98 Poachers and Poaching. 



rather than known. This claw is serrated on its 

 inner edge, and from actual experiments made 

 upon nightjars in captivity, we should surmise 

 that its use is to free the long whiskers from the 

 soft, silvery dust which usually covers the bodies 

 of night-flying moths. Certain it is that this 

 substance gets upon the whiskers of the bird, and 

 that the long hairs referred to are combed through 

 the serrated claw. About the mouth the goat- 

 sucker is very swallow-like. It has a bullet- 

 shaped head, large eyes, and a wide gape. Like 

 the swallows, too, it has a weak, ineffective bill, 

 and weak feet. This is explained by the fact 

 that the bird, except when nesting, is rarely seen 

 on the ground, and that it captures its insect 

 prey on the wing. From twilight till grey 

 does the fern-owl "churr" and fly through the 

 night. 



As we proceed, a splash comes from the river, 

 and some large-winged fly has been sucked 

 under. The night food comes on, and the reach 

 boils. Water-rats, voles, and shrews are busy 

 among the stones searching for insect larvae, or 

 gnawing the stalks of water-plants. The wafting 

 of wings overhead betokens a curlew flying 

 through the darkness to its feeding ground. 

 The peculiarly lonely wail of the summer-snipe 

 comes down stream, and a teal stretches her 

 neck low over the sand. The river here resolves 



