THE EUEOPEAN GOAT-SUCKEE. 



119 



This fine bird is nearly thirteen inches in length, and in its habits resembles cloKely 

 the common Goat-sucker of Europe. It is a nocturnal bird, as may be gathered from its 

 generic title of ISTyctibius, a word derived from the Greek, and signifying Night-liver. It 

 is stronger on the wing than the preceding birds, and is capable of chasing its insect prey 

 as they fly through the air in the dusk of evening, or just before the dawn of mornino-. 

 In its outward form there is little to attract notice, and its colouring is the same as that 

 of its allies, excepting that some dark bars extend across the head, neck, and lower parts. 

 It is a native of South America, and has been taken in Cayenne. 



Theke are many well-known proverbs relating to the power of calumny, and the 

 readiness with wliich an evil report is received and retained, notwithstanding that it has 

 been repeatedly proved to be false and libellous. The common Goat-suckee is a good 

 instance of the truth of this remark, for it was called Aigoth^les or Goat-sucker by 

 Aristotle in the days of old, and has been religiously supposed to have sucked goats ever 

 afterwards. The Latin word caprimulgus bears the same signification. It was even 

 supposed that after the bird had succeeded in sucking some untbrtunate goat, the fount of 

 nature was immediately dried up, and the poor beast also lost its sight. Starting from 



EUROPEAN G0XT-B11CKEB.—Caprimulgiis Europcms. 



this report, all kinds of strange nimours flew about the world, and the poor Goat-sucker, 

 or NiGHTJAE, as it ought more rightly to be called, has been invariably hated as a bird of 

 ill omen to man and beast. 



As usual, mankind reviles its best benefactors, for there are very few creatures which 

 do such service to mankind as the Nightjar. Arriving in this country in the month of 

 Mayor June, it reaches our shores just in time to catch the cockchaffers, as they fly about 

 during the night in search of their food, and does not leave us until it has done its best 

 to eat every chaffer that comes across its path. 



The damage which is done by these brown-backed, white-ribbed, hook-tailed beetles is 

 almost incredible, for they are not only extremely destructive in their larval states, but are 

 scarcely less voracious when they have assumed their perfect form. Passing a life of 

 three years or so below the level of the ground, the larvae of the cockchaffer shear away 

 the grass-roots and other subterranean vegetation with their scissor-like jaws, and are 

 constantly busy in satiating the hunger of their huge stomachs, which occupy nearly the 

 whole of the body of the grub. When they have passed through their earlier changes of 



