GOATSUCKER. 
511 
to such a degree, that the first time I lodged there 
I could hardly get any sleep.” 
The gloomy habits of these birds, together with 
their unpleasant call, is probably the reason why 
the Indians consider them as ominous. They be- 
lieve that goatsuckers were not known till their 
countrymen were murdered by the English, and 
that they are the departed spirits of the massacred 
Indians. Catesby assures us that abundance of people 
in Carolina look upon them as birds of ill omen ; 
and are very melancholy if one alights on the house, 
or near the door, and begins its call, which they 
will sometimes do upon the very threshhold; for 
they firmly believe one of the family will die soon 
after. 
Our European species is supposed, by Buffon, to 
have originated in America, from whence it has 
been expelled by some fortuitous event. It makes 
but a short stay with us, appearing towards the end 
of May, and leaving the island in September. It 
begins its whirling note at the close of day, sitting 
usually on a bare bough with the head lower than 
the tail, the lower jaw quivering with the efforts. 
The noise is said to be so very violent as to give a 
sensible vibration to any little building it chances to 
alight on. It lays two eggs of a whitish hue, marbled 
with reddish brown. 
