WHIP-POOR-WILL.
“Like the other species of the genus, it is subject to considerable variation in its colouring, the young, which assume the adult livery at an early age, being somewhat darker in all their markings. In some a rich tawny colour predominates, while others are more grey. The night call of this species is a hoarse noise, consisting of two distinct sounds, which cannot correctly be described. The stomach is thick and muscular, and is lined with a hair-like substance, like that of the common Cuckoo.”
Mr. Waterton gives the following notes on Goatsuckers in his “Wanderings” (p. 139):—“When the sun has sunk in the western woods, no longer agitated by the breeze, when you can only see a straggler or two of the feathered tribe hastening to join its mate, already at its roosting-place, then it is that the Goatsucker comes out of the forest, where it has sat all day long in slumbering ease, unmindful of the gay and busy scenes around it. Its eyes are too delicately formed to bear the light, and thus it is forced to shun the flaming face of day, and wait in patience till night invites him to partake of the pleasures her dusky presence brings. The harmless, unoffending Goatsucker, from the time of Aristotle down to the present day, has been in disgrace with man. Father has handed it down to son, and author to author, that this nocturnal thief subsists by milking the flocks. Poor injured little bird of night, how sadly hast thou suffered, and how foul a stain has inattention to facts put upon thy character! Thou hast never robbed man of any part of his property, nor deprived the kid of a drop of milk.
“When the moon shines bright you may have a fair opportunity of examining the Goatsucker. You will see it close by the Cows, Goats, and Sheep, jumping up every now and then under their bellies. Approach a little nearer—he is not shy: ‘he fears no danger, for he knows no sin.’ See how the nocturnal flies are tormenting the herd, and with what dexterity he springs up and catches them as fast as they alight on the bellies, legs, and udders of the animals. Observe how quiet they stand, and how sensible they seem of his good offices, for they neither strike at him nor hit him with their tails, nor tread on him, nor try to drive him away as an uncivil intruder. Were you to dissect him and inspect his stomach, you would find no milk there. It is full of the flies which have been annoying the herd.
LYRE-TAILED NIGHTJAR.
“The pretty mottled plumage of the Goatsucker, like that of the Owl, wants the lustre which is observed in the feathers of the birds of day. This at once marks him as a lover of the pale moon’s nightly beams. There are nine species here (Demerara); the largest appears nearly the size of the English Wood Owl. Its cry is so remarkable that, having once heard it, you will never forget it. When night reigns over these immeasurable wilds, whilst lying in your hammock, you will hear this Goatsucker lamenting like one in deep distress. A stranger would never conceive it to be the cry of a bird; he would say it was the departing voice of a midnight murdered victim, or the last wailing of Niobe for her poor children before she was turned into stone. Suppose yourself in hopeless sorrow, begin with a high loud note, and pronounce ‘Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!’ each note lower and lower, till the last is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two betwixt every note, and you will have some idea of the moaning of the largest Goatsucker in Demerara. Four other species of the Goatsucker articulate some words so distinctly that they have received their names from the sentences they utter, and absolutely bewilder the stranger on his arrival in these parts. The most common one sits down close by your door, and flies, and alights three or four yards before you as you walk along the road, crying ‘Who are you, who-who-who-are-you.’ Another bids you ‘Work away, work-work-work-away.’ A third cries mournfully, ‘Willy-come-go, willy-willy-willy-come-go.’ And high up in the country a fourth tells you to ‘Whip-poor-will, whip-whip-whip-poor-will.’ You will never persuade the negro to destroy these birds, or get the Indian to let fly his arrows at them. They are birds of omen and reverential dread. Jumbo, the demon of Africa, has them under his command, and they equally obey the Yabahou, or Demeraran Indian Devil. They are receptacles for departed souls who come back again to earth, unable to rest for crimes done in their days of nature; or they are expressly sent by Jumbo or Yabahou to haunt cruel or hard-hearted monsters, and retaliate injuries received from them. If the largest Goatsucker chance to cry near the white man’s door, sorrow and grief will soon be inside; and they expect to see the master waste away with a slow consuming sickness. If it be heard close to the negro’s or Indian’s hut, from that night misfortune sits brooding over it, and they await the event in terrible suspense.”
The common Goatsucker, which is also popularly known as the “Fern Owl,” or “Nightjar,” visits England only in the spring, when it arrives from Southern Africa, and distributes itself over the country. It is by no means an uncommon bird, but is rarely seen, owing to its habit of coming out only at night, or at least in the twilight. They may then often be disturbed from the ground in a country road, when they take to flight in a heavy manner, often making a flapping noise, which appears to be caused by bringing the wings sharply together above the body of the bird. The call-note may be described as “churring,” and is disagreeable in sound; it is generally uttered by the Goatsucker when sitting on a low branch of a tree or on a railing. It should be mentioned that the Caprimulgidæ do not, as a rule, sit crosswise on a branch, but always along the latter; their favourite haunt, however, is generally the ground, and it is supposed by some naturalists that the curious pectinated claw is used by the Goatsucker for scratching the ground. Dr. Günther, F.R.S., who kept one of these birds alive, says that it frequently used its comb-like claw for this purpose. Other people have thought that its claw was intended for clearing away the débris of moths and other insects, which would clog the bristles on the bill. The true use of this comb-like appendage on the foot has not yet, however, been thoroughly determined.
FOOT OF THE COMMON GOATSUCKER.