COMMON NIGHTJAR. 



75 



insects as come out at night ; when on the looli-out 

 for these it will sometimes fly round and round a bush 

 or tree, the noiseless flapping of its wings being 

 scarcely audible, reminding one more of the flight 

 of an owl as it silently flits past. When at rest on 

 the bough of a tree, it perches lengthwise, not cross- 

 wise, on a branch, usually with its head downwards. 

 Strolling through the woods in the twilight on a 

 summer evening you may hear its long-drawn note — a 



COMMON NIGHTJAR. 



loud chur-r-r-r or jar-r-r-r-r — like the sound made by 

 causing one's tongue to vibrate rapidly. Gilbert White 

 says : " I have always found that though sometimes 

 it may chatter as it flies, as I know it does, yet in 

 general it utters its jarring note sitting on a bough. 

 It is most punctual in beginning its song exactly at the 

 close of day ; so exactly that I have known it strike up 

 more than once or twice just at the report of the 

 Portsmouth evening gun, which we can hear when the 



