THE GOAT-SUCKER. 315 



calumny and the readiness with which an evil report is received and 

 retained, notwithstanding that it has repeatedly been proved to be 

 false and libellous. The common Goat-sucker is a good instance 

 of the truth of this remark, for it was called Aigoiheles, or Goat-sucker, 

 by Aristotle in the days of old, and has religiously been supposed to 

 have sucked goats ever afterward. The Latin word caprimulgns bears 

 the same signification. It was even supposed that after the bird had 

 succeeded in sucking some unfortunate goat the fount of nature was 

 immediately dried up, and the poor beast also lost its sight. Starting 

 from this report, all kinds of strange rumors flew about the world, and 

 the poor Goat-sucker — or Nightjar, as it ought more rightly to be 

 called — has invariably been hated as a bird of ill-omen to man and 

 beast. 



As usual, mankind reviles its best benefactors, for there are very 

 few creatures which do such service to mankind as the Nightjar. 

 Arriving in this country in the month of May or June, it reaches our 

 shores just in time to catch the cockchafers as they fly about during 

 the night in search of their food, and does not leave us until it has 

 done its best to eat every chafer that comes across its path. 



The Nightjar also feeds on moths of various kinds, and catches them 

 by sweeping quickly and silently among the branches of the trees near 

 which the moth tribes most love to congregate. While engaged in 

 their sport they will occasionally settle on a bank, a wall, a post, or 

 other convenient perch, crouch downward until they bring their head 

 almost on a level with their feet, and utter the peculiar churning note 

 which has earned for them the name of Churn-owls, Jar-owls, and 

 Spinners. Their cry has been rather well compared to that sound 

 which is produced by the larger beetles of the night, but of course 

 much louder, and with the addition of the characteristic "chur-r-r! — 

 chur-r-r !" Sometimes, although but seldom, the Nighjar utters its cry 

 while on the wing. When it settles it always seats itself along a 

 branch, and almost invariably with its head pointing toward the trunk 

 of the tree. 



There is also a strange squeaking sound which is emitted by the 

 Nightjar while playing round the trees at night, and which is supposed 

 to be a cry of playfulness or a call to its mate. 



Unlike the Falconidie, the Goat-sucker catches its prey, not with its 

 claw's, but with its mouth, and is aided in retaining them in that very 

 wide receptacle by the glutinous secretion with which it is lined, and 

 the " vibrissse " or hair-like feathers which surround its margin. On 

 an examination of the foot of this bird, the claw of the middle toe is 

 seen to be serrated like the teeth of a comb, a structure which has 

 never yet been satisfactorily explained, notwithstanding the various 

 theories which have been put forward concerning its use. The hind- 



