" Fern-Owl " in turnip-fields far away from its accus- 

 tomed abiding places. The food of this species consists 

 chiefly, if not entirely, of night-flying insects taken in the 

 air. During the daytime the Nightjar remains dozing, 

 generally, in my experience, on the ground, very often 

 basking on bare sandy spots or flat ledges of rock, but 

 often also upon low horizontal boughs, upon which it 

 squats, as a sailor would say, " fore and aft," or length- 

 ways. Soon after sunset in districts frequented by these 

 birds the air suddenly appears to be full of them, although 

 in reality there may not be more than two or three pairs 

 on wing together ; this illusion is produced by the mar- 

 vellous rapidity and silence of their flight, and their 

 continual twists and evolutions over some food-producing 

 spot, also, no doubt, in many cases by the active pursuit 

 of the moths disturbed by the observer in his evening 

 stroll. 



I have mentioned the silence of the flight of this bird, 

 and in fact the actual aerial progression of the Nightjar 

 is as noiseless as that of the Owls ; but in the case of 

 the present species is frequently varied by a curious 

 "swishing" sound when the bird suddenly turns ; the 

 only vocal note that I have heard uttered by the Nightjar 

 whilst on wing is a sharp squeak, the well-known jarring 

 note being only produced, as I am fidly convinced, 

 whilst the bird is on the ground or seated on a bough. 

 In common with many nocturnal bird-notes this remark- 

 able cry is most deceptive with regard to the locality 

 from which it proceeds ; but, although not musical, it is 

 always a delightful memory to me, associated with calm 

 summer nights whose silence was only broken by it, the 



