422 
CAPRIMULGIM. 
nests of the goatsucker, and rarely observed more than one egg 
in any of them. On the 28th of June, 1838, he pointed out to 
me one of their nests, if such it may be called, at the base of a 
young tree planted in the spring of that year in a plantation on 
the mountain side. The bird was seen on the ground from some 
distance, and did not take wing until we approached within seven 
or eight paces : — it flew but a short way before alighting. Two 
very young birds on the bare earth, whence their parent rose, were 
observed ; and about the distance of a foot from where they were, 
the eggs had been incubated. A nightjar was shot at the deanery, 
Armagh, a few years ago ; and two appeared on the 24th of July, 
1 843, at Knappa, in that county.* 
The nightjar is common in the north-west of Donegal.t It is 
said to be a regular vernal migrant to the county of Wick- 
low, — the Yale of Avoca (a name familiar to the lovers of 
the “ Irish Melodies,”) being one of its favourite haunts. This 
bird is not uncommon, and breeds annually in some heath- 
clad mountains near Clonmel; J it seems to be very generally 
distributed in the county of Wexford, preferring for its abode the 
lower declivities of rocky mountains where fern and heath abound. 
About the 1st of May, it arrives there, and from its note has 
obtained the name of Spinner. § It is occasionally shot in the 
neighbourhood of Bandon, county of Cork ; and is said to breed 
on the mountains above Blennerville, county of Kerry. || A 
young plantation of limited extent, on the high banks above the 
river Blackwater, near Youghal, was pointed out to me by Mr. B. 
Ball, in July, 1834, as annually resorted to by these birds. In 
three specimens sent to him from this locality, the remains of the 
ghost-moth (Hepialus Humuli) only were found; one stomach 
containing nine of these insects. When visiting the lakes of Kil- 
larney, with that gentleman, in July, 1834, we had the gratifica- 
tion of seeing three nightjars hawking about in company, as we 
passed from the upper to the lower lake, near the highly pic- 
turesque mountain called the Eagle's Nest. The white markings 
* Rev. George Robinson. f Mr. J. V. Stewart. % Mr. R. Davis. 
§ Mr. Poole. || Mr. R. Chute. 
