foe 7 
Wild Birds Act, 1896.—In addition to any penalty under the Act of 1880 the Court 
may now order any trap, net, snare, etc., used by the offender to be forfeited. 
This bird is protected throughout the whole year in the County of Middlesex. 
VII. Remarks. 
The Nightjar, being a voracious feeder on winged insects, has been wisely protected by the 
Legislature, and on account of the benefit it confers on mankind it should be welcomed and 
left unmolested. 
Many silly prejudices have sprung up concerning this bird, since its habits are not much 
observed, owing to the fact of its flying about during the hours of night. It is the 
victim of numerous local names or aliases, all more or less suggestive of its habits and 
peculiarities. ‘“ Fern Owl,” because it is frequently to be met with amid ferns and bracken, ou 
moors and heaths, and on account of its noiseless dextrous flight during the hours of night. 
“ Goatsucker,” from an ancient and silly superstition that the bird can draw milk frow a 
goat, “ probably arising,’ as Seebohm remarks, ‘from the wideness of its gape and from 
the fact that the poor harmless bird hawks over the sleeping herds to catch the insects 
founa in their vicinity.” ‘ Nighthawk” or “ Dorhawk,” on account of the bawklke 
manner in which it beats about for insects, while its beak and claws are too weak to 
catch birds or mice. It is also named “ Wheelbird,” ‘Churn Owl,” ‘“Eve-Jar,” or “Jar 
Owl,” ete. 
As the owl continues at nightfall the good work of the kestrel, so does the Nightjar that 
of the swallow and swift. But while the Nightjar can twist and turn with nearly the facility 
of the swallow when searching for insects over the tops of trees, it is neither swallow, hawk, 
nor owl, but is a most interesting and useful bird, one of a family of some seventy species 
which are found throughout the world. 
Only two species, the Red-necked Nightjar and the preseut species, however, breed in 
Europe, one of which is this summer migrant to our shores, while the other is known to have 
come over only once, and therefore need not be referred to in this leaflet. A third species, 
the Egyptian Nightjar, has also once occurred in Great Britain. 
The Nightjar does not make a nest, but deposits its eggs, two in number, on the ground, 
Illustration, by kind permission of Messrs. Longmans, Green & Co., from “British Birds,” by 
Mr. W. H. Hudson, C.M.ZS. 
