126 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



the ideal of lullaby. The beautiful night-flying 

 swallow suffers for an evil reputation. It is a bird 



of mystery. 



Mysteries The nightjar is the last of our summer 

 Nightjar visitors, coming about the middle of May 



to stay until September. It is known 

 almost the world over, but few understand its 

 ways ; birds of the night suggest evil doings and 

 inspire superstition. The plumage has the rich, quiet 

 beauty of the woodcock and the hen pheasant, and 

 the feathers have the softness of the owl's. In build 

 the bird comes between a large swift and a small 

 hawk, and is suggestive of swift or swallow when 

 seen close at hand, with its miniature, hawk-like 

 bill and a mouth surprisingly capacious when 

 open. The eggs, like the swift's, are rounded at 

 the ends. 



It is commonly called night-hawk, or dor-hawk, 

 because it preys on dor-beetles, and it is fern-owl, 

 because it haunts the bracken fern. It is night-crow, 

 because when on the wing it cries a crowing note, 

 " crow-ic," and it is jar-owl, because of its owl-like 

 love of night and its jarring or churring song. Wheel- 

 bird is a name derived from the wheeling flight. 

 Other names are churn-owl, eve-churr, and night - 

 churr ; but the oldest and one of the most familiar 

 names is goat-sucker, derived from the legend that the 

 bird sucks milk from goats, thereby poisoning them 

 and causing blindness. Probably some one saw the 

 bird near a goat, did not know what it was, or 



