EUROPEAN GOATSUCKER. 043 



been engaged for twenty-eight minutes in capturing his prey, 

 and whistling now and then whilst doing so, he sat upon the 

 top of a tree, at the east corner, and whirred six minutes with- 

 out intermission. Having paused for a second, he M'hirred 

 other two minutes, and then went in search of food for a short 

 time. From the top of a tree in the south-east corner he 

 whirred five minutes, then having made a momentary cessation 

 he whirred other two minutes. At one minute after eleven 

 o''clock he flew very quickly past me, making a whistling sound 

 eight times. He performed exactly the same circuit round the 

 moor as he had done on the 20th inst., but in the reverse direc- 

 tion, and stopped at the same places as on that evening. Al- 

 though it was a most charming bright moonlight evening, and 

 the ensuing morning very beautiful, the wind from the south- 

 west, and the thermometer 53°, he did not again whirr. I re- 

 mained in the moor until twenty minutes to three o'clock. Be- 

 tween eleven and half-past one o'clock, I occasionally heard 

 him whistle. He ceased from feeding when the morning light 

 came in ; at least, I did not observe him, although I traversed 

 the moor in every direction. The Nightjar occasionally whirrs 

 between twelve and two o'clock in the morning, sometimes 

 even later." 



The serrature of the middle claw of this and the other spe- 

 cies has elicited various conjectures as to the use of so curious 

 a structure. Several persons have supposed or imagined it to 

 be for the purpose of enabling the bird to clear away from be- 

 tween its basirostral bristles the fragments of wings or other 

 parts of lepidopterous insects, which by adhering have clogged 

 them. This at first sight seems a remarkably plausible account 

 of the matter, but a very little reflection, with a slight inspec- 

 tion of the parts, will suffice to shew its futility. The bristles 

 are large, strong, and placed at some distance from each other. 

 The teeth of the claw are extremely thin, and very close, being 

 separated only by a mere chink. The claw then cannot act as 

 a comb, because one of the bristles is as broad at the base as 

 two or three of the teeth, so that it cannot enter between them, 

 and although it tapers away towards the end, yet even there it is 

 too wide to be insinuated. But, although the claw may not 



