HARD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OSS IP. 



149 



crystals appeared from the damar, I on Friday 

 (February 23rd) dropped sonre damar on a slide, and 

 put a thin cover over. On examining, I found some 

 particles of an amber colour floating about (see 

 fig- '^Z'yl- On Saturday the slide appeared fairly clear ; 

 but on Sunday morning an inch objective revealed 

 the crystals in their early form (see fig. 134) : the circle 

 is only drawn to show the positions of the ciystals 

 within the thin glass. Figs. 135 and 136 show various 

 forms of the crystals, both great and small, taken 

 from a slide of antenna of Field Beetle : this slide, 

 together with one of Sphffiraphides, I shall forward 

 with this to the Editor for his inspection. 



THE GOATSUCKER. 



( Caprimulgiis Ew'opcEns. ) 



JUST al^out this time of the year, any one taking a 

 country walk on some fine evening towards 

 dusk, in our southern counties, must notice that most 

 remarkable of our migrants, the Goatsucker. Even 

 if the bird itself has been overlooked in the shadows 

 around, the curious jarring note characteristic of the 

 species cannot fail to have been heard, seeming* 

 perhaps, to come from close at hand, and then 

 becoming more distant, while the bird is within a 

 stone's throAv from where the listener stands. 



Fig. 137. Goatsucker {Ca^riimil^iis Eiirppams). 



When the polariscope is applied, the most beautiful 

 colours emanate from the crystals. 



My object in writing this paper ' is not only to lay 

 before my readers an aggravating case of a mysterious 

 appearance, but more especially to (if possible) have 

 three questions solved by some kind correspondent or 

 correspondents. 



Firstly, Is this a new appearance, and am I a 

 solitary victim so far ? Secondly, What in damar is 

 likely to produce such results ? Thirdly and lastly. 

 Why have not the dozens of other slides which I have 

 mounted from the same tube developed the same 

 remarkable and annoying appearance ? 



Redland. Charles F. W. T. Williams. 



The Goatsucker reaches us about the middle of 

 May, and leaves us at the end of August or beginning 

 of September, its stay being determined by the dis- 

 appearance of the insects on which it feeds. On its 

 first arrival it at once attacks the swarms of cock- 

 chafers, large or small, as they congregate round the 

 tree tops in the evening, following them in their 

 descent to the meadows towards dusk. Failing the 

 cockchafers, the Goatsucker pursues an allied species, 

 the fernchafer, which makes its appearance in beds 

 of fern in June. Moths — especially the large swallow- 

 tailed moth — and bees form a large projDortion of the 

 food of the Goatsucker, together with dor-beetles and 

 flies from the low damp meadows, and around the cattle. 



