226 GOATSUCKERS 



Eggs. — Placed on the ground, usually near a clump of bushes ; cream or 

 buff, spotted and splashed with browns, buff, pink, and lavender. 

 Food. — Moths, beetles, and other insects. 



When in southern Texas near the Mexican line we were startled at 

 our camp-fire supper one evening by a strange new note, a hoarse 

 j)a-rau' -que, and hurrying out into the dusk found a large bird hunt- 

 ing insects on the road in poor-will fashion, flying from one bare 

 spot of ground to another among the mesquites. As we followed 

 him he repeated his call from each spot, and once gave it from the 

 top rail of a fence. 



GENUS CHORDEILES. 



General Characters. — Bill short with wide gape ; bristles not decidedly 



shorter than bill ; nostrils cylindrical and rinmied about, 



hardly tubular, opening ovitward and upwai'd ; feet weak, 



hind toe short, front toes connected by web, middle toe 



long, its claw pectinated; tarsus feathered part way 



down in front; tail lightly forked, much shorter than 



Y'l". 290. ^ *^^ long narrow wing-. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



1. Wing band back of tip of seventh quill {Figs. 292 and 293). 



texensis, p. 228. 

 1'. Wing band mainly or wholly forward from tip of seventh quill. 



2. Upper parts glossy black, mottled with lighter virginianus. p. 220. 

 2. Upper parts mainly g-rayish or brownish. 



3. Paler. Plains sennetti, p. 228. 



3'. Darker. Western states henryi, p. 227. 



420. Chordeiles virginianus (GmeL). Nighthawk. 



Adult male. — White throat patch bordered below by blackish chest 



patch ; belly 



barred with 



blackish and 



white ; tipper 



parts glossy 



black mottled 



with gray and 

 Fig. 291. lightly marked Avith buffy brown ; white or buffy wing 



band mainly or irholly forward from tip of seventh quill ; 

 space between white band and primary coverts plain blackish, secondaries 

 indistinctly if at all spotted with buffy or brownish ; tail except middle 

 feathers crossed with broad white band near tip. Adult female : white of 

 tail restricted or wanting. Young : more finely and profusely mottled 

 than adults. Wing : 7.30-8.25, tail 4.30-4.75. 



Distribution. — Breeds from the Hudson Bay region and the Mackenzie 

 River at 65^ south through the United States, east of the Plains, and in 

 wooded districts to Washington, Oregon, and northern California ; south 

 in winter to the Bahamas, Central America, and the greater part of South 

 America. 



Eggs. — Laid on the bare ground in exposed situations ; 2, creamy, olive 



Fig. 292. 



