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has to be no coward ; he hears strange noises and sees strange 

 sights, sometimes unaccountable, although in the majority of 

 instances where we have been puzzled we have always found them 

 out, especially when entoraologising. We could tell you some 

 strange stories of our adventures in the woods at night, but they 

 would scarcely come within the scope of this paper. Live not all 

 these recollections in the mind ! chasing away even care while we 

 contemplate them, and throwing a soothing tranquillity over the 

 soul— a pleasure which we remember, a delight which can never 

 be forgotten, but can be recalled at any time, no matter how far 

 removed from the scenes we may be — nay, can be seen in the dark 

 whenever the inward eye of memory opens. By my own fireside 

 I can traverse scores of miles of pleasant scenery, can call up a 

 hundred landscapes of forest, hill, river, valley, and pastoral plain ; 

 of village and tree and stile ; of winding highways and pleasant 

 field-paths, sylvan dells, charming dales, and pretty brookside 

 nooks. Even a Hfe of toil is sweetened by the remembrance of 

 scenes like these, for they are pleasures that pass not away, but are 

 ever stepping unawares upon us, throwing sudden bursts of " sun- 

 shine upon the passing clouds," and cheering us on our way. 



To return from this digression. Gamekeepers as a rule have a 

 great aversion to this bird, and shoot it down unmercifully ; the 

 name Nighthawk I suppose being sufficient to account for this. 

 The structure of the bird, to any intelligent person, is quite plenty 

 to show that it is utterly incapable of tearing to pieces any young 

 game ; a glance at its bill and feet will prove this, apart from the 

 fact that at the time of night when the Nightjar is flying the young 

 game chicks would be safely ensconced under the mother's wings. 

 I once was walking with a keeper, not far from Carlisle, in the 

 dusk of a glorious summer's evening along the outskirts of a wood, 

 when a Nighthawk flew right before us, and in an instant he had 

 the gun to his shoulder, and shot the poor bird before I had time 

 to expostulate with him. When telling him what a shame it was 

 to shoot such a useful and harmless bird, all the satisfaction I got I 

 will tell you in his own vernacular. He said : "It hes t' biggest gob 

 an' laalest neb of enny burd in Cummerlan', an' sooks gam' eggs." 



