NIGHTJAR. 27o 



That the row of bristles along each edge of the upper 

 inaudible of the beak see vignette, assists this bird when 

 feeding on the wing, by increasing the means of capture by 

 the mouth, there can be little doubt, but the use of the ser- 

 rated edge on the inner side of the claw of each middle toe 

 is not so obvious. The middle toe of the Nightjar is par- 

 ticularly long, the claw is flattened and dilated on the inner 

 edge, and the margin is divided so as to form a small comb 

 of seven or eight teeth. The uses to which this little in- 

 strument is thought to be subservient are various. White 

 of Selborne, with whom the Nightjar was a favourite, thus 

 writes of it in the commencement of his thirty-seventh 

 letter to his friend Pennant : " On the twelfth of July, I 

 had a fair opportunity of contemplating the motions of the 

 Caprimulgus, or Fern-Owl, as it was playing round a large 

 oak that swarmed with Scarab fei solstitiales, or fern-chafers. 

 The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if pos- 

 sible, the various evolutions and quick turns of the Swallow 

 genus. But the circumstance that pleased me most was, 

 that I saw it distinctly more than once put out its short 

 leg whilst on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver 

 somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey 

 with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose 

 it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its 

 middle toe, which is curiously furnished with a serrated 

 claw." In Atkinson's compendium of the Ornithology of 

 Great Britain, at page 108, is a note on this subject in 

 corroboration of the view of the use of the serrated claw 

 taken by White. " We have witnessed the singular man- 

 ner in which this bird takes its prey, consisting of moths 

 and beetles, which it pursues with great agility on the 

 wing, occasionally throwing itself backwards, and thrusting 

 out its foot, with which it seizes and conveys them to its 



VOL. ii. T 



