54 



FASSEJiES. 



performed with even greater ease and facility. Their eyes are 

 large and of the true nocturnal character. Although the beak is 

 small, the gape is enormous, extending below the eyes, and re- 

 minding us of the mouth of a toad ; hence these birds are called 

 by the French " Crapauds volants^ The plumage is full and soft, 

 and beautifully variegated with dots, bars, dashes, and zigzag 

 markings, of mingled grey, brown, fawn-colour, black, and white ; 



Fig. 27.— The Night-jar {Caprimulgus Europccus). 



difficult to describe, and almost as difficult to imitate. Rapid and 

 abrupt as is the flight of these birds, it is noiseless, resembling in 

 that respect the flight of the owl, although from the form of their 

 wings it is of a different character. 



The goatsuckers form no nest, but generally deposit two eggs 

 on some dry spot beneath the shelter of ferns and other under- 

 wood. 



The type of this family — 



The European Goatsucker {Caprlmulgus'* Europa'us) is not uncom- 

 mon in England ; it is, however, a bird of passage, retiring to the warm regions 

 of the South in the autumn, and returning in the month of May. It measures 

 about ten or eleven inches in length, including the tail, which is rather long. 

 The bill and legs are short and feeble, so that it perches with difficulty, and 

 when resting on the bough of a tree, places itself lengthways upon the branch, 



* Capra, a she-goat ; miilgeo, to milk : goat-viilkcr. 



