1 64 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



the bird unless you catch its dark lustrous eye. The 

 middle toe or claw of each foot is curiously serrated sup- 

 posed to be used in combing the bristles on each side of 

 the mouth when they get clogged with the hard wiry 

 coverts of the beetles it preys upon. 



There is a curious superstition in Nidderdale, Yorkshire, 

 that these birds embody the souls of unbaptized infants 

 doomed to wander for ever in the air, and are called 

 Gabble-Ratchets i.e., Corpse-Hounds a name equivalent 

 to the Gabriel-Hounds of other localities, the unseen pack 

 which is heard by night baying in the air hence the 

 Shropshire term for the bird, Uchfowl, or Corpse-Fowl. 

 (Swainson's " Provincial Names of British Birds," p. 93). 



HEAD OF THE NIGHTJAR. THE FOOT, SHOWING THE 



SERRATED CLAW. 



The following interesting notes on this bird appeared 

 in the Zoologist, August 1884: "Having had exceptional 

 opportunities this summer, in Berkshire, of watching the 

 habits of this curious bird, I venture to send the following 

 remarks : On its arrival, about the end of April or beginning 

 of May, it is much bolder than it is later in the season. 

 The note is loud and discordant then, and it is easy in the 

 twilight to walk to the tree on which it may be sitting 

 lengthwise on the branch, with head low. If disturbed it 

 gives a peevish hoot, and claps its wings together behind, 

 after the manner of some pigeons, pausing an instant after 

 each clap to recover its equilibrium. Later on, as the 

 breeding season approaches, its note becomes very ventri- 

 loquial, and it is then sometimes very difficult to stalk. The 

 jarring note becomes much softer, and sometimes resembles 

 the purring of a cat. If roused from its perch whilst 

 making this noise, it continues the same note, letting it 



