H.) 



Breeding-habits. — Haunts hillsides with patches of scrub here 

 and there. No nest, but eggs laid in scrape on ground, sometimes 

 sheltered by bush. Eggs. — 2, very similar to European Nightjar, 

 but slightly larger on average. Colour greyish -white marbled, 

 blotched and sometimes with fine streaks of yellowish -brown and 

 leaden-grey. Elongated in shape. Average of 50 eggs of Spanish 

 form, 32 x 23 mm. Max. : 34 X 24.1 and 32.3 X 24.5. Min. : 

 28.5 X 23 and 29.2 x 21.3. Breeding -seas on. — Erlanger took eggs 

 on June 9 and 16, but Spanish race breeds from May 8 onward. 



Food. — Little definitely recorded except that Tristram found it 

 feeding on young locusts, apparently picking them up from the 

 ground. Beetles, grasshoppers and moths (E.H.). 



Distribution. — England. — One Killingworth, near Newcastle 

 (Northumberland), Oct. 5, 1856 (Hancock, Ibis, 1862, p. 39). 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Tunisia and Algeria, but not breeding 

 south of Atlas mountains, migratory, passing through Sahara where, 

 however, it does not nest. Winter quarters not yet known. Re- 

 placed by darker form in south Spain, Portugal, and Marocco south 

 to south-western Atlas. 



Order ME ROPES. 



Palate desmognathous ; cervical vertebrae 15 ; basi -pterygoid 

 processes absent. Ambiens muscle absent. Sternum with long 

 spina communis and on each side two deep indentations. Feet 

 syndactylous, 3rd toe connected with 4th to the beginning of last 

 joint, 2nd and 3rd on basal joint only. Primaries 11, first very 

 short. Tarsus very short. Rectrices 12. Very short, hardly 

 perceptible rictal bristles. Oil-gland naked. Bill long and slightly 

 curved. Palsearctic species migratory. Eggs unspotted white in 

 long tunnels made by the birds themselves, either in banks or 

 in the ground. Young blind and helpless. Skin thin, but tough. 

 Food flying insects. Many tropical species, but absent from New 

 World, only three in Palsearctic region. 



VOL. II. c 2 



