7i 
Kingfisher excavates a short tunnel in the sandy bank of stream or 
pool, in which it nests. The eggs are usually six or seven in 
number, though occasionally eight or even nine may be found. 
They are pure white, very glossy, and almost round. 
The bird's habit is to sit on an exposed branch overhanging the 
water, watching for passing fish, which it captures by plunging with 
quite a loud splash, thereafter emerging usually with a small fish 
held across the middle. After regaining its perch its grip is shitted 
to near the fish’s tail. It then bangs it on the branch, tosses it in 
the air, and, deftly caught, it is swallowed head foremost. 
These photographs of young and adult Kingfishers complete the 
series of this bird, as pictures of its nest and eggs are to be found on 
Pages 29 and 30 of Wild Birds at Home, Fourth Series. 
Nightjar (Pages 23-26). — The Nightjar rejoices in a variety of 
names, being known also as the Goat-Sucker, Fern Owl, Evejar, 
Night Hawk and Churn Owl. It is some roJ 4 inches in length, 
with a very short bill a little over half an-inch long, but very wide, 
as is indeed necessary to enable it to capture the large moths and 
other insects on which it almost entirely feeds. 
In colour this bird is a dark ashy-grey, mottled with brown, and 
barred and spotted with streaks of dark cinnamon. The throat is 
brown, barred with darker brown and with white spots, while there 
is a white patch on either cheek. 
The species is a summer visitor to our Isles, arriving about the 
•nd of May and leaving for warmer climes during September. It 
is widely spread, but by no means common. Its favourite haunt is 
moor and woodland, particularly where fern and bracken ate found, 
and it seems to prefer those parts of the moor which fringe the 
woodland. It is to be seen only in the twilight and night hours, 
when its churring note maybe heard as it flies back and forward 
hawking for cockchafers and moths. It is said to feed also on slugs 
and caterpillars. It makes no nest, but lays on the ground its tw'* 
•ges, creamy-white in ground colour, marbled with violet-grey and 
light shades of brown. When on the nest the colour of the bird so 
•iosely assimilates to its surroundings as to render it almost invisible. 
Two peculiarities of the Nightjar are a habit of striking its wings 
together over its back as it rises in flight, and its manner of roosting, 
which is always lengthwise instead of across the branch on which it 
rests. T wo noticeable features in this bird are the strong rectile 
bristles surrounding the bill and the pectinated claw on the middle 
toe of either foot. The use of this claw has been the subject of many 
•onjectures, the likeliest of which probably is that it is used to clean 
off from the bristles surrounding the bill any small insects w hich 
may have been caught thereon while the bird is hawking after the 
moths on which it mostly lives. 
It is interesting to note the origin of its name of Goat-Sucker. 
Cattle browsing in the twilight disturb many insects from the grass, 
and as these are of much interest to the Nightjar, it may be seen 
flying closely round the animals, seizing the insects as they rise. 
The bird's close proximity to the animal gave rise to the ludicrous 
•onjecture that it performed the act its name suggests. 
'There are two fine (and larger) photographs of the young and 
adult of the Nightjar on Page 147 of Mature Pictures (Gowans & 
Gray, 7/6 net). 
