EUROPEAN GOATSUCKER. 645 



pretty sure of having seen that hird, when flying, raise its foot 

 to its mouth, as if, in the manner of a parrot, carrying an insect 

 to it. White of Selborne thought he saw it while on wing 

 put out its leg, and bending its head, deliver something into its 

 mouth. He therefore conjectured that it catches its prey with 

 its feet, and that thus the use of the serrature of the middle claw 

 is rendered apparent. But it does not appear that the serrature 

 could have the eifect of enabling it to seize an insect more firmly; 

 nor is it likely that a bird having a mouth obviously so well 

 adapted for seizing and retaining insects on wing, should use 

 its feet for that purpose, especially as the great width of the 

 mouth would then be rendered unnecessary, and the bristles at 

 its base form an impediment to the delivery of the insect into 

 it. As yet no one has quite satisfactorily seen a Goatsucker 

 catch a moth or a beetle with its foot ; and at all events this 

 cannot be the use of the serrature, for many birds which have 

 the middle claw serrated, do not seize their prey with their feet. 



I^Ir Weir states that in the dusk of a warm summer even- 

 ing, about the end of June, he has seen the male alight amongst 

 dust, in the middle of a parish road in his neighbourhood. But 

 whether the Goatsucker dusts itself like the Lark and some 

 other birds, he is unable to say, not having had a favourable 

 opportunity of observing them near enough. 



The eggs of the Goatsucker are two in number, broadly ellip- 

 tical, an inch and two-twelfths long, ten-twelfths across, whitish 

 and clouded with ash-grey and brown. The young are densely 

 covered with long whitish down. 



Young. — When fledged, the young are similar to the adult 

 female, but of a darker colour, and with the markings consider- 

 ably larger. They have in this state some resemblance to the 

 young of the Cuckoo, for which it appears they have sometimes 

 been mistaken. 



