The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-12

amily widely distributed over the world \
md is most interesting bird differing mi
4 orm, cry and habits from all others !
From May to September or October theseI
| irds may be found scattered all over theL
british islands, the principal colors of the
! Ilumage being shades of brown and gray,
he silent flight and general appearance
when on the wing causing them to re-
'emble an owl more than any other bird
! In the daytime they crouch on the ground
lmong the bracken, heather and furze
pushes of our commons. or seek the shell
! er or some thick tree, where sitting mo-
tonless, and parallel with the branch,
their dun color renders them almost in
visible. AS soon as evening approaches
and the dusk begins to gather, the goat
suckers issue forth and uttering their
curious, vibrating cry, dart backward and
forward, falling and rising in the air.
in search of moths and other nocturnal
insects. The mouth, which is unusually
large, is kept wide open while the bird is
hunting, acting like an animated butter
fly net, and sweeping up all that comes in
contact with it, added to which the inside
of the beak secretes a sticky fluid which
with the stiff bristl surrounding it. tend
to make escape from this formidable trap
matter of some difficulty; and further
to aid the bird in retaining its prey it
has, in addition to the above mentioned,
another eculiarity-namely, that the mid
die toe is finished off with saw-like claw,
very efficient help when holding on TO
a captured victim.
There is a goatsucker which abounds in
the Maremme of Patria, which is most re-
markable, having the exact representation
of a white moth depicted on each side of
the expanded tail of the bird, so that when
flying about in the night the moths, which
constitute it's principal food seeing the
ths ha f1i1 At1eto 4
their devourer instead of avoiding him
Owing to its popularity it has acquired
many names, most of which refer to the
cry, the conmonest being puckridge,
wheel bird, goatsucker, night jar, night
churr, churr owl, fern owl, eve jar and
spinnie. These birds make no nest, but
deposit their two long notified eggs in a
hollow in the ground, the parents being
said to feign injury and inability of flight
in order to decoy away enemies or even
to move the eggs to a place of greater
safety should danger threaten them. In
Hampshire these eggs are about the only
kind left unmolested by village boys, who
say they should never be blown or even
touched, as they are very poisonous-an
evil attribute supposed to be also shared
by the birds themselves, who are said to
fly at the eyes of anyone disturbing their
young and certainly to poison the Offend
err should they succeed In drawing blood.
Also, say tne same ruSllcS, puckrldSe ny
round and round in the air to hit passers-
by on the head with their wings and that
should they so manage to touch a child
or young person he or she will never grow
again; if instead, tbs a salt they come in
contact with the animal will surely die.
In some places goatsuckers are said to
be the souls of unchristened babies wan
dering around their earthly homes which
idea is strengthened by the fact that year
after year, like the swallow, they return
to the same neghborhood and nightly fire.
quent their old haunts Also, as their
most common name implies, they are cred
tied with being able to suck the milk from
goats turned out to pasture on the COM
mon lands. This latter idea is of great
antiquity. So we see that from time i'm
memorial to our present enlightened day
a harmless bird has been vested with un-
natural powers a failacy that all our
modern education and science has yet
failed to eradicate.