. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. , too, in the evening, when there are no other creatures to speak ofpreying upon the moths and beetles that fly at twilight. It cannot even be allegedagainst him that he makes us pay for his help by taking toll of our fruits and seeds;he is strictly insectivorous, though an ancient slander charges him with milking goats. Country folk who live on the borders of woods and heath-clad moors regard him assomething uncanny, and really this is not to be wondered at. Their ideas have tosome extent been embodied in the local names th
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. , too, in the evening, when there are no other creatures to speak ofpreying upon the moths and beetles that fly at twilight. It cannot even be allegedagainst him that he makes us pay for his help by taking toll of our fruits and seeds;he is strictly insectivorous, though an ancient slander charges him with milking goats. Country folk who live on the borders of woods and heath-clad moors regard him assomething uncanny, and really this is not to be wondered at. Their ideas have tosome extent been embodied in the local names they have bestowed upon him. It isclear from these that they have had some difficulty in placing the bird in theirrather elementary systems of classification;but they have done their best. Because ofthe small portion of beak that projectsfrom the abundant plumage they havebeen tempted to place him among theowls, and have called him fern-owl andchurn-owl. Because of his size, his barredand mottled feathers and his flight, theyhave styled him a hawk—night-hawk and 91. IHL Na>HlI\K^ IWO LCtIj-^ 92 Animal Life dor-hawk. Other names—eve-churr and nightjar—have obviously been suggested by hischaracteristic note, the long continued vibrating chur-r-r set up after the sun hasgone down. What is the purpose of this strange vocal effort is not known. It cannot beclassed with the song of the nightingale and other birds that sing for the delectationof the female whilst she is engaged in the tedious business of incubation, for it iscontinued long after the eggs have been hatched, in fact right up to the time of thebirds departure from this country. A heath well-clad with fern, furze, and the other characteristic vegetation ofsuch places, and surrounded by woods, is the favourite haunt of this bird. There inthe twilight they may be seen, sometimes to the number of a dozen or a score, flittingand sweeping in huge circles through the air, catching the moths and beetles thatare then enjoy
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