G O A 
GOB 
is very fmall, and placed low in the month; the 
legs are fmall, Icaly, and feathered below the 
knees; the middle toe is conne6led to thofe on 
each fide by a fmall mem^brane reaching to the 
firft joint; and the claw of the middle toe is broad 
and thin. The colours are plain; but they have 
a beautiful effe£l from the elegance of their difpo- 
fition, confiding of black, brown, grey, white, and 
ferruginous, arranged in ftreaks, fpots, and bars. 
The male is diftinguiflied from the female by an 
oval fpot near the end of each of the three firfb 
quill-feathers, and another on the two exterior fea- 
thers of the tail. 
This bird is with great propriety placed among 
the fwallow tribe by Klein, who calls it the fwal- 
low with an undivided tail. It poffelTes the prin- 
cipal charafters of this genus; namely, a very 
large mouth, a very fmall bill, and fmall legs. 
It is alfo a bird of paflage ; and agrees with the 
fwallow kind in it's food and the manner of feiz- 
ing it; but differs from it as to the times of prey- 
ing, the Goat-Sucker flying chiefly by night. It 
continues but a fliort time in this ifland; appear- 
ing about the latter end of May, and difappearing 
in the northern parts of Britain about the end of 
Augufl:; but, in the fouthern, it flays above a 
month later. It vifits all parts of tliis kingdom, 
from Cornwall as far as the county of Rofs. Sco- 
poli, among the moderns, feems to credit the re- 
port of it's fucking the teats of goats ; an error 
handed down from the days of Ariftotle. 
The notes of the Goat-Sucker are extremely 
fingular; the loudefl: of which fo much refembles 
the found of a large fpinning-wheel, that the 
'Welfh call this bird aderyn y droell, or the wheel- 
bird. It begins it's fong about the clofe of day, 
fittting ufuaily on a bare bough, with it's head 
lower than it's tail, it's lower jaw quivering with 
the efforts ; and the noife is fo violent, as to give 
a fenfible vibration to any little building on which 
it may happen to alight, and emit this fpecies of 
note. The other, and indeed the common tone, 
is a fnarp fqueak, which it frequently repeats; 
and this feems to be the call of love, as the male 
is obferved to reiterate it when in purfuit of the 
female among trees. 
The Goat-Sucker depofits it's eggs on the bare 
ground, ufuaily two in number, of an oblong 
form, and a whitilli hue beautifully marbled with 
reduifli brcwn. 
GoAT-SucKER, Lesser. In it's general fliape 
and colour, this fpecies exaftly refembles the pre- 
ceding; but it is one-third part lefs. In Virgi- 
nia, it is called Whip-Poor-Will, from it's cry, 
which feems to cxprcfs thofe words very nearly. 
The bill is fmall and black ; the mouth is wide, it's 
angles extending beyond the eyes ; the fides of the 
head round the eyes are a light brown inclining to 
afli-colour; and on the throat are femilunar white 
fpots, the corners of which revert towards the ears. 
The top of the liead, the upper-fide of the neck, 
t!ie back, the upper coverts of the wings, and the 
tail, are covered Vv'ith dark brown feathers, tranf- 
verfely barred, and fprinkled vv'ith a lighter brown 
and fome little mixture of afli-colour blended in an 
irregular manner: from, the bill fome bright fpots 
of orange-colour pafs over the eyes, down the fides 
of the neck ; and on the upper coverts of the wings 
are fome pretty diftinft fpots of light brown. The 
quiil-feathers are dufKy, or rather black; the five 
firfl; having a white Ipot paffing through them, 
which mark appears both internally and exter- 
nally. The covert-feathers within-fide the wings 
are white, with a cloud of orange tranfverlely bar- 
red with dufl<;y lines; the whole under-fide, and 
covert- feathers under the tail, are white, with 
fome mixture of faint orange regularly croffed 
with lines of dufl<y black; the legs and feet are 
very fmall, and feathered a little below the knees 5 
the exterior and middle toes are joined part of the 
way by a membrane; and the two middle claws 
are ferrated within-fide. 
This bird, firft defcribed by Edwards, was 
brought from Virginia. To illuftrate it's hiftory, 
we fliall fubjoin a quotation from a letter, which 
accompanied the bird firft imported. ' Thefe 
birds come to Virginia about the middle of April; 
from which time till the end of June they are 
heard every night, beginning about duflc, and con- 
tinuing till day-break ; but it is chiefly in the up- 
per or weftern parts of the province that they are 
lo frequent: I never heard more than one in the 
maritime parts; but near the mountains, in the 
month of May, within a few minutes after fun-fet, 
they begin, and make a very loud and flirill noife 
all night, v^hich the echoes from the hills increafe 
to fuch a degree, that the firft timiC I lodged there 
I could hardly fleep; however, they are feldom 
feen in the day-time. The Indians imagine thefe 
birds are the fouls of their anceftors formerly 
flaughtered by the Europeans ; and fay that they 
never appeared in this country before that flaugh- 
ter. Manv people regard them as birds of ill 
omen. I have been informed, that they lay two 
eggs of a dark green colour, fpotted and fcrolled 
with black, in the plain beaten paths, without any 
figns of a neft; on which they fit very clofe, and 
fuffer a near approach before they ineditate a 
flight.' 
GOBEMOUCH ; the Fly-catcher Lizard. A 
fpecies of American lizard which fubfifts on catch- 
ing flics. It is one of the fmalleft of the lizard 
kind; and is very beautiful, it's flvin appearing as 
if covered with leaf-gold or filver; and, in fome 
varieties, green, red, and gold, are elegantly inter- 
mixed. 
Thefe creatures enter the houfes of the inhabi- 
tants of that country without any feeming appre- 
henfion, and only deftroy the flies and other ver- 
min they find there. Indeed, their whole at- 
tention is occupied in the purfuit of thefe infedls; 
and it is really amufing to obferve the various ma- 
ncEuvj-es they adopt in this favourite chace. The 
natives fuffer thefe animals to run about unmolefted 1 
and if they perceive any flies, they will purfue 
them over the tables, cloaths, and even hands, of 
the inhabitants, without doing the leaft injury. 
Notwithftanding the beauty of thefe reptiles when 
alive, they are no fooner dead, than it totally va- 
niflies, and thev become only of a duflcy grey hue. 
GOBIO CAPITATUS. An appellation 
given by many writers to the cottus, or cottus le- 
vis, of Linn^us, with two fpines on it's headc 
This is a fmall fifli ; and, in England, it is called 
the hull-head, or millcr's-thumb. 
GOBIONARIA. A name given by Gaza, 
and fome others, to the litde fifli called cobitis, 
and aphua cobitis, by the ancient Greeics. 
GOBIUS. A genus of fiflies of the acanthop- 
terygious or prickly-finned kind; the chara£ters of 
which are theie: the branchioftege membrane con- 
tains on each fide very diftinft bones, extremely 
irregular in their fize, the firft and fourth beins 
much broader than the otliers; the ventral firs 
unite. 
