BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 
the yellow underwings and cockchafers on 
which it feeds, and I have more than once 
watched it hunting its victims with the beak 
closed. I noticed this particularly when 
camping in the backwoods of Eastern Canada 
where the bird goes by the name of night- 
hawk. 
In all probability its food consists exclu- 
sively of insects, though exceptional cases 
have been noted in which the young birds 
had evidently been fed on seeds. The popular 
error which charges it with stealing the milk 
of ewes and goats, from which it derives the 
undeserved name of " goat-sucker," with its 
equivalent in several Continental languages, 
is another result of the imperfect light in 
which it is commonly observed. Needless to 
say, there is no truth whatever in the ac- 
cusation, for the nightjar would find no more 
pleasure in drinking milk than we should in 
eating moths. 
Here, then, are two night-voices of very 
different calibre. These are not our only birds 
that break the silence on moonlight nights in 
June. The common thrush often sings far 
into the night, and the sedge-warbler is a 
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