110 CAPRIMULGID^:. 



Its food consists of large insects, moths, and beetles, which 

 at twilight are hawked for on the wing, a fact not unob- 

 served by the attentive Wordsworth, who remarks, 



" The busy dor-hawk chases the white moth 

 With burring note." 



During the day the goatsucker generally rests upon the 

 heath, or, in a few instances, it is found perching on a bough, 

 a habit at variance with the structure of the feet, as, when 

 perching, it differs from most of our native birds by sitting 

 on the branch lengthways, or in the direction of the branch, 

 and not transversely, as all our insessoral birds do, with the 

 exception of the cuckoo, this bird also sitting and swaying 

 his body whilst uttering his note. When resting on the ground 

 in the daytime, a near approach does not appear to startle 

 or alarm this bird, so that if stealthily approached at noon 

 the female may be captured on the nest. The eggs are gene- 

 rally two in number, and rarely exceed three, and, like the 

 bird, are mottled with various shades of ash-grey, brown, and 

 black. The nest is formed in any natural hollow, or in one 

 scraped for the purpose, and is surrounded with fern and 

 heath. The young are described as being at first covered 

 with long whitish down. 



Towards dusk the goatsucker throws off its inactivity, and 

 rises softly in the air, where, in the pursuit of its insect prey, 

 it displays a beauty of flight and rapidity of movement scarcely 

 to be equalled by the swallow, at intervals enlivening its aerial 

 excursions with an occasional repetition of a curious note, 

 which, from the whirring sound, resembles the action of a 

 spinning-wheel. This strange, burring note, when heard on 

 lone desolate heaths, has, in some parts of Ireland, im- 

 pressed a belief that it is caused by the fairies, when engaged 

 in manufacturing some tribute of their skill to adorn the per- 

 son of their Titania. 



The poet of Rydal Mount has well described this bird when 

 engaged in hawking for its prey 



" The burring dor-hawk round and round is wheeling, 

 That solitary bird 

 Is all that can be heard 

 In silence, deeper far than deepest noon." 



Like that of the corn-crake, this bird has also a peculiarity 

 in its call, as, at one moment, we hear it at a distance, and the 

 next in our immediate vicinity. The call is also capable of con- 



