SIZE pigeon, slenderer. Length 35 cm(14 in)
FIELD CHARACTERS; A crepuscular and nocturnal cryptically colored nightjar. Very similar to Himalayan jungle nightjar, including white spots on first four primaries, but outer two pairs of tail feathers broadly tipped whitish, and tarses fully feathered instead of only partially distinguishing in the field with certainty difficult except by its distinctive call.
STATUS, HABITAT, ETC;Resident and partially migratory submontane tracts, foothills and locally up to 200 m : shady wooded nullahs in Sal and moist-deciduous forest. It spends day time, singly or in pairs, resting along a bough or squatting on the the ground, effectly camouflaged by its colouration
FOOD Insects-moths, bugs, beetles etc.
CALL A loud resonant chaunk, chaunk, chaunk....etc, recalling heavy blows of a hammer or adze on a wooden plank in the distance. In runs of 50 chaunks or more , repeated with brief puases from dusk to dawn, especially during moonlit nights in the breeding season.
FRNKLIN'S NIGHTJARS
SIZE Myna, length 25cm (10 in)
FIELD CHARACTERS Similar to long-tailed nightjar and Himalayan jungle nightjar, but smaller. Male, first four primaries black, mottled at tips, with a broad white band across center. Tail-feathers buff with black cross-bars; the two outer pairs white except at the mottled tips. Tarsus almost naked. Female, spots on wings rufous-buff instead of white; outer tail-feathers mottled throughout. Certainly identified by its distinctive call.
STATUS, HABITAT, ETC; Resident; widespread but rather local. Submontane tracts, foothills and locally upto 1800 and 2400m: sparsely scrubbed hillsides and nullahs, and thin jungle often in the neighbourhood of cultivations.
FOOD Habits and food as other nightjars.
CALL A loud, sharp, penetrating single note sweesh.... or chwees...... as of a whiplash cutting the air, uttered at four or five seconds' intervals all night, from a perch as well as in flight.
HIMALAYAN SWIFTLET
SIZE sparrow, length 14 cm(5.5 in).
FIELD CHARACTERS A small, slender, slightly fork-tailed brown swift, with narrow pointed wings. Above, dark brown with noticeably paler rump. Below, greyish brown.
SEXESAlike.
FLIGHTIn normal hawking flight momentary interludes of bat-like fluttering usually distinguishes it from other co-existing swifts.
HAND DIAGNOSIS Upper plumage sooty brown under pants uniform greyish brown. Tips of downy bases of mantle and rump feathers white. Wings mostly over 125mm; depth of tail-fork 8 to 10 mm. Tarsus very short, sparsely feathered.
STATUS, HABITAT, ETC. Resident, roosts and nests in colonies in limestone caves and grottoes, clinging upright to rough wall surfaces. Loose rabbles spend the entire day on the wing hawking insects, often wandering long distances during the foraging
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