Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution . plum-age harmonize with the surrounding grass and stones. It was a clearcase of protective resemblance, as had the bird been of any othercolor—red, green, or black, for instance—I must surely have seen itrepeatedly from a much greater distance than I was from it when itwas flushed. I have noticed this fact repeatedly since, but will onlyrelate one other instance in further defense of my assumption. Onthe 18th of October, 1903,1 found a nest (if such the depression in thesoil can be termed) of this species on a ledge or plat
Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution . plum-age harmonize with the surrounding grass and stones. It was a clearcase of protective resemblance, as had the bird been of any othercolor—red, green, or black, for instance—I must surely have seen itrepeatedly from a much greater distance than I was from it when itwas flushed. I have noticed this fact repeatedly since, but will onlyrelate one other instance in further defense of my assumption. Onthe 18th of October, 1903,1 found a nest (if such the depression in thesoil can be termed) of this species on a ledge or platform in a rockyhollow. This ledge was covered with ground on which several of theordinary veldt plants grew. I flushed this bird from her two eggsquite suddenly, and was certainly not more than 10 feet distant whenit flew up. I returned to the spot later with my camera, but in try-ing to get it properly focused on the bird had perforce to drive it upto find its exact locality. I was above the owls position at the time Smithsonian Report, 1909.—Haagner Plate 1,. Fig. 1.—Young South African Nightjar.
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