NIGHTJAR 239 



as that hedge-hogs performed the same kind office for 

 cows. Although not a rare bird, yet from its habit of 

 flying only in the evening and at daybreak it is not very 

 generally observed. There is something very peculiar in 

 the appearance of the Goatsucker when sleeping in the 

 day. I recollect once shooting at what appeared to be 

 a rat crouching on the large arm of a high cherry tree, 

 but which, upon its falling to the ground, proved to be a 

 Goatsucker. It is a constant habit of these birds to 

 perch lengthways, with their heads lowest, that is, in- 

 wards to the tree. They are not unfrequently found 

 squatting on stone heaps, where they look not unlike a 

 lump of old wood or bark covered with lichens. There 

 is a peculiarity about the foot of the goatsucker, the 

 middle claw being serrated, the exact use of which has 

 not, I believe, been accurately determined. White thought 

 it was to assist the bird in taking its prey, he having 

 observed it take beetles with its claws and convey them 

 to its mouth. Wilson, on the other hand, supposed this 

 claw was used as a comb to keep in order the bristles 

 which grow on either side of the upper mandible. While 

 others imagine it to be used for the same purpose as the 

 pectinated claw of the Night-Heron (Nycticorax europ(Bus) 

 namely, to free the bird from vermin in those parts which 

 it is unable to reach with its bill. Is it improbable that 

 it may be used for all these purposes ? 



" Goatsuckers arrive in this part of Kent about the 

 second week in May, and generally take their departure 

 by the beginning of September. Their common note 

 is somewhat between hissing and buzzing, which has 

 been said to be in imitation of the low notes of beetles. 

 As I was returning home between 11 and 12 o'clock one 

 brilliant moonlight night in August last, my attention was 



