The Swift resorts much to ruinous castles, steeples, towers, and precipitous rocks, for the purpose of building; sometimes it nestles under the eaves of cottages and barns, or in holes in walls, and hollow trees, etc. The nest is rudely formed of sticks and straws stuck together with mud; the materials are picked up with great dexterity while the bird is on the wing, and, sometimes, it is said, the Sparrow or other small bird is robbed of its goods and chattels by the impudent stranger, which snatches them up, and is gone like a flash of lightning. The eggs are white, of a longish oval shape, and seldom more than two or three in number. This bird, like the rest of the Swallows, is pretty widely diffused over the country during the time it remains here; it has a near relative called the White-bellied or Alpine Swift, which is common in the south of Europe, but which seldom comes so far north as this. There are also belonging to this family of _gliders_, as they are sometimes called, the Purple and Sand Martins, which are placed among British Birds; the former is common in America, but rare with us, the latter, the smallest of the family, are not unfrequently found in Britain. The whole plumage of the Common Swift, with the exception of a greyish white patch under the chin, is blackish brown, with a bronzy green tinge, which greatly relieves its otherwise dull appearance. NIGHTJAR. GOATSUCKER. EUROPEAN OR NOCTURNAL GOATSUCKER. DOR, OR NIGHT-HAWK. FERN, CHURN, OR JAR-OWL. NIGHT-JAR, OR NIGHT-CHAR. WHEELBIRD. PUCKERIDGE. RHODWR AND ADERYN V DROELL, OF THE ANCIENT BRITISH. FIGURE 19. To the above long list of names, we might add two or three others by which different naturalists distinguish this remarkable bird, but the most common of its scientific designations will be sufficient; this is _Caprimulgus Europúus_, the first name being derived from the Latin _caper_--a goat, and _mulgio_--to milk; it having been at one time supposed that the poor innocent bird was in the habit of sucking the teats of the goats to obtain the milk; and there are, we believe, some ignorant persons in out-of-the-way country-places, who still give credence to this absurd notion, and even fancy that the udders of the cows, as they lie asleep, are drained by the feathered depredator, as they consider the Churn Owl to be. From this supposed habit of the bird, and the whirring or jarring noise which it makes when flying, are derived most of the names given above.