THE DOR-HAWK. Sl 
others to be obedient to gloomy or evil spirits. 
The Dor-Hawk of our own country has been 
subject to slander, as his name of the goat-sucker 
shews. This name originated of course in dis- 
tricts where goats were used for milking, and 
furnished, no doubt an excuse for the false herd, 
who stole the milk and blamed the bird. 
The Dor-Hawk, like the owl, is not seen in the 
day ; and like it also, is an inhabitant of wild and 
gloomy scenes; heathy tracks abounding in fern ; 
- moors, and old woods. It is so regular in the 
_ time of beginning its nightly cry, that good old 
Gilbert White declares, it appeared to him to 
strike up exactly when the report of the Ports- 
mouth evening gun was heard. He says, also, 
that its voice, which resembles the loud purring of 
a cat, occasions a singular vibration even in solid 
buildings ; for that, as he and some of his neigh- 
bours sate in a hermitage on a steep hill-side, 
where they had been taking tea, a Dor-hawk 
alighted on the little cross at the top, and uttered 
his cry, making the walls of the building sen- 
sibly vibrate, to the wonder of all the company. 
I can give no anecdotes of the bird from my 
