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themselves; ultimately they hawk in the air, and, like their parents, perch lengthwise on ue rugged
branches of the trees. Under the stimulating influence of the abundance of food uoe wie at midsummer,
they quickly attain size aud strength, and by the end of August or beginning of September oe
on heir first travels to the “unknown land” where their parents spent the previous winter, and which
is doubtless Morocco. Pe.

Independently of the British Islands, the Nightjar inhabits all the warmer and bemperate portions o
Europe; I believe it also frequents the whole of Africa, and ranges as far east as Affehanistan.

From the above remarks it will be seen that the Nightjar is plentifully diffused over nearly every part
Great Britain; yet I venture to affirm that there is not one in a thousand persons who has ever Olsens it
in a state of nature: they may have seen a skin or a mounted specimen a some museum ; and this is all
the evidence they have of its being one of the birds of our island; of its history, habits, and economy they
are totally ignorant. It is the ornithologist, inspired by a love for nature and poy a re seeks ons Mis
whereabouts, silently watches its movements, and lends an earnest ear to its Sees vi eam or chirring
notes, which, commencing precisely at the setting of the sun, are poured forth at intervals during tine Whole
night. The pastor who rests him on yonder stile while returning from his visit to some sick parishioner,
the village lad and lass whose evening walk has thoughtlessly led them far away, the cottager who takes a
turn round his garden before retiring to his early rest, the watcher who seats himself under the hedge or
in the glade of a copse, the stealthy poacher of the eggs of the Pheasant and other game birds, these are
the persons who are acquainted with the Nightjar and its habits in a state of nature.

May be the horse of the farmer, who is sleepily returning from the market-town, suddenly starts
backward and throws his rider; the cause is probably unknown, but it most likely was the Nightjar,
which has abruptly risen from the road under the horse’s nose. Let not this trait in the habits
of the bird be doubted; for we know that it frequently squats in the road and pathway, and it is
asserted that both rider and mule are in like manner often tumbled over the precipices in some of the more
dangerous mountain-passes of South America by the sudden rising of the Hydropsalis psalurus, with its long
whip-like tail. Superstitions of various kinds attach to most nocturnal birds, and our Nightjar forms
no exception to the rule; for Mr. Smither informs me that the labouring classes round Churt, in Surrey,
believe that it has the power of rendering any person annoying it “ puckeridge-struck,” and hence they have
an objection to disturb either the bird or its eggs for fear of the consequences. Gilbert White mentions a
similar superstition; but in this case cattle, and not human beings, were supposed to be the objects of their
malevolence.

The male may always be recognized by the presence of a series of white spots on the wings and tail; in
all other respects the two sexes are alike in colour.

The peculiar use of the pectinated claw of the middle toe has not yet been satisfactorily stated; it has
been supposed that it was intended as a means of clearing the vibrissa from any matters that might attach
to them during the act of feeding; but this cannot be the case, for the pectinations are so close to each
other that the stout vibrisse could not possibly pass between them. The actual use of this pectinated claw
must, I fear, remain for the present involved in obscurity. It is believed by some persons to be a means
by which the bird rids itself of certain parasites.

The usual resting-place of the Nightjar during the day is on the ground, where it sleeps like other
nocturnal birds, but from which it is easily disturbed, when it flies off to some other part of the wood, and
either settles again on the earth or lengthwise on some large branch of a tree. During the intervals of
feeding, it perches on the tops of trees, on the summit of a heap of turf, a large stone, rail, or gate-post,
where its chirring note, resembling the sound of a spinning-wheel, is constantly uttered from sundown
until the shades of night are lost in the early dawn. While flying, it frequently claps its wings together over
its head, thereby producing a sound very similar to the first flushing of a Woodcock.

The throat of one of these birds which I examined was crammed with Xylophasia polyodon and one speci-
men of the cream-coloured Tiger Moth (4rctia vilica), most of which were still alive, notwithstanding the
bird had been dead two days.

The eges are oval in form, and always two in number, beautifully clouded and veined with bluish grey on
a white ground; they are 1 inch and 2 lines long, by 103 lines in breadth,

The young are very easily reared, if taken at an early stage of their existence, by first cramming them
with scraped beef, and afterwards supplying them with hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine, and insects ; they
soon become very tame, run over the room with facility, and evince no desire to escape, unless a window be
suddenly opened, when they are off in an instant. In this way a fine specimen was lost by my friend Dr.
Gunther, after he had carefully reared it to the size of the mature bird.

The Plate represents a male, a female, and two young ones a few days old, of the size of life.