NIGHTJAR. 173 



insects, he appears on the scene, full of life and vigour, 

 and prepared for a good night's work. As the twilight 

 begins to fade, we may see a hawk-like bird dart quickly 

 forth, and, describing a wide circle, return to the fern- 

 covered rock or thicket from which he came ; " for the 

 bracken is to the Nightjar what the heather is to the red 

 grouse." As he rests, we hear that strange cry, which, 

 once heard, can never be forgotten ; at one time appa- 

 rently quite close by, at another dying away into the far 

 distance ; after a few seconds it ceases, and then, quick 

 as thought, we may see the bird pass above our heads, 

 and vanish in the evening gloom, uttering, as he flies, a 

 note, " co-ic, co-ic," for the "wheel-song" is heard only 

 when the bird is at rest. 



At the China Rock, near Beaumaris, I have often 

 watched this bird ; but my first introduction to his 

 " strange song " was when walking many years ago 

 from Waterford to Tramore. At about midnight one 

 night in July, it broke upon my ears, and I was assured 

 by my friend and pupil, Rev. Joseph Bewley, a great 

 lover of birds, that it was the " churr" of the Nightjar. 

 Mr. Seebohm compares this note to the letter " r," 

 rapidly pronounced so as to make the tongue vibrate, 

 and sometimes varying in tone, as if the bird were at 

 one time drawing in its breath, and at the other breath- 

 ing out as it sang. The " co-ic," or " chic," or " dak," 

 uttered on the wing, is compared by Mr. Norgate, in 

 The Zoologist of March, 1884, to the sound produced 

 " by twanging a short bit of India-rubber cord when it 

 is tightly strained, or a metallic tongue fixed by one end 

 in a vice." Besides these sounds, it also makes occa- 

 sionally a curious clapping noise, of which Gilbert 



