THE NIGHTJAR. 213 



hawk in the worst sense of the word, a hawk 

 that under cover of the night flits noiselessly 

 but rapidly by and carries off the unsuspecting 

 chick. But here again the observer has been 

 misled by appearances, associating the pointed 

 wings and long tail with the idea of a hawk, 

 entirely overlooking the small slender claws 

 and mandibles, which are quite unequal to the 

 task of holding and cutting up live and resisting 

 feathered prey, and entirely also overlooking 

 the fact that at the time the Nightjar is abroad, 

 the young pheasants and partridges are safely 

 brooded under their respective mothers. 



Attentive observation of its habits, and exa- 

 mination of numerous specimens after death, 

 have revealed the real nature of its food, which 

 consists of moths, especially Hepialus humuli,^ 

 which from its white colour is readily seen by 

 the bird, fernchafers and dor-beetles. Macgil- 



^ Mr. Robert Gray of Glasgow has seen it in grass fields, 

 cleverly picking ghost-moths {Hepialus humult) off the stems, 

 from the points of which these sluggish insects were tempt- 

 ingly hanging. But as a rule, he adds, the Nightjar captures 

 its prey while in flight. 



