THE LADIES’ MAGAZINE OF GARDENING. 
57 
Caprimulgus Europams , the Goatsucker.—This is a summer bird, about 
ten inches in length, with darkish-coloured plumage, marbled with brown 
and ash colour. The bill is short and somewhat hooked, with bristles 
round the base. Mouth very wide, and legs feathered below the knees. 
These are night-flying birds, their food being moths, which only fly at night. 
They are seldom seen by day unless disturbed from their nest ; and then 
show a good deal of boldness in defending it. They make their nest 
among fern at the bottom of low bushes, hence they are also called the Fern 
Owl. At twilight they may be seen flying round high trees hawking for 
moths, and for which their capacious mouths, set round with bristles, are 
so well adapted. Occasionally they utter a faint cry resembling that of 
the screech-owl, only not so loud; and often alarm night-walkers, not 
only by their cry, but by their audacity in pouncing on the crown of a 
mans hat who happens to pass near their nest in the dark. Many rustics 
have considered these blows to have been given by supernatural agents, 
and have reported accordingly. 
That they suck the female goats is an old idea ; but it (the fact) has 
never been authenticated, and, therefore, the name has been changed by 
late writers. 
REVIEWS. 
The Botanical Magazine for January contains figures of the following 
plants. 
JEschyanthus grandijlorus , (t. 3843) a very showy East Indian para¬ 
site, which was first figured in Paxton. Though it grows on trees in its 
native country, it succeeds well and flowers in this country when planted 
in pots. The flowers are scarlet, and in form bear some resemblance to 
those of some of the kinds of Chelone. 
Tropceolum Moritzianum , (t. 3844). A very curious species of garden 
Nasturtium, or Indian cress, from the West Indies. It is most nearly 
allied to T. peregrinum , the canary-bird flower, but the flower is red and 
yellow, and the petals are curiously fringed. It flowered for the first 
time in Great Britain, in July, 1840, in the greenhouse of the Glasgow 
Botanic Garden ; but at Berlin and other places it is found to grow much 
more vigorously in the open air. 
Oncidium macrantherum , (t. 3845). A new dwarf Oncidium, with 
VOL. i.—NO. II. 
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