SENNETT'S NIGHTHAWK 239 



CHORDEILES MINOR SENNETTI Coues 



SENNETT'S NIGHTHAWK 



HABITS 



The nighthawks of the northern plains were given the above name 

 by Dr. Elliott Coues (1888), who gave as the characters of the 

 subspecies "silvery grayish-white predominating above, the white 

 below greatly in excess of the narrow, irregular or broken, dark bars, 

 and little or no rufous anywhere." It is a bird of the treeless plains 

 and prairies, ranging from northern North Dakota and northeastern 

 Montana south to eastern Wyoming, northwestern Iowa, and north- 

 ern Nebraska. It migrates southward through Oklahoma and 

 Texas, and probably to South America. 



F. A. Patton (1924) says of its haunts in South Dakota: "The 

 Sennetts Night Hawk, is a bird of a barren, isolated region, moving 

 ahead and away from settlements, to a thinly settled section, pre- 

 ferring a dry, almost a desert region. 



"Through the eighties and up until about 1890 this bird could be 

 found much over the entire State of South Dakota. At present its 

 range is confined to that part of the state from the Missouri River 

 to the Black Hills, frequenting the Bad Lands section, well up in the 

 foot hills, preferring barren knolls and stony places. Never have I 

 seen the bird or its eggs in any way concealed by grass or vegetation." 



Nesting. — The same observer writes: "A favorite nesting place is 

 in a cattle or horse trail over a stony knoll destitute of vegetation 

 and what sets I find are found mostly by the bird flying from be- 

 neath my saddle horse. * * * 



"The eggs are laid on a rock or stones. No depression or forma- 

 tion towards a nest whatever, the eggs are plain gray in color and 

 so blend with the rock that though they may be almost at one's feet 

 are difficult to see." 



Eggs. — The Sennett's nighthawk lays two eggs, the usual number 

 for the species, which are practically indistinguishable from those of 

 the eastern nighthawk, though they may average a trifle paler with 

 somewhat smaller markings. The measurements of 9 eggs average 

 Sl.l by 22.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 

 33.8 by 21.6, 31.5 by 23.3, 29.3 by 23.1, and 29.6 by 21.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Ernest T. Seton (1890) made an interesting observation 

 on two young nighthawks, which were apparently about three days 

 old and still retained the shell tooth on the tip of the bill ; he says : 



I gently touched one of them, whereupon it crouched down more closely to 

 the ground; but its companion, rising, hissed with open beak and snapped 

 savagely at my fingers. On being further teased they ran off, exactly in the 

 manner of young ducks, with outstretched wings and with neck and body at 

 an angle of 45 degrees. After running a few feet they stopped, squatted as 

 before, and closed their eyes. This they repeated several times, but at best 



