NIGHTJAR. 



245 



the mouth, there can be little doubt, but the use of the ser- 

 rated edge on the inner side of the claw of each middle toe is 

 not so obvious. The middle toe of the Nightjar is particu- 

 larly long, the claw is flattened and dilated on the inner edge, 

 and the margin is divided so as to form a small comb of 

 seven or eight teeth. The uses to which this little instru- 

 ment is thought to be subservient are various. White of 

 Selborne, with whom the Nightjar was a fiivourite, thus writes 

 of it in the commencement of his thirty-seventh letter to his 

 friend Pennant: — " On the twelfth of July, I had a fair 

 opportunity of contemplating the motions of the Caprimul- 

 gus, or Fern-Owl, as it was playing round a large oak that 

 swarmed with Scarahcei solstitiales, or fern-chafers. The 

 powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if possible, the 

 various evolutions and quick turns of the Swallow genus. 

 But the circumstance that pleased me most was, that I saw 

 it distinctly more than once put out its short leg whilst on 

 the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into 

 its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I 

 have now the greatest reason to suppose it does these chafers, 

 I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is 

 curiously furnished with a serrated claw." In Atkinson's com- 

 pendium of the Ornithology of Great Britain, at page 108, 

 is a note on this subject in corroboration of the view of the 

 use of the serrated claw taken by White. " We have wit- 

 nessed the singular manner in which this bird takes its prey, 

 consisting of moths and beetles, which it pursues with great 

 ao-ilitv on the win^r, occasionally throwing itself backwards, 

 and thrusting out its foot, with which it seizes and conveys 

 them to its mouth with great deliberation : probably its ser- 

 rated claws may assist this operation." Other uses have been 

 assigned to this pectinated claw, — namely, to comb out the 

 hairs set along the upper edge of the mouth on each side, or 

 to clear the delicate edges and angles of the mouth from the 



