640 CAPRI MULGUS EUROP^US. 



the bird wheu on the wing ; hence the ventriloquism spoken 

 of. The Goatsucker is by no means common with us, probably 

 on account of the absence of large fern-brakes in this county." 



The same may be said of a more northern county, Mdiere 

 ferns are not uncommon, in which the following observations 

 have been made by another friend, whose name so often recurs 

 in this work, Mr Th. Durham Weir of Boghead, Linlithgow- 

 shire. 



" In this district, Nightjars do not arrive till the end of May, 

 or the beginning of June. They generally take up their resi- 

 dence in plantations, either amongst heath, or upon sloping 

 banks, where ferns abound. Like Owls, they cannot bear the 

 glare of day, and commonly remain upon the ground until sun- 

 set, when they fly abroad in pursuit of their food. They do 

 not take the trouble of constructing any kind of nest. About 

 the end of June 1835, in the middle of a plantation, upon the 

 estate of Herbertshire, in the county of Stirling, now in the 

 possession of William Forbes, Esq. of Callander, I observed a 

 slight hollow scraped in a dry spot surrounded by heath, where 

 two of their eggs had been deposited for the purpose of being 

 hatched. One bright sunny forenoon, I went with the inten- 

 tion of catching the female sitting upon them, but, to my 

 great disappointment, she had been devoured by some bird or 

 beast, as nothing remained but a few of her feathers, which 

 were scattered around the place. 



" Some ornithologists maintain that these birds when hawk- 

 ing always fly with their capacious mouths widely extended. 

 This, however, I think, must be a mistake, as I have had seve- 

 ral opportunities of watching them, when at no great distance 

 from me, and in quest of moths and beetles for their young. 

 They did not appear to open their mouths till they were just 

 making the attempt to catch their prey. In confirmation of 

 this, I recollect a striking fact. About half-past nine o'clock 

 one evening, in the end of July 1835, whilst I was walking 

 through a large plantation of oak belonging to W. D. Gillon, 

 Esq. of Wallhouse, at the distance of three miles from my 

 house, a pair of Nightjars flew again and again around me, and 

 wnthin a few yards of my head. I shot the male. At eleven 



