132 INSESSORES. CAPRIMULGUS. Goatsucker. 



It is rather impartially distributed throughout the king- 

 dom, and is found in woods or narrow wooded valleys, par- 

 ticularly in the immediate neighbourhood of meadows or dry 

 tracts of pasture ground. It is also very frequently met with 

 in our upland districts, in those extensive fern-beds that clothe 

 the slopes of grassy eminences, from whence has arisen its 

 provincial name of Fern-Owl. It is impatient of the glare 

 of daylight, and remains at rest upon the ground or perched 

 lengthwise upon the horizontal branch of a birch or other 

 tree, till after sunset ; when it sallies forth in pursuit of its 

 Food. food, consisting of tlie Melalonthse, and other coleopterous 

 insects, and the larger species of Phalaenae. 



It flies with its capacious mouth fully extended, and as the 

 bristles lining the edge of the upper mandible are capable of 

 diverging or contracting, by means of muscles attached to 

 their roots, they of course greatly assist in the capture and 

 detention of its prey. — The flight of this bird, when thus 

 hawking, is rapid, and attended with evolutions similar to 

 those'of the Swallow ; at other times, when disturbed, it is 

 abrupt and wavering, though still buoyant. It breeds on the 

 ground, making no nest, but generally selecting a dry spot, 

 where the ferns have prevented the growth of the lower her- 

 Eggs. bage. — It lays but two eggs, white, marbled with yellowish- 

 brown and grey *. During the period of incubation, and 

 after it has left its noonday retreat, the male utters a very 

 peculiar noise, which has aptly been compared to that of a 

 spinning-wheel ; this is produced when the bird is perched, 

 with the head lowermost. It also utters a shrill cry during 

 its flight. 



In this species, the membrane that hnes the inside of the 

 mouth is very thin and transparent, particularly opposite to 

 the posterior part of the eye, which organ is pretty clearly 

 discernible through the membrane. As the mouth opens to 



* To the nest, or rather eggs, of the Goatsucker, may be referred all the 

 accounts, however plausibly narrated, of the Cuckoo incubating her own 

 eggs, and rearing any offspring. 



