. An illustrated manual of British birds . outh. The eggs, 2 in number as is usual in this family, are described byVon Heuglin as smaller, paler and more yellow in tint than thoseof our well-known species, and are placed m a mere depressionin the sand or under a low, stunted bush. The old bird sits veryclosely and rises unwillingly, often running along with puffed-outthroat from one bush to another, uttering meanwhile a curious Shelley found flocks in Egypt in spring and autumn, andit would appear that the sexes separate on migration. The plumage of the adult is sandy-grey finely
. An illustrated manual of British birds . outh. The eggs, 2 in number as is usual in this family, are described byVon Heuglin as smaller, paler and more yellow in tint than thoseof our well-known species, and are placed m a mere depressionin the sand or under a low, stunted bush. The old bird sits veryclosely and rises unwillingly, often running along with puffed-outthroat from one bush to another, uttering meanwhile a curious Shelley found flocks in Egypt in spring and autumn, andit would appear that the sexes separate on migration. The plumage of the adult is sandy-grey finely marked with black,the pattern being generally the same as in the Common Nightjar;there are, however, no white spots on the upper surface of the tailor wings, but the inside webs of the primaries are pure 105 in. ; wing 8i in. For the reasons mentioned on the preceding page, I have notconsidered it expedient to give a wood-cut of this species; it iswell figured in Mr. Dressers, Birds of Europe, vol. iv. pi. 262. ivngiN/t;. 261. THE torquilla, Linnxus. This bird resembles the Nightjars in its delicately pencilledplumage, though allied to the Woodpeckers by its anatomical struc-ture. It is a regular spring-visitor to England, sometimes arrivingin the south by the middle of March, though usually about the firsthalf of April; for this reason it is often called Cuckoos-mate or-leader: names which have their equivalent in several Europeanlanguages. In the south-eastern counties it is more numerous thanin the west, and it is rare in Wales ; Lancashire has seldom beenvisited by it of late years, and to Cumberland it is now merely astraggler; in Yorkshire and Durham it is very local, and it becomesrare in Northumberland. Statements that it has nested in Scotlandrequire confirmation, but at intervals it has been known to wanderas far north as Caithness, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands; also tothe Faeroes. In Ireland it was taken in co. Waterford in the sum-mer of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidillustra, booksubjectbirds
