THE SWIFTS, WOODPECKERS, ETC. 191 



wind. The food of the swift consists entirely of insects. 

 The height at which it flies varies considerably : in com- 

 pany, they are observed to move at a great altitude, but 

 when hunting alone the bird seems to prefer dashing along 

 within a few feet of the earth. The nest, a loose, flat bed 

 of grasses, is placed in any convenient hole in cliff or 

 church tower, and, like those of the swallow and martins, 

 is infested, as is the swift itself, with parasites. Eggs, 2, 

 i inch ; spotless white. 



Alpine Swift. A larger, white -bellied bird that has 

 wandered on about four - and - twenty occasions from 

 Southern Europe, thrice to Ireland, but not yet recorded 

 from Scotland. 



Needle-tailed Swift. A very rare straggler from Siberia, 

 It has occurred once in Essex and once in Hampshire. 



2. THE NIGHTJARS. 

 [One regular visitor ; two stragglers.] 



A straggler only to Shetland and the Outer Hebrides, 

 the Nightjar is from May to September widely distributed 

 over the rest of these islands. A bird of 

 heaths and commons, it is, like the British 

 cuckoo, a nestless bird; but it lays its eggs on the bare 

 earth. The unfortunate creature is the victim of un- 

 founded suspicions, in consequence of which it suffers the 

 same persecution at the hands of the rustic as does its ally 

 the morepork at the hands of the Australian stockowner. 

 Most of its Australian cousins, by the way, build a nest, 

 as do some Australian cuckoos. Its supposed offence is 

 sucking the milk of goats and cows, hence the name goat- 

 sucker, which has descended on it from olden time. Most 

 often seen on the wing or on the ground, it is nevertheless 

 no very uncommon sight to see the bird perching on some 

 old fence, and it does so, not as most birds, but lengthwise. 

 The nightjar, not being abroad much before sundown, 



