BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 



the yellow underwings and cockchafers on 

 which it feeds, and I have more than once 

 watched it hunting its victims with the beak 

 closed. I noticed this particularly when 

 camping in the backwoods of Eastern Canada 

 where the bird goes by the name of night- 

 hawk. 



In all probability its food consists exclu- 

 sively of insects, though exceptional cases 

 have been noted in which the young birds 

 had evidently been fed on seeds. The popular 

 error which charges it with stealing the milk 

 of ewes and goats, from which it derives the 

 undeserved name of " goat-sucker," with its 

 equivalent in several Continental languages, 

 is another result of the imperfect light in 

 which it is commonly observed. Needless to 

 say, there is no truth whatever in the ac- 

 cusation, for the nightjar would find no more 

 pleasure in drinking milk than we should in 

 eating moths. 



Here, then, are two night-voices of very 

 different calibre. These are not our only birds 

 that break the silence on moonlight nights in 

 June. The common thrush often sings far 

 into the night, and the sedge-warbler is a 

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