BIRDS' NESTS. 245 



bird, when disturbed, runs along the ground, 

 and then flies for a short distance with a 

 shuffling movement, as if wounded. Mean- 

 while, the male bird flies round the head of 

 the intruder with a peculiarly irregular flapping 

 of the wings, both seemingly endeavouring to 

 divert his attention from the nest. So lucra- 

 tive, however, is the traffic in plovers 3 eggs, 

 that the persons who partially gain their live- 

 lihood by collecting and selling them, study 

 the instinctive efforts of the birds, and by 

 practice are enabled to interpret their move- 

 ments so accurately, as to guess not only the 

 exact position of the nest, but the number of 

 eggs which it contains. 



NIGHT JAR,. Caprimulgus Europceus. 

 PLATE XXII. FIG. 3. 



THE Night Jar, Goatsucker, or Fern Owl, 

 builds no nest, but lays two eggs on the bare 

 ground, sometimes under the shelter of a 



