642 CAPRIMULGUS EUROP^US. 



east corner, and continued to whirr for three minutes and a 

 half. After having hawked about for six minutes, he alighted 

 upon a tree at the north-east corner, where he whirred for a 

 short time. He then flew to the north-west corner, where he 

 uttered his whirring sound for one minute and a half. He 

 once rose to the height of about sixty or seventy feet, whistling 

 as he mounted. On this occasion his peculiar mode of flight 

 was similar to that which the male Cushat makes when he 

 rises and falls in the air, at the season of pairing. At a quarter 

 from ten o'clock, after having made almost a complete circuit 

 of the wood, he returned to the same tree upon which he was 

 perched when first heard. After remaining there about two 

 minutes, he flew past me in an abrupt and wavering manner, 

 and was not heard again during that evening. The wind had 

 by this time risen, which perhaps accounts for his silence. His 

 flight was sometimes very rapid, and not unlike that of the 

 Swallow. The particular noise, which has been compared to 

 that of a spinning-wheel, is said by some ornithologists to be 

 produced when the bird is perched with its head lowermost. 

 This, however, is not always the case, for upon this evening 

 I again and again distinctly heard and saw the Nightjar whir- 

 ring while perched upon the top of a Scotch fir, with his head 

 in a position even more erect than that in which he generally 

 carries it. On Tuesday evening, the 23d, about a quarter be- 

 fore nine o'clock, I again went to watch this bird. I continued 

 upon the moor until half-past eleven, but I neither saw nor 

 heard him, although the w^ind was south west, and the ther- 

 mometer 59°. At nine o'clock on Wednesday evening, the 

 24th, I again returned, being determined, if possible, to get 

 another glimpse of him. Having remained for an hour in a 

 state of anxiety, I was just upon the eve of departing, when 

 exactly at ten o'clock, in the north-west side of the moor, 

 I heard the accustomed sound, which continued one minute. 

 Having flown about for two minutes in search of moths and 

 beetles, the bird alighted upon a tree at the north-east corner, 

 where he whirred for about four minutes. After a momentary 

 pause he whirred for a similar period ; then making another 

 pause for a moment, he whirred three minutes. After having 



