98 BIRDS. [Clafs II. 
preying5 this flying by night: fo with juflice it 
may be flyled a noSlurnal fwallow. It feeds on 
o 
moths, gnats, and dorrs, or chaffers ; from whence 
Charlton calls it the Dorr-hawk. The goat- 
fucker makes but a fhort flay with us ; not ap¬ 
pearing here till the latter end of May, and retir¬ 
ing about the middle of Auguft. It is common in 
the wooded and mountanous parts of Great-Bri - 
tain ; begins its flight towards evening ; and while 
on wing makes a loud and fmgular noife, fo much 
refembling that of a large fpinning wheel that the 
Wei ft: call this bird Aderyn y droell, or the wheel 
bird. This noife being made only in its flight, 
we may fuppofe it to be caufed by the refinance 
of the air againft the hollow of its vaflly extend¬ 
ed mouth and throat : for it flies with both open 
to take its prey. When perched, its note is no 
more than a fmall fqueak, repeated four or five 
times together. It lays its eggs on the bare 
ground : we have been told that they lay only 
two or three. 
The male is diflinguifhed from the female by 
an oval white fpot near the end of each of the 
three firfl quil feathers : and another on the two 
outmofl feathers of the tail. The color of the 
whole plumage is alfo much more ferruginous. 
Their weight is only two ounces and a half. 
Their length ten inches and a half: their breadth 
twenty-two. The bill is fcarce one third of an 
inch long : the gape of the bill, when opened, is 
near two inches from tip to tip: that of the mouth 
from corner to corner one inch three quarters : 
the tongue is very fmall, and placed low in the 
mouth : the noflrils are a little tubular, and pro¬ 
minent ; the legs fmall, fcaly and feathered below 
the knees. The middle toe connedled to thofe 
on each fide by a fmall membrane reaching to the 
firfl joint : the claw of the middle toe is broad, 
thin, and ferrated. 
\ - , k 
GENUS XX- Slender Billed Small Birds 
* Thofe with tails of one color, 
** Thofe with particolored tails. 
* 
SPECIES I. The Hedge Sparrow. 
JViL orn. 215. 
Rail Jyn. av. 79. 
HIS bird weighs twelve drams. Its 
head is of a deep brown, mixed with 
/ 4 
afh color, the cheeks marked with ob^ 
long fpots of dirty white: the back and coverts 
of the wings are dufky, edged with reddifh brown: 
the quil feathers and tail dufky: the rump brown, 
tinged with green : the throat and bread: are of a 
dull afh color : the belly of a dirty white : the 
fides, thighs, and vent feathers are of a pale taw-* 
ny brown ; the legs; of a dull flefh colof. 
Curruca fepiaria. Brijfon av , m. 394. 
Cunuca Ehotce, Gejhcr av. 371. 
This bird frequents low hedges, efpecially thofe 
of gardens. It makes its neft in fome fmall bufh, 
and lays four or five eggs of a fine pale blue color. 
1 he male has a fhort but very fweet note during 
a very fmall fpace in the fpring. Linnaeus feems 
not to have been acquainted with this fpecies: the 
bird which he fuppofes to be our hedge fparrow, 
and defcribes under the title of Motacilla curruca, 
differs in colors of plumage as well as eo-o-s. 
SPECIES 
* Faun. fuec. 247 , 
