62 



THE FERN-OWL. 



were delighted with a little colony of upwards of 

 fifty nests, attached in closest order beneath the 

 eaves of a lone public-house, at which the coach 

 stops for some minutes, between Stamford and 

 Huntingdon. We do not at present recollect the 

 name, but it had an additional attraction in its sign, 

 which was a head of Locke, said to be by Sir 

 Thomas Lawrence, when in his earlier days a guest 

 at a house in the neighbourhood. 



The Goat-suckers or Fern- Owls, so called from 

 being frequently met with on heather, or wild places 



The Fenr-Owl, or Goat-sucker. 



abounding with fern, ought, more truly to be called 

 Moth-Hawks, from their feeding almost entirely 



