FAMILY Caprimulgidce 



of the year, all busily engaged in dipping 

 into the flowers for honey or tiny insects. 



At such times they are unusually tame and 

 one can study them at close range. By the 

 middle of October they have retired from the 

 northern part of their range to southern 

 California and beyond. 



FAMILY CAPRIMULGIDM'. GOAT- 

 SUCKERS 



, Pacific nighthawk, Chordeiles virginia- 

 nus hesperis, 9.00 



Distribution: Pacific Coast district and 

 eastward to the Rocky Mountains, and from 

 British Columbia south to Nevada and Utah, 

 and to southern California; an abundant 

 summer resident of the Pacific Coast states. 



The nighthawk, or bullbat, belongs to a 

 world-wide family of about one hundred 

 species. They are curious looking birds with 

 the horny part of their bills short and weak, 

 and a wide gaping mouth that opens behind 

 the eye. The mouth is surrounded with long 

 stiff bristles which act as a fly trap when the 

 bird is flying through the air in pursuit of the 

 winged insects upon which it lives. 



Nighthawks are familiar objects in the 

 evening sky during the summer as they pass 

 50 



