212 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



NIGHTHAWKS, WHIP-POOR-WILLS, ETC. : 

 FAMILY CAPRIMULGIDiE 



There is a belief common among country people that the 

 Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will are one and the same bird; 

 it is probably due to the fact that the latter is so rarely 

 seen, and so constantly heard. 



NiGHTHAWK. Chordeiles virginianus 



10.00 



Ad. $. — Entire upper parts, when seen near to, black, finely 

 speckled with gray, and a little brown ; middle pair of tail-feathers 

 like back, the others tipped with black and crossed near the tip 

 by a white band ; a hroad hand of white across the throat ; breast 

 black, speckled with gray; belly gray, barred with black, often 

 tinged with buff ; wings long and narrow; a broad ichite bar crosses 

 the wing, showing best from below. Ad. 9 • — Similar, but throat- 

 band buff instead of white ; no white on tail. 



Eggs, laid on bare rocks or gravel roofs, dull white speckled 

 with gray or brown. 



The Nighthawk is a summer resident throughout New 

 England and ]^ew York, common in some localities, rare 



or absent in others. It arrives in 

 May and leaves for the soutb to- 

 ward the end of August, when 

 large flocks of Nighthawks are 

 often seen passing overhead, par- 

 ticularly along broad river valleys ; 

 it is occasionally seen in Septem- 

 ber. 



Curiously enough, though the 

 suburbs of many of our large cities are no longer wild 

 enough to offer the Nighthawk proper breeding-sites, it has 

 found the flat gravel-covered roofs of the cities themselves 

 suitable for nesting-sites, while the air about supplies it 

 with an abundance of food. The Nighthawk is a not un- 



FiG. 62. Nighthawk 



