BOOK X.] History of Nature. 229 



build their Nests in Rocks. These are the same that are 

 seen over all the Sea : for however distant the Ships may be 

 from Land, and their Course ever so continued, these Apodes 

 will always be flying about them. All other kinds alight 

 and perch : these never rest, but when they are in their 

 Nest. Either they hang or lie along. Their Shifts are 

 equally various, and chiefly when they feed. 



CHAPTER XL. 

 Of the Caprimulgus 1 and Platea. 



THE Birds called Caprimulgi have the Appearance of the 

 bigger Merula ; and they are Night-Thieves ; for by Day 



kinds of Swallows; which is not the fact. Their efforts in flight are 



for a time more strenuous ; but they spend more hours in rest than the 



kindred species Wern. Club. 



1 Caprimulgus Europceus, LINN. Goat-Sucker, or Night Jar. The 



ancient superstition attached to this bird, bears much resemblance to that 



of the more modern Vampire : 



" There is a class of birds, of greedy kind 

 Not Harpeys they, and yet of kindred mind ; 

 The head is large, and fierce with staring eye, 

 The beak well formed for rapine, wings that fly 

 With hoary feathers ; feet that grasp the prey 

 With claws like fish-hooks ; from the light of day 

 They shrink affrighted ; but when darkness shrouds 

 The face of Nature with its veil of clouds, 

 Their flight begins ; where infants sink in sleep 

 Uncared for by the nurse, they glide, and deep 

 Within their tender entrails fix their claw, 

 And tear them with their beak ; they fill their maw 

 With milk but newly drawn, and reeking blood ; 

 And ravenously obscene they swill the flood. 

 From horrid sounds that fill the air by night, 

 And strike the listening mortals with affright, 

 They take the name of Strix ; but whence they came 

 If, with the muttered charm of some old dame, 

 By melancholy verse transform'd ; or fowl 

 From the first hand of Nature (like the owl)." 



Ovii>'s Fasti, vi. 



The effect of such an awful visit could only be obviated by a magical 



sacrifice. Wern. Club. 



