62 GOAT-SUCKERS. 



ducks, grouse, or pigeons, are on the wing, it redoubles its 

 speed, soon outstrips and overtakes them, and carries them 

 off in its cruel talons, to devour them in some convenient 

 spot. It is fond of the vicinity of rivers and streams, 

 especially of those which are interrupted in their course 

 by shallows or rapids ; for it posts itself on their borders, 

 and seizes on fish, in the same manner as the wild cat. 



The Goat-suckers, or Night-jars, industrious insect-eating 

 birds, of great utility, are represented in America. They 

 frequent the neighbourhood of the woods and coppices ; 

 lying concealed during the day, and at dusk sallying forth, 

 generally one by one, in search of food. Two are seldom 

 seen together, except during the litreeding season. Then, 

 while the hen-bird is sitting, the male may be seen hover- 

 ing close at hand, and fluttering about in the air, even 

 during the day ; mounting by several quick vibrations of 

 the wings, and then a few slower, uttering all the while a 

 shrill harsh sound ; until, having attained the highest 

 point, he comes down head foremost, suddenly, and with 

 great speed, — down for some sixty or seventy feet, — then 

 up he goes again, with a loud booming noise, like that pro- 

 duced by the bursting of a bladder. This is supposed to 

 be occasioned by the sudden expansion of his capacious 

 mouth as he darts through the air. The alternate exercise 

 of rising and descending he repeats very frequently 

 throughout the day. 



"While the female is sitting, she will suffer a stranger to 

 approach within a foot or two before she offers to move ; 

 then she flutters and limps away, so like a wounded bird 



