SUMMER BIRDS OF SHAw's GARDEN. 77 



spring we find, stopping for a little hunt, five different kinds 

 of swallows and other insectivorous birds, attracted by the 

 abundance of food, which a sheet of water offers when the 

 dry land is barren. Another kind of attraction causes the more 

 or less regular visits of a pair of Kingfishers, which have prob- 

 ably miles to fly from their nest to reach these quiet hunting 

 grounds for a few nice, healthy minnows taken out of that 

 fresh cool water. A Kingfisher in its white and blue livery 

 with the high crest and long bill is an ornament to any land- 

 scape and makes a picture worthy of the photographer's art 

 who may catch him as he sits watching on some overhanging 

 branch, or hovering over the water, or swooping down upon 

 his prey, or emerging and making off with his finny game. 

 Equally characteristic as his queer top-heavy shape and long- 

 winged, rapid and direct flight is his loud rattling call, which 

 fits so well the bird and his picturesque surroundings. 



NiGHTHAWK. Chorddles virginianus. 



On cool days in summer, when a high pressure of dry air 

 is accompanied by a sudden fall in temperature, insect life be- 

 comes greatly affected, and especially the winged insects re- 

 main dormant in seclusion, thus producing a temporary scar- 

 city of food for certain birds which depend for their subsist- 

 ence on insects which they can catch on the wing, chiefly the 

 Nighthawks, Swifts, Flycatchers and Swallows. The only 

 place where such insects are found in sufficient numbers on 

 those days, is the surface of rivers and lakes, because the water 

 is then warmer than the air, and evaporation suppHcs the air 

 above the water with the moisture, which is so necessary to 

 insect life. Most of the insects found on these days, such as 

 Dragon and Damsel flies. May or Day flies and the great army 

 of midges, gnats and mosquitoes, are bom in the water and 

 remain near it; others do not even leave its surface, such as 

 the long-legged Water-striders and the social WhirUgigs, and 

 may be picked up by the flying bird. 



The Nighthawks which are seen over the lake on such oc- 

 casions, may have their two eggs or young far away on the 

 roof of a high building in the city, for the flight of this long- 



