AVES— GOATSUCKER. 573 



has, like all the kind, a number of bristles about the bill. It makes no nest, 

 but lays its eggs on the bare ground, or some loose crag, without any seem- 

 ing care whatever. It is a great destroyer of cockchaffers and beetles; and 

 its note resembles the noise of a spinning wheel. From its nocturnal habits, 

 it has been called the night hawk, and the. churn owl. It visits England 

 about May, and returns in August. There appears to be no other ground 

 for the ridiculous story of its sucking the goats, but the width of its mouth, 

 which is to be accounted for on much more rational principles. "The 

 country people (says Mr White) have a notion that the fern owl, or chum 

 OAvl, or eve jar, which they call a puckeridge, is very injurious to weaning 



calves, by inflicting, as it strikes at them, a fatal distemper, known to cow- 

 leeches by the name of puckeridge. Thus does this harmless, ill-fated bird, 

 fall under a double imputation, which it by no means deserves — in Italy, 

 of sucking the teats of goats, whence it is called caprimulgus, and with us, 

 of communicating a deadly disorder to cattle. The least observation and 

 attention would convince men that these birds neither injure the goatherd 

 nor the grazier." Mr Waterton, also, has pointed out, that the " striking 

 at the cattle," as the sapient rustics call it, is, in fact, the leap which the bird 

 makes at the nocturnal flies which are tormenting the herd ; and that, with 

 more good sense than their masters, possess, the cattle are aware of, and 

 grateful for, the service which the bird thus renders to them. 



