46 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
made, and at last the successful hunter returns home, 
laden with the spoils of his expedition, and rejoicing 
greatly at the additions which he has made to his 
collection. 
Such is an ideal description of a night’s “ sugaring,” 
the success of which, however, is generally to some 
extent marred in more ways than one. Perhaps the 
moon shines, or an easterly wind blows, and the 
moths disregard the preparations made for their 
entertainment. Or the collector smears his mixture 
upon smooth-barked trees, and finds his baits com- 
paratively deserted. Or some strongly-scented blos- 
som in the neighbourhood proves a still greater 
attraction, and the prepared trees are altogether 
unvisited. 
But even if none of these ills befall him, the 
collector must still prepare himself for a certain 
amount of loss by reason of the proceedings of the 
bat and the nightjar, which quickly learn the secret 
of the prepared trees, and, swooping past on noiseless 
wing, neatly pick off the revellers without pausing in 
their flight. I have frequently watched both mammal 
and bird thus engaged, and have myself been a loser 
by their depredations, a shadowy form darting past 
me as I approached a baited tree, and snapping up 
my anticipated captives before my eyes. 
Unhke the kestrel, which captures flying insects 
with its claws, and transfers them during flight to its 
beak, the nightjar employs its mouth as its sole 
weapon in the chase. But then, what a mouth it is! 
Opening so far in the gape that, when fully extended, 
