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Notice of Caprimulgus Europwus. By W. Watson Camp- 

 bell, M.D. 



The true Goat Sucker ( Caprimulgus Europceus) is the only 

 example of its family which visits this country, and, though 

 by no means a rare bird, it is comparatively little known and 

 seldom seen. One reason for this may be that it is a night 

 bird, and another that its flight is almost noiseless — almost, 

 for the Tn^ime, Jluffer, by which it is known in some places, 

 would seem to have been given on account of the feeble but 

 peculiar sound caused while in flight. Another name given 

 to it is the Jar, or Night Jar, from the note it utters. 

 It is classed thus — 



Order — Passerince. 

 Sub-Order — Fissirostres. 

 Family — Caprimulgidce. 

 Sub-Family — Caprimulgince. 

 Description. — It is rather larger than the thrush ; the plum- 

 age is brown and exceedingly soft ; the wings, which are wide 

 at their bases, have a good span and are strong and light ; 

 the head seems flat and depressed from above, and the thighs 

 and legs are weak. Like as in other Fissirostres the gape is 

 much cleft, but the cleaving is greater in the true Goat 

 Sucker than in the others — the angles of the gape extending 

 backwards under, and a little behind the eyes. The capacity 

 of the maw is increased by a set of stiff" bristles which project 

 forwards and outwards from the upper mandible. The bill 

 is weak, curved, and short. A peculiar comb-like, or deeply 

 serrated claw terminates the middle toe. 



Habits. — They lay and hatch on the ground under the 

 shelter of braken or furze. They squat rather than perch, 

 and their favourite localities are the ground where they are 

 not likely to be disturbed, or the decayed branch of a tree 

 along which they lie, and, in this position, even at a short 

 distance, look like a bit loose bark. They are insectivorous 

 and seek their food at dusk and during dark. 



Though ornithologists do not agree about the maw being 

 expanded during flight, or about the use of the middle claw, 

 yet the bristles of the former are evidently intended to in- 

 crease its capacity, and thereby enable the bird the better to 

 secure its insect prey. The opinion held by one or two 

 ornithologists about the use of the claw — that it is for seizing 

 the insects — is rather improbable ; the most natural and likely 



