214 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



but slightly stirring the air with its wings. When 

 moth hunting, it glides round and round some 

 tree where these insects are often on, the wing, 

 and darting in, captures them, by the aid of its 

 bristles, and the glutinous matter which adheres 

 to its bill, and which is so adhesive, that small 

 insects are retained by it. 



The song of the night-jar is thus described 

 by a naturalist: " It was a fine, warm, summer's 

 night, in June, in a wild part of the country, 

 between Bromley and Chiselhurst, Kent. Night 

 came on, as I reached a beautiful meadow, bounded 

 by a thick wood, and in which the hay was cut, ready 

 for carrying. Here I made a soft, warm, fragrant 

 bed ; and had not rested long, ere sleep overcame 

 me. How long I had slept, I know not; but, 

 on awaking, my attention was soon drawn to the 

 singular, wild, ringing strain of the night-jar. It 

 resembled, at times, the whirring, rapid rotation 

 of a wheel, now swelling, now diminishing; the 

 sounds intermixed with curring, croaking notes, 

 some of them having a ventriloquial effect. Now 

 and then, there was a sharp, unearthly kind of 

 shriek ; presently the same sound seemed issuing 

 from other quarters of the wood, till the whole 

 place was ringing with the wild, nocturnal notes. 

 As daybreak advanced, I could see the birds, (from 

 four to six,) hawking for moths, chasing each other, 



