222 On the Ornithology of Wilts \_Caprimulgidoe\. 



the bats have. Its body is small for its size, that is to say, much ' 

 smaller than its general appearance would lead one to imagine, for 

 it is clothed with such a quantity of soft light downy plumage, that 

 it passes for a larger bird than it really is. The marking of its 

 feathers is peculiarly fine and delicate : the prevailing colours are 

 shades of brown, buff and grey, barred and spotted with every 

 variety : its immense width of gape at once distinguishes it from 

 all other birds, and its full dark eye and pectinated claw are very 

 striking features. It is essentially a solitary bird, seldom to be 

 seen even in the company of its mate, which however may occasion- 

 ally be found perched on another tree at a short distance. Deep 

 woods and shaded valleys, as well as fern-clad heaths and commons 

 are its favourite haunts, wherein it can retire from the glare of daj'^- 

 light, and emerge at twilight on noiseless and rapid wing when 

 the moths and beetles and other night flying insects on which it 

 pre}'s are abroad : its flight is generally low ; for its victims are to be 

 found near the ground, and it sweeps with great ease and power 

 round the bushes and in and out among the trees. Amongst all 

 our summer vistitants, (and their name is legion,) the Nightjar stands 

 alone as the only nocturnal bird of the whole assembl}^ and as it 

 checks the increase of night flying insects, as the swallows diminish 

 the number of those which appear by day, it is not only harmless, 

 but actively useful to man. It lays two eggs on the bare ground, 

 and to it may be attributed all the plausible but erroneous tales of 

 the Cuckoo (for which bird it has often been mistaken), rearing her 

 own young. It is to be met with sparingly throughout the County, 

 wherever deep woods furnish it with shade and retirement. 



This concludes the tribe of " wide-billed " {fissirostres) and with 

 it the Order of " Perchers " (insessorcs) containing twenty families 

 and no less than eighty-seven species ; all occuring more or less 

 frequently in Wiltshire, and each of which we have now examined. 

 In taking leave of this large Order, we may remark how gradually 

 we have been conducted from the strong stout limbs of the more 

 typical Perchers, through the Creepers, Wrens and Cuckoos, whose 

 habits require no great powers of perching and grasping, down to 

 the Swallows, the almost footless Swift, and the Nightjar with very 



