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The Nightjar.
(Caprimulgus europaeus.)
A bird of the twilight, the Nightjar spends the day on the ground, or on some low tree or large bough, sitting lengthwise its coloration so exactly matching its surroundings that the bird can only be distinguished with difficulty. Moths and other insects, which are very plentiful at dusk on summer evenings, form its chief diet, and it captures them on the wing. For this purpose a wide gape is more serviceable than a slender bill, the fringe of long bristles no doubt preventing insects which have entered by the front from escaping by the sides. Its name is a corruption of night-churr.