COMMON NIGHTJAR. 311 
meeting with it between the months of May and September. When the 
evening’s gloom is falling, in the dreamy ‘ afterglow’ of a summer sunset, 
you may hear the Goatsucker’s well-known churr from the woods; and 
as the darkness deepens and the glowworms’ little lamps twinkle in 
the dewy grass, they come forth and search the air above the broken 
ground for their favourite food. This nightly beat of the ‘ Fern-Ow]? is 
partly heath, partly bracken, and partly furze, intermixed with a few 
stunted trees. You may see the birds repeatedly hover in the air above 
your head, the soft flapping of their wings being scarcely audible, and their 
forms coming strongly out against the clear western sky as they mount 
for a moment above the tree-tops. If you keep very quiet they will pro- 
bably alight on one of the poles of the wire fence which divides the wood 
from the heath. Here their actions are very like those of a Flycatcher. 
They sally out into the air to catch a passing moth or beetle, then 
return to their perch: a few moments’ pause, then another sally into the 
air, turning, twisting, and hovering with charming gracefulness and with 
scarcely any noise whatever. Sometimes when one bird is thus perched it 
is jomed by its mate, and I have seen them thus convey food to each 
other. As night draws on their activity seems to increase; and, 
darting and gliding swiftly amongst the trees, or out into the open, they 
appear to hold -high carnival in the gloom, and as they turn amongst the 
trees the light under surface of their wings is very distinct. On the wing 
the Goatsucker’s common note is a clear and somewhat rapidly repeated 
co-ic co-ic, whilst the ‘churring’ noise is made only when the bird is at 
rest.” 
The Nightjar does not appear to be much incommoded by the light, and 
instances are on record where it has been seen searching for its prey 
during the middle of the day, probably when it has arrived hungry after a 
night’s migration. As is the case with so many birds whose habits are 
not readily observed, the Nightjar has few friends. The name of Goat- 
sucker is derived from an ancient superstition that the bird is capable of 
drawing milk from the goat, probably arising from the wideness of its 
gape, and from the fact that the poor harmless bird flies over the sleeping 
herds to catch the insects usually found in their vicmity. Gamekeepers 
either shoot it in the belief that it is a species of Hawk, or they nail it up 
in their museums along with Cuckoos and Kestrels to increase their show 
of destroyed vermin, under the impression that their employers will not 
discover that these birds are not Hawks of some kind that are injurious 
to game. In its noiseless flight this bird resembles most the Owls ; but it 
can twist and turn on the wing, or skim along the side of the wood, or 
hawk for its insect prey over the tops of the trees with almost the facility 
of a Swallow, a bird which it also resembles in its helplessness on the 
ground, where it can only walk with difficulty. 
