42 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
CHAPTER. 
THE NIGHTJAR AND THE SWALLOW. 
THE NIGHTJAR—Why persecuted—Great value of the bird— 
The Nightjar and the Cockchafer—Mischievous powers of 
the latter—The entomologist and the Nightjar—aA self- 
acting trap—Cry of the bird—Its domestic arrangements— 
SWALLows—The common Swallow—its wonderful powers 
of flight—Food of the bird—How to distinguish the Swal- 
low—The Swift—A feathered Mercury—Uses of the tail— 
Duration of its stay in Great Britain—Supposed powers of 
hibernation—The Martin—Its fondness for human com- 
panionship—How the nest is made—The Sand-martin— 
Its sagacity—Birds as excavators—Value of the Swallow 
and its kin. 
Frew of our British birds, perhaps, have been ac- 
credited with such ridiculously impossible proceedings 
as the Nightjar, whose alternative title of ‘“‘ goat- 
sucker” testifies to the character of the. mischief 
once attributed to it. Nor is its reputation even 
yet cleared with many, for, while the old absurd 
belief is still prevalent in country districts, the 
majority of gaimekeepers look upon the bird as 
highly injurious, and shoot it whenever they can 
find an opportunity. 
Yet the nightjar is, in the fullest sense of the 
term, a beneficial creature. Feeding entirely upon 
insects throughout its residence in this country, it 
