The food of the Night Falcons consists principally of various kinds of small insects; they consume flies in enormous quantities, seeking their prey during the day, and sleeping at night upon trees or houses, from the tops of which their loud cries may be heard from time to time during the night. The breeding season commences at the end of May; the two eggs that form their brood have a grey shell, spotted with greenish brown or violet-grey (see Fig. 2, Coloured Plate IV.), and are deposited without any previous preparation upon the ground. The nestlings are at first covered with dark brown down, and are tended with great affection by their parents; the female especially exhibits unusual boldness and cunning in protecting or concealing her family from danger. When the young are strong enough to perch it is not uncommon for them to sit motionless beside the father and mother for hours, remaining so perfectly quiet and silent as to render it very difficult to discover their place of concealment. Large numbers of these useful birds are shot out of mere mischief. According to Audubon their flesh is excellent during the autumn, at which season they become well-flavoured and fat. THE COMMON GOATSUCKER. The EUROPEAN NIGHT JAR or COMMON GOATSUCKER (_Caprimulgus Europæus_) represents a group of birds whose pursuit of food is carried on _exclusively_ by night. All the various species of nocturnal Goatsuckers have slender bodies, short necks, and broad wings, not very sharply pointed at the extremity, as the second quill is slightly longer than the first. The tail is almost straight at its tip; the beak is short and broad, narrow at its base, and curves downwards from beneath the nostrils. The centre toe of the small delicate foot is considerably longer than the rest, and is connected with that on each side by a fold of skin extending as far as the first joint; the small inner toe is entirely detached from the rest; the tarsus is partially covered with small feathers, and upon its lower portion is defended by horny plates; the claw upon the middle toe is serrated. The plumage, which is composed of large feathers, is fleecy; the upper parts of the body are dark grey, variously marked with brownish black and reddish yellow; the under side is light grey, streaked and spotted with black and dark brown; the brow and edges of the jaws are indicated by whitish lines; the three first quills in the wing of the male are decorated with a white, in the female with a yellow spot. The centre tail-feathers are grey, striped with black; the rest are paler, and rather _spotted_ than streaked with black: they terminate in a pointed white patch. The markings in the plumage of the female are less distinct than in that of her mate, and the exterior tail-feathers are spotted and tipped with reddish yellow. The length of this species is about ten, and its breadth twenty-one inches; the wing measures seven and a quarter, and the tail between four and five inches.