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morning light came in ; at least I did not observe him, although I traversed the moor in every 

 direction. The Nightjar occasionally whirs between twelve and two o'clock in the morning, 

 sometimes even later." 



The Nightjar feeds on moths, beetles, and insects of various kinds, most frequently capturing 

 its prey on the wing, its capacious gape forming an excellent moth- or beetle-trap. That it eats 

 caterpillars is also certain ; for Macgillivray writes that he has found the inner surface of its 

 stomach, like that of the Cuckoo, bristling with caterpillar's hairs. Naumann writes that it feeds 

 more especially on the larger beetles, such as May-bugs (Melolontha vulgaris) and other allied 

 species (M. solstitialis, M. horticola, Mi agricola, &c), dung-beetles (Scarabwus stercorarius, 

 Scarahceus vernalis, Sec), large night-flying moths, especially the sphinx moth, and various species 

 of nocturnal insects. It is a very greedy feeder, and digests its food quickly, but is usually in 

 good condition, and in the autumn often very fat. The indigestible portions of the insects it 

 devours (which, I may add, it swallows entire) it throws up in long pellets, which may frequently 

 be found in the places where it reposes during the day. As it feeds more especially on those 

 insects which are to be met with amongst the dung in places where cattle have been feeding, or 

 where they are stalled, it frequently happens that the Nightjar is more often to be met with in 

 these pastures or in the immediate vicinity of outlying folds ; and hence the popular delusion that 

 it sucks the goats, hanging on to their udders ; and from this belief has arisen its common appella- 

 tion of Goatsucker. 



This species has the claw of the middle toe furnished on the side with peculiar pectinations 

 forming a sort of close-toothed comb ; and the use made of this peculiar appendage has puzzled 

 naturalists not a little ; nor has it been at all satisfactorily decided for what purpose this pectina- 

 tion exists. Some observers contend that it is used to clean the basirostral vibrissa? from the frag- 

 ments of the wings of insects which may adhere to them ; but I agree with Macgillivray that this 

 cannot well be the case, as these vibrissee or bristles are large, strong, and placed at some distance 

 apart, whereas the teeth of the claw are thin and very close. Others think that as the bird 

 invariably perches along a branch in a direction parallel to its axis, and never across the bough, 

 this pectinated claw may assist it in keeping its perch more firmly than it otherwise would do. 

 Other naturalists, again, contend that it is used to hold large insects with greater security ; but 

 it appears that the Nightjar almost invariably takes its prey with the mouth and not with the 

 foot ; and consequently this supposition falls to the ground. I observe in Rennie's ' Field 

 Naturalist' some notes on the pectinated claws of the Bittern and the present species by an 

 anonymous writer, who suggests that the comb-like structure on the claw may have been 

 intended for disengaging the hooked feet of beetles from the bill, to enable the bird to 

 swallow them ; and this may possibly be the case, as the serrations are well calculated to catch 

 in the polished limbs of beetles. Any one, he says, who has attempted to confine Dytisci or 

 Scarabcei in a collecting-box must be aware of the difficulty in getting their feet free from the 

 edge, to which they hold with the greatest pertinacity, one foot being no sooner pushed in than 

 another is protruded. It is curious that this pectination is found in the claws of many widely 

 different species, as, for instance, in the Bittern and Gannet, which, I may add, have no bristles 

 at the base of the bill. 



The Nightjar breeds in June, making no nest, but merely depositing its two eggs on the 



