. Birds through the year . od in itshuge mouth, guardedwith bristles to pre-vent live insects fromescaping. The birdswide gape gave colourto the widespreadlegend that it sucksthe milk of goats,which is perpetuated invarious languages bythe name of goat-sucker. There is no other explanation ofthis ancient slander, except that the rough, dry goat pasturesin many parts of Europe are a favourite haunt of this loverof warmth and dryness. The grasshopper-warbler sheds another subtly changefulmurmur into the air of summer evenings. Though it usuallyceases in the later dusk, about sunset this creeping
. Birds through the year . od in itshuge mouth, guardedwith bristles to pre-vent live insects fromescaping. The birdswide gape gave colourto the widespreadlegend that it sucksthe milk of goats,which is perpetuated invarious languages bythe name of goat-sucker. There is no other explanation ofthis ancient slander, except that the rough, dry goat pasturesin many parts of Europe are a favourite haunt of this loverof warmth and dryness. The grasshopper-warbler sheds another subtly changefulmurmur into the air of summer evenings. Though it usuallyceases in the later dusk, about sunset this creeping mouse-like bird is almost as vocal in the river-meadows as thenightjar a little later in the copses. Its voice is shriller andmore chirping than the nightjars, but there is no very closelikeness between the irregular and fitful scraping of a grass-hopper and its steady reeling cry. It is much more like thesound of a fishermans well-oiled reel, and as the bird hauntsthe same banks as the fisherman at his favourite evening;. THE LONELIER HOURS 167 hour, one can easily be mistaken for the other. The grass-hopper-warblers song—for it takes the place of a moremusical ditty—possesses nearly as conspicuously as thenightjars the delicate change of pitch which averts mono-tony and adds a characteristic attraction. In the case of thenightjar the change is said to take place when the bird ceases
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirdspi, bookyear1922
