NIGHTJAR 
166 
pure white eggs are laid in the early part of June, 
a long oval in shape, a little larger than a Skylark's 
or large House Sparrow's in size, and dull and un- 
polished in surface. The typical shape and average 
size of this and all other white eggs described 
in this book are represented in special plates of 
outlined drawings. 
NIGHTJAR. 
(^Caprimulgus europaeus.) 
Fern Owl, Goatsucker, Eve-churr, Night-hawk. 
— The Nightjar is one of the birds which are far 
more commonly heard than seen, and even to the 
ear it rarely makes its presence known except in 
the evening twilight. It haunts wooded commons 
and the glades and clearings in woods, and in many 
such situations its strange jarring " or "churring" 
murmur, rising and falling a few tones like the 
buzz of a threshing machine, which it much re- 
sembles on a small scale, is a familiar feature of 
the dusk of a warm midsummer evening. It may 
also be seen in the twilight swerving and wheeling 
with great activity and in perfect silence in pursuit 
of insects round the boughs of a tree against the 
darkened sky. Depending for its food upon a 
plentiful supply of flying insects, it delays its 
arrival till almost the last of the summer birds, 
