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it is as incapable of sucking milk as it is of carrying off and preying upon 

 young game birds. The mistake in the former case must have arisen in 

 this way : The habits of the bird are crepuscular, and it is seldom seen 

 in broad daylight, unless disturbed ; but as soon as twilight comes on, 

 and moths and dor-beetles begin to be upon the wing, it comes forth 

 from its noonday retreat, and is exceedingly busy and active in the 

 pursuit of these and other insects. Montague says he has observed as 

 many as eight or ten on the wing together in the dusk of the evening, 

 skimming over the surface of the ground in all directions like swallows 

 in pursuit of insects. Cattle, as they graze in the evening, disturb 

 numerous moths and flies, and the Nightjar, unalarmed by the animals, 

 to whose presence it becomes accustomed, dashes boldly down to seize 

 a moth which is hovering round their feet, or a fly which has settled upon 

 the udder. Being detected in this act in the twilight by unobservant 

 persons, the story has gone forth that the Goatsucker steals the milk. 

 From the keeper's point of view, it is a Night-hawk, in the worst sense 

 of the word ; a hawk that under cover of the night flits noiselessly but 

 rapidly by, and carries off the unsuspecting chick. But here again the 

 observer has been misled by appearances, associating the pointed wings 

 and long tail with the idea of a hawk, entirely overlooking the small 

 slender claws and mandibles, which are quite unequal to the task 

 of holding and cutting up live and resisting feathered prey, and also 

 entirely overlooking the fact, that at the time the Nightjar is abroad, the 

 young pheasants and partridges are safely brooded under their mothers' 

 wings. Attentive observation of its habits, and examination of numerous 

 specimens after death, have revealed the real nature of its food, which 

 consists of moths, especially Hepihis Jmmiili (which from its white colour 

 is readily seen by the bird), fernchafers, and dor-beetles. Mr. Robert 

 Gray of Glasgow, has seen it in grass-fields, cleverly picking ghost moths 

 off the stems, from the points of which these sluggish insects were 

 temptingly hanging. "But as a rule," he adds, "the Nightjar captures 

 its prey while in flight." Macgillivray says: "The food which I have 

 found in its stomach was composed of the remains of coleopterous insects 

 of many species, some of them very large, and occasionally larvae ; I 



