SPOET OF BUTE. 127 



owls. Like the swallow tribe, it is a migrant and 

 insect-feeder ; preying on the night-moths, beetles, 

 and cockchafers, by following and capturing them 

 in the air as swallows seize day insects. Indeed, 

 the capricious evolutions of this twilight spectre 

 bear close resemblance to the sportive wheels of 

 the bird of summer sunshine. It has been called 

 "the night-swallow," just as stormy petrels are 

 commonly known to sailors as swallows of the 

 ocean. 



From hiding in the day-time in brakes of fern, 

 the night-jar is also appropriately styled "the fern 

 owl ; " and indeed the silky feathers, noiseless 

 flight, large eye, dusky colour, and nocturnal life 

 of this bird, quite entitle it to a low niche among 

 the owls ; while the insect-food, migratory habits, 

 large gape, soft beak, and weak feet, prove it 

 equally akin to the swallow family, which right I 

 have just claimed. The night-swallow has the 

 advantage over the day one in a hair-netting on 

 each side of the bill a very great assistance in 

 night-hunting, but not needed and therefore not 

 given to the bird of the sunlight. 



To a heedless listener, the song or call of each 



