GOAT-SUCKER. 59 



LETTER XXIII. 

 TO THOMAS PENNANT, ESQ. 



SELBORNE, February 28, 1769. 



DEAR SIR, It is not improbable that the Guernsey lizard 

 and our green lizards may be specifically the same ; all that I 

 know is, that when, some years ago, many Guernsey lizards 

 were turned loose in Pembroke college garden, in the univer- 

 sity of Oxford, they lived a great while, and seemed to enjoy 

 themselves very well ; but never bred. Whether this circum- 

 stance will prove any thing either way, I shall not pretend to 

 say. 



I return you thanks for your account of Cressi-hall ; but 

 recollect, not without regret, that in June, 1 746, 1 was visiting 

 for a week together at Spalding, without ever being told that 

 such a curiosity was just at hand. Pray send me word in your 

 next what sort of tree it is that contains such a quantity of 

 herons' nests ; and whether the heronry consists of a whole 

 grove, or wood, or only of a few trees. 



It gave me satisfaction to find we accorded so well about 

 the caprimulgus ; all I contended for was, to prove that it often 

 chatters sitting as well as flying, and therefore the noise was 

 voluntary, and from organic impulse, and not from the resistance 

 of the air against the hollow of its mouth and throat.* 



* This is a common species in the United States of America, and is 

 called by the natives whip-poor-will, from the similarity of his cry to 



out at the same time, as is often the case in the pairing season, and at no 

 great distance from each other, the noise, mingling with the echoes from 

 the mountains, is really surprising. Strangers, in parts of the country 

 where these birds are numerous, find it almost impossible for some time 

 to sleep; while, to those long acquainted with them, the sound often 

 serves as a lullaby to assist their repose. 



" These notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words which have 

 been generally applied to them, whip-poor-will, the first and last syllables 

 being uttered with great emphasis, and the whole in about a second to 

 each repetition; but when two or more males meet, their whip-poor-will 

 altercations become much more rapid and incessant, as if each were 

 straining to overpower or silence the other. When near, you often hear 

 an introductory cluck between the notes. At these times, as well as at 

 almost all others, they fly low, not more than a few feet from the surface, 

 skimming about the house and before the door, alighting on the woed 



