THE FERN-OWL. 259 



quently met with on heather, or wild places abounding with 

 fern, ought more truly to he called Moth-Hawks, from their 

 feeding almost entirely upon these soft- winged insects, which 

 they catch up in their flight, however dark it may he. To 

 human beings, who at dusk can scarcely trace a swift-flying 

 moth as it glances by, it is inconceivable how this bird can 

 contrive to make its constant meals on such precarious prey. 

 Nature, however, has amply provided it with never-failing 

 means of feasting to its satisfaction. In the first place, the 

 eye is large, full, and clear, like the Owl's, and so thin and 

 transparent is the membrane separating it from the base of 

 the upper mandible, that as it flies, when in search of food, 

 with its mouth open, it has been surmised by some natu- 

 ralists that the bird is enabled thereby to keep a look-out 

 forward, as well as on either side, through the thin bony 

 membrane. At all events, without this odd addition to great 

 powers of vision, a skull more than half filled up with eye- 

 sight must enable the possessor to see more clearly in the 

 dark than we can conceive possible. But in the next place, 

 look at the mouth (see annexed figure and p. 241), such a 

 prodigious opening as it is, with a fringe of strong bristles on 

 either side of the nostrils, the use of which is this : that as 

 it flies along, if a moth crosses the pathway of these widely- 

 opened jaws, the bristles fetter the insect's wing, and help to 

 imprison it beyond the power of escape. 



This bird has, moreover, another peculiarity, adapted for 

 the capture of moths, namely, a kind of glutinous liquid 

 which exudes from the upper part of the bill, and is so 

 adhesive, that small insects are retained by it, and it is thus 

 enabled to imprison and swallow a number of them together ; 

 and what is still more singular, that, although swallowed, 

 they still continue to exist; a fact only lately, we believe, 

 known, and discovered accidentally by a person who, having 

 one evening shot a Goat- sucker, was surprised to see a moth 

 come out of its mouth and fly away; and on opening the crop 

 the next morning, it was found to contain several other 

 moths, which had lived all night in this strange prison, and 

 when released ran about the table fluttering their wings. 



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