278 THE FERN-OWL. 



The Goat-suckers, or Fern-Owls, so called from being 

 frequently met with on heather, or wild places abound- 

 ing with fern, ought more truly to be called Moth-Hawks, 

 from their feeding almost entirely upon these soft-winged 

 insects, which they catch up in their flight, however dark 

 it may be. To human beings, who at dusk can scarcely 

 trace a swift-flying moth as it glances by, it is inconceiv- 

 able how this bird can contrive to make its constant 

 meals on such precarious prey. Nature, however, has 

 amply provided it with never-failing means of feasting 

 to its satisfaction. In the first place, the eye is large, 

 full, and clear, like the Owl's, and so thin and transpa- 

 rent is the membrane separating it from the base of the 

 upper mandible, that as it flies, when in search of food, 

 with its mouth open, it has been surmised by some 

 naturalists that the bird is enabled thereby to keep a 

 look-out forward, as well as on either side, through the 

 thin bony membrane. At all events, without this odd 

 addition to great powers of vision, a skull more than 

 half filled up with eye-sight, must enable the possessor 

 to see more clearly in the dark than we can conceive 

 possible. But in the next place, look at the mouth (see 

 annexed figure, and p. 260), such a prodigious opening as 

 it is, with a fringe of strong bristles on either side of the 

 nostrils, the use of which is this : that as it flies along, 

 if a moth crosses the pathway of these widely-opened 

 jaws, the bristles fetter the insect's wings, and help to 

 imprison it beyond the power of escape. 



This bird has, moreover, another peculiarity, adapted 



day famous on the turf; having hecome embarrassed, he sold his patri- 

 mony at Chesterton, to a Mr. Walker, and purchased a few acres in 

 Amvalton parish, only a few miles from Gates' Cabin, and built a 

 house, which was called " Pigott's Folly." Retaining a taste for the 

 pursuits and luxuries of his prosperous days, he resolved to adorn 

 " Pigott's Folly" with paintings of the heathen gods and goddesses, and 

 finding in London a sprightly youth, an artist, he brought him down to 

 paint his house, this was young Beechey, who was lodged during his 

 employment, at Cates' Cabin, and in his leisure hours, painted for his 

 landlady its sign, the Dryden Head, (this was about the year 1770), 

 copied from an engraving of the poet in the frontispiece of his Miscel- 

 lanies, borrowed by the landlady from a neighbouring clergyman . 



