8o WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



that each wing is crossed by a definite white bar. 

 The bird is the goatsucker or nightjar. Had I it in 

 my hand, I should see that it was a connecting link 

 between the owls and the swallows, having the soft 

 plumage and noiseless flight of the one and the wide 

 gape of the other. The object of the noise it pro- 

 duces is probably to disturb from the bushes the 

 large night-flying moths upon which it feeds. The 

 name goatsucker the bird has from a superstitious 

 notion that it sucks goats and cows a myth founded 

 probably upon the fact of its wide gape. It is 

 certain that these birds may often be seen flitting 

 about the bellies of cattle as they stand knee-deep 

 in the summer pastures. The reason of this is 

 obvious, as there insect food is always abundant. 

 Unless disturbed, the nightjar rarely comes abroad 

 during the day, but obtains its food at twilight and 

 dusk. Upon the limestone-covered fells it conforms 

 marvellously to its environment; it is almost im- 

 possible to detect its curiously mottled plumage as it 

 basks upon the grey stones, not more still than it- 

 self. Here it lays its two eggs, often without the 

 slightest semblance of a nest, frequently upon the 

 bare rock. Quite a peculiar interest attaches to the 

 bird, inasmuch as it is furnished with a remarkable 

 claw, the use of which is guessed at rather than known. 

 This claw is serrated on its inner edge, and, from 

 actual experiments made upon nightjars in captivity, 



