X Y C T I C H E L I D X. 



form, and active in its manners, preys a good deal 

 upon beetles in the twilight. According to Selby, 

 the kestrel darts rapidly into the midst of the cock- 

 chafers, where they fly in numbers, and, clutching 

 right and left, seizes them with its talons, and con- 

 veys them to its mouth without pausing in its flight. 

 We have already remarked, that the feet of the goat- 

 sucker are not well adapted for this purpose, but it 

 has ample compensation in the wideness of its gape 

 and the peculiar construction of its mouth. 



In Britain it frequents places which are remote 

 from human dwellings, and generally near the margins 

 of woods or copses ; but it is not found in the bleak 

 and elevated districts, where indeed the beetles upon 

 which it feeds are but few, and the large moths still 

 fewer. Generally speaking, it is but thinly scattered 

 over those parts of the country to which it does 

 resort. A single pair appear to be all that usually 

 frequent the same locality, and even these are but 

 rarely seen iu company upon the wing. A certain 

 writer on subjects of this kind, who at one time' 

 appeared to take particular delight in " pulling 

 plasters off the sores" of others similarly afflicted 

 with himself, mentions having " seen in Scotland 

 eight or ten on the wing together, in the dusk of the 

 evening, skimming over the surface of the ground in 

 all directions, like the swallow, in pursuit of insects, 

 generally with its mouth fully extended." Now, as 

 the bird is exceedingly rare in all parts of Scotland, 

 we greatly doubt whether anybody ever observed 

 more than one at a time in any part of that 

 country ; and eight or ten together are out, of the 

 question. Indeed, the writer seems to have been 

 aware of this ; for, in the sentence which we have 

 quoted, he falls, unawares perhaps, into the singular 

 number, and describes the " eight or ten " only as 

 one. This puts one in mind of FalstarFs men in 

 buckram, only the facetious knight made a climax of 

 it, and this is an anti-climax ; so that it more nearly 

 resembles the account of the number of cats given by 

 a young Scotch observer of nature : " Mither, there 

 are a thusand cats in the back-yard." " It canna' be 

 true, laddie ; naebody ever saw sae monie cats a' 

 thegither ; and there are no half sae monie in a' the 

 parish." " Weel, mither, I think there wur' five 

 h under." " It canna' be true, laddie.' 1 " Then, 

 mither, I am positive there was our ain cat an' 

 anither ane." We mention this with no invidious 

 intention, and with every disposition to give the 

 most implicit credit to the sentence which called it 

 forth ; but really, the known habits of the birds, cor- 

 roborated as they are by the singular number, re- 

 peated in allusion to the swallow, and also to the 

 bird itself, some might be disposed to carry their 

 scepticism a little farther, and doubt whether any 

 goatsucker had been seen at all, and thus take up 

 the concluding admission in the story of a great 

 assemblage of foxes (Scottice tods), in which the 

 narrator sheltered himself between the horns of the 

 following dilemma " either a tod or a fern bush." 

 The fact is, that twilight birds are all solitary in their 

 hunting, and so are twilight preying mammalia, with 

 the exception of jackals, and a few others, which 

 give tongue when they are on the chase. Owls, for 

 example, though several pairs may have their nests 

 near each other, are never known to prey in concert ; 

 and, with this exception, we at least never heard of 

 any sociality among goatsuckers for the capture 

 either of beetles or moths. 



It must be admitted that, besides its singular ap- 

 pearance and curious manners, this is a truly interest- 

 ing bird ; because it is the only one of the genus, or 

 possessing the habit, which is found throughout all 

 of Europe ; and it ranges over the greater part 

 of that extent, but only during the summer months. 

 It appears, from all the accounts, to be exceedingly 

 diligent while it is with us ; and the very fact of its 

 depositing its eggs on the bare ground, and producing 

 only two at a hatch, and apparently having but one 

 hatch in the year, proves that it requires much of its 

 time for the performance of that office for which it is 

 appointed, in regulating the numbers of those beetles 

 and moths which are understood to be among the 

 most destructive to vegetation, and which appear in 

 the winged state, and fly about in the evenings, only 

 during the warmest season of the year. In America, 

 both North and South, birds of this genus are far 

 more numerous. There are a good many species 

 of them, some migrating into the temperate lati- 

 tudes during the summer, and others appearing to 

 remain in the tropical forests all the year round. 

 Some of these American species are remarkable for 

 the loudness and peculiarity of their voices. They 

 thus command more attention than many other 

 American birds. Wilson has described the North 

 American ones in his happiest manner, and therefore 

 we shall borrow a few extracts from his delightful 

 pages. 



C. vociferus (Whip-poor- Will) is perhaps the most 

 interesting of all the species which appear in North 

 America. Some naturalists have confounded it 

 with two other species, the Carolina and the Ame- 

 rican, from both of which it is distinct in appearance 

 and in voice. The following is Wilson's description 

 of it : " Whip-poor-Will is nine inches and a half 

 long, and nineteen inches in extent ; the bill is 

 blackish, a full quarter of an inch long, much 

 stronger than that of the night-hawk, and bent a 

 little at the point, the under mandible arched a 

 little upward, following the curvature of the upper ; 

 the nostrils are prominent and tubular, their openings 

 directed forward ; the mouth is extravagantly large, 

 of a pale flesh colour within, and beset along the 

 sides with a number of long thick elastic bristles, 

 the longest of which extends more than half an inch 

 beyond the point of the bill, end in fine hair, and 

 curve inwards ; these seem to serve as feelers, and 

 prevent the escape of winged insects ; the eyes are 

 very large, full, and bluish black ; the plumage above 

 is so variegated with black, pale cream, brown, and 

 rust colour, sprinkled and powdered in such minute 

 streaks and spots, as to defy description ; the upper 

 part of the head is of a light brownish grey, marked 

 with a longitudinal streak of black, with others radi- 

 ating from it ; the back is darker, finely streaked 

 with a less dense black ; the scapulars are very light 

 whitish ochre, beautifully variegated with two or 

 three oblique streaks of very deep black ; the tail is 

 rounded, consisting of ten feathers, the exterior one 

 an inch and a quarter shorter than the middle ones, 

 the three outer feathers on each side are blackish 

 brown for half their length, thence pure white to the 

 tips, the exterior one is edged with deep brown 

 nearly to the tip ; the deep brown of these feathers 

 is regularly studded with light brown spots ; the four 

 middle ones are without the white at the ends, but 

 beautifully marked with herring-bone figures of black 

 and light ochre finely powdered , cheeks and sides of 



