b CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMON BIRDS. 



to the feathers upon it;) and when we ordinarily see him, he looks dull 

 and stupid; but you must remember that we see him under great disad- 

 vantages, namely, in the daytime, when his eyes are dazzled, and he is 

 half asleep. But see him at night, as far as you can, and you will confess 

 that he is indeed a different creature, active and full of energy, wilh the 

 most expressive eye that can be imagined; in fact, his whole being is 

 changed, and there is activity enough for anything. His flight is certainly 

 very noiseless, and it may be that the very stillness of the dark hours 

 makes every sound so distinctly and easily heard that some such provision 

 is necessary. This I look upon as the most probable and true reason 

 why there is this peculiarity, and also that nocturnal animals are generally 

 very quick of hearing, probably from so much more depending upon this 

 sense than can be the case with diurnal animals. 



The large Owls, such as the Eagle Owl, seem to prefer open situations, 

 and not only so, but those which partake of a marshy character; but the 

 reason for this does not clearly appear, unless it be that the water-rat is 

 there an attraction, but so it is. 



Owls are very generally dispersed through the country, but it is not so 

 with the Nightjar, which is essentially a moor-bird, and, as a general rule, 

 never found in the cultivated districts, except such as abut upon wastes 

 and commons. Having resided in a heathy district during many years of 

 the early part of my life, I had very good opportunities of observing their 

 habits, in which I took a great interest; and in support of my first asser- 

 tion, my experience goes clearly to the fact that since cultivation has made 

 inroads upon nature's wilds, the numbers of these birds have greatly de- 

 creased, and in some parts they have altogether ceased to return in May, 

 as was their former wont. 



The tribe Caprimulgus, or Goat-sucker, to which this bird belongs, is a 

 very large one, and contains a vast number of varieties, chiefly to be found 

 in America, and some bear a very strong resemblance to the Owl. Others 

 we are familiar with the names of, through Fenimore Cooper, the trans- 

 atlantic novelist, when he speaks of the note of the "Whip-poor-will," and 

 the valley of the "Wish-ton-wish," both varieties of the Nightjar, if not 

 one and the same bird, which I am not learned enough in American 

 popular ornithology to determine. We know very well the ridiculous su- 

 perstitions which have attached themselves to this poor creature, traceable 

 back to the dark ages, and even now, I believe, held in some unsophisti- 

 cated village districts, where old wives and tottering rustic sages shake their 

 heads and predict ill-luck at the appearance of the sprite-like Evechurn, 

 or Puckeridge, as they call it; more especially when there are young calves, 

 or cows likely to become mothers. How hard it is to knock the veriest 

 nonsense out of the heads of superstition and ignorance! It is not so long 



