198 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



downy in texture. As I write these lines, a 

 very beautifully-preserved specimen of this bird 

 hangs on the wall in front of me. I am bound to 

 admit that I always regard it with feelings of self- 

 reproach, though its destruction was most purely 

 unintentional on my part. I had been rabbit- 

 shooting one evening in early September, and 

 just as I was about to cross a fence, a bird flashed 

 past me in the dusk, and, without a thought, I 

 fired, and discovered to my sorrow that I had 

 killed a goatsucker ; regrets were unavailing, so, 

 as it was an exceptionally good specimen, I sent 

 it to my friend Mr. Cullingford, of the Durham 

 Museum, who stuffed and mounted it for me, and 

 it has hung on the wall of my room ever since, 

 silently rebuking me for my thoughtlessness in 

 having slain it. 



Of all the various names by which this bird is 

 known; that of nightjar, or, as it is more 

 correctly termed, night-churr, is perhaps the most 

 suitable, whereas that of goatsucker is the least so. 

 4 To give a dog a bad name is to hang him.' 

 If there is one creature in Britain more inoffensive 

 than another, it is the nightjar, yet ignorance and 

 superstition have credited it with the performance 

 of a feat of which no bird which ever lived could 

 be capable, viz., sucking the udders of goats. At 

 this present time I have not the slightest doubt 

 that there are hundreds of people who believe 

 most implicitly that such is the habit of this bird, 

 and who would not hesitate to destroy it if oppor- 



