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have seen the inner surface slightly bristled with the hairs of caterpillars, 

 as in the cuckoo." He adds, "As no fragments of the hard parts of 

 these insects ever occur in the intestine, it follows that the refuse is 

 ejected by the mouth." From its habit of capturing dor-beetles, the bird 

 in some parts of the country is known as the Dor-hawk. Wordsworth 

 has referred to it by this name in the lines — 



"The busy dor-hawk chases the white moth with burring note." 



Elsewhere it is called the Eve-jar, and Chum-owl; the latter name is 

 bestowed by Gilbert White, in his " Naturalist's Summer Evening 

 Walk"— 



"While o'er the cliff the awaken'd Churn-owl hung, 

 Through the still gloom, protracts his chattering song." 



In his 37th Letter to Pennant, the same author refers to it as "the 

 Caprimulgus, or Fern Owl," and gives an agreeable account of its move- 

 ments as observed by himself Amongst other things he says : " But 

 the circumstance that pleased me most was, that I saw it distinctly more 

 than once put out its short leg while on the wing, and by a bend of 

 the head deliver somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its 

 prey with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose it does 

 these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is 

 curiously furnished with a serrated claw." Yarrel has figured the foot, 

 in a vignette to his work on " British Birds," in order to show this 

 peculiarity of structure, the use of which has puzzled so many. 



The correctness of the view expressed by Gilbert White, and 

 confirmed by other authors, has been disputed, on the ground that many 

 other birds, as herons, gannets, and I may add coursers, have a pectinate 

 claw upon the middle toe, and yet do not take insects upon the wing, or 

 even seize their prey with their feet. 



It has been ingeniously suggested that perhaps the serrated claw 

 may be used for brushing away the broken wings and other fragments of 

 struggling insects which doubtless adhere occasionally to the basirostral 

 bristles with which the mouth of the bird is furnished. This is very 

 possible, at tlie same time it may be observed that hawks, parrots, and 



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