Goatsucker, an Old World bird of the whip-poor-will family. It breeds in temperate Europe and flies to the south of the Mediterranean in winter. Like its American relative, it takes insects chiefly on the wing at nightfall. The name comes from an opinion long entertained that this bird drew the milk of goats during the night. Other popular names in England are night-jar, fern-owl, churn-owl, and moth-hunter. See WHIP-POOR-WILL; NIGHTHAWK.