270 
CAPRIMULGIDjE. 
I NS ESS ORES. CA PR TM ULGIDAL 
FISSIROSTRES. 
NIGHTJAR, 
NIGHT HAWK, FERN OWL. 
Caprimulgus EUROPEUS. 
PLATE LXVI. 
The Nightjar is most common in those open moor¬ 
land tracts of country which immediately surround a 
more cultivated and woody district. In such situations 
it deposits its eggs, without any nest whatever, amongst 
heath, fern, and grass, or in a slight depression upon the 
bare ground, never far from the neighbourhood of woods 
or a woody district; its eggs may also frequently be 
found in open grassy spaces, and in drives occurring in 
the midst of large woods: they are two in number, and 
are amongst the most beautiful of our British birds' eggs; 
in shape they are peculiar, being almost of a perfect oval. 
The American species of this genus, of which Wilson 
has given such interesting descriptions, all closely resem¬ 
ble ours in their mode of breeding. 
