238 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



him under a small orange tree in an orange grove on the side of a 

 sandy hill; three others were taken in flat pine woods, and in one 

 instance the eggs laid on a few fragments of charcoal left where a 

 fallen tree had been partly burnt, between the remaining part of 

 the tree and the stump, about 3 feet from each," 



On Cat Island, off the coast of Mississippi, I found the Florida 

 nighthawk "very common in the extensive forest of tall, long-leaf 

 pines, with which the island is largely covered. Here, on June 16, 

 1910, I saw two pairs with young, the old birds fluttering along the 

 ground to toll us away from their little ones; and I found one 

 nest with two eggs on the bare, sandy ground among the pines. 



The only other nests of this subspecies that I have seen were on 

 some low, sandy islands in Galveston Bay, Tex., where several pairs 

 were breeding on May 4, 1923 ; two nests- were seen, the eggs lying 

 in slight hollows in the bare sand, in such situations as might be 

 chosen by least terns. In some of the southern cities this nighthawk 

 has developed the habit of nesting on the flat, gravel roofs of build- 

 ings, after the manner of the species elsewhere. 



Eggs. — The eggs of the Florida nighthawk are similar to those of 

 the eastern nighthawk but will average somewhat more heavily 

 marked with darker colors and are somewhat smaller. The measure- 

 ments of 38 eggs average 28.86 by 21.23 millimeters; the eggs show- 

 ing the four extremes measure 31.75 by 21.59, 31.59 by 22.61, 26.42 

 by 20.32, and 28.20 by 20.10 millimeters. 



The habits of the Florida nighthawk are not essentially different 

 from those of its northern relative; the two are not easily recogniz,- 

 able in life; and the two forms are seen on migrations all through 

 the Southern States, where heavy flights often occur. R. J. Long- 

 street noted an unusually heavy flight at Daytona Beach on May 11, 

 1926; "in about an hour, from 6 to 7 p. m., he estimated that about 

 3,000 birds passed north over the beach" (Howell, 1932). 



Heavy flights also occur on the fall migration, mainly during 

 August, when formerly large numbers of "bullbats," as they were 

 locally called, were shot for food or sport. Dr. Chapman (1888), 

 writing of Gainesville, Fla., in 1888, said: "'Bullbat,' or as it is more 

 frequently termed, 'Bat,' shooting is here a popular pastime, great 

 numbers being killed for food, and in August, when the birds have 

 gathered in flocks, favorite fields may be occupied at nightfall by as 

 many as a dozen shooters." This bad practice is now outlawed, and 

 very wisely, as the small bodies of the nighthawks have very little 

 food value, and the nighthawk is one of our most useful birds ; it has 

 no objectionable food habits and is so valuable as a destroyer of trouble- 

 some and injurious insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, gnats, 

 mosquitoes, and the destructive cotton-boll weevil, that it ought to be 

 rigidly protected. 



