88 NORTH AMERICAN OOLOGY. PART I. 



tainty. They have been at least ascertained to extend as far to the west as the 

 sources of the Mississippi. The extreme southern point at which it is known to 

 breed is the northern portion of Georgia and South Carolina. Throughout nearly 

 the whole of this wide range, the Night-Hawk appears to be distributed in about 

 equal numbers. 



In many of its habits, as well as in its external generic distinctions, this bird 

 exhibits so many and so broad differences from the Whip-poor-will, that there is 

 little apparent occasion to confound them. It is much less nocturnal in every re- 

 spect, and is not, strictly speaking, entitled to its name of Night-Hawk. It is rather 

 to be regarded as occupying more nearly a middle ground between nocturnal and 

 diurnal birds. It is not unfrequently to be seen on the wing, even in bright, sunny 

 weather, at midday, in pursuit of its winged prey. It is, however, visually most 

 lively early in the morning and just before nightfall, and is usually inactive and 

 slothful in the middle of the day. It is not improbable that its supply of food has 

 much to do Avith its sluggishness or state of activity. The Night-Hawk is not to 

 be found on the wing after dark. As soon as the twilight begins to deepen into 

 the shades of night, it retires to rest as regularly, if not at quite as early an hour, 

 as other birds, in regard to whose diurnal habits there is no question. 



In some of its peculiarities at the time of breeding, the Night-Hawk also displays 

 very marked variations from the habits of the Whip-poor-will at the same period. 

 While the latter always deposits its eggs under the cover of shady trees and in thick 

 woods, the Night-Hawk selects an open rock, a barren heath, or an exposed hill- 

 side for its breeding-place. This is not unfrequently in wild spots in the vicinity of 

 a wood, but is always open to the sun. I have even known the eggs carelessly 

 dropped on the bare ground in a corner of a potato-field, and have found the female 

 sitting on her eggs in all the bright glare of a noonday sun in June, and to all ap- 

 pearance undisturbed by its brilliance. The more common situation for the eggs is 

 a slight hollow of a bare rock, the dark, weather-beaten shades of which, with its 

 brown and slate-colored mosses and lichens, resembling at once the parent and the 

 egg in their coloring, is well adapted to save them from being detected by any 

 chance intruder. If approached when sitting on her eggs, the female will usually 

 suffer you almost to tread upon her before she will forsake them. Then, to draw 

 you from her treasure, she will tumble about and nutter at your feet with an imita- 

 tion of a wounded bird so perfect, an adroitness in pretending disability so inimita- 

 ble, that it is hardly possible to resist the temptation to follow in pursuit of her. 

 I know of no better or more skilful adept in these cunning devices than the Night- 

 Hawk. 



The eggs of this > bird are two in number, and except in their shape, which is uni- 

 formly elliptical, exhibit great variations. They vary in size, in their ground color, 

 and in the shades, shape, size, and number of their markings. Yet notwithstanding 

 all these differences in their general effect, they are alike. They all closely resemble 

 oblong-oval, dark-colored pebble-stones. The design of this resemblance is obviously 

 to assure their safety in the exposed situations in which they are placed, causing 

 them to be readily confounded with the stones among which they lie. Six eggs 



