CHAPTER VIII. 
THE NIGHTJAR, OR FERN OWL 
(Caprimulgus punctatus). 
“ ’Tis spent—this burning day of June ! 
Soft darkness o’er its latest gleams is stealing; 
The buzzing Dor-Hawk, round and round, is wheeling,— 
That solitary bird 
Is all that can be heard 
In silence deeper far than that of deepest noon ! ” 
Wordsworth. 
In my night wanderings in Africa I usually rode 
peering carefully amongst the sparsely-scattered mimosa, 
or other trees and scrub, which lay in my road, trying 
to observe this night bird,—a friend of my childhood, 
which, on those occasions, was more especially dear to 
me as I roamed a stranger in the land. It is true that 
the bird was not the same species which won my 
affection in the “ Fatherland,” but rather some one or 
other member of its numerous family; still they were all 
valued in my eyes. It was far less for their tender beauty, 
grace, or song, for which gifts we admire birds so much, 
and which attach us to them, than for the pleasure of 
seeking to become intimate, if I may so express it, with 
the most singular fellow of the whole class. 
The bird of which I now write hears many names, such 
as Nightjar, Nighthawk, Nightcliur, Fern Owl, Goatsucker, 
