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vailed richness,, and power of the Nightingale's 

 song have been long celebrated, and its effect is 

 still further increased by the hour at which it is 

 heard, during the silence of a calm summer's night. 

 The nest of this favourite bird, which is found on 

 the ground, is constructed of withered oak leaves, 

 and is lined with dry grass. The eggs, of which 

 there are not more than four or five, are of a pale 

 olive brown, often tinged with greyish blue. 



NIGHT JAR. 

 FERN OWL, OR GOATSUCKER. 



CAPBIMTJLGUS ETJEOP^TTS, Lin. '' 



The Night Jar is a periodical visitant to this 

 country, in which it arrives about the end of May, 

 and from which it departs in September, or early 

 in October. Its habits are somewhat peculiar. 

 It flies in the dusk of the evening in gloomy wea- 

 ther, or by moonlight in the shade of woods, feed- 

 ing on insects, especially moths and beetles, which 

 it seizes on the wing. It produces a whirring noise 

 at intervals, like the sound of a spinning-wheel, 

 and occasionally emits a shrill whistle. During the 

 day it rests till after sunset on the ground among 

 furze or fern, or perched lengthways upon the 



