34 
POPULAR HISTORY OE BIEDS. 
Swallows^ and Swifts^ birds specially organized for taking 
insects on the wing. 
It is a very hard matter to do away with any prejudice, 
especially when a name is in the way to prevent its removal. 
A whole race of birds has incurred the odium of milking 
cows and goats ; and, so long-lived is the opinion, that it is 
at least as old as the time of the Latins, who named one of 
these birds Caprimulgiis,^^ from which is derived our no 
less stigmatic name Goatsucker .^^ Some kind-meaning 
naturalists have tried to call tj^e birds night-jars, or night- 
swallows, but still Capnmulgidm is the name of the family, 
and goatsuckers^^ will be the name of any member of the 
group, where the English live. At night or towards dusk 
these birds are noticed occasionally to jump up at the 
udders of cows ; they do this, not to illustrate their name, 
but to catch the flies or other insects which nestle there. 
These birds are scattered over the world, and many of 
them are familiar from their remarkable cries. The colour- 
ing of the goatsuckers is very sombre, but pleasing, con- 
sisting of an endless mixture of greys and browns running 
into each other. The tail and wings sometimes have white 
feathers, which help to decorate the rest of the plumage ; 
the tail is occasionally very long. In one of Mr. Gould^s 
