PACIFIC NIGHTHAWK 241 



closed wing grayer toned; lower tail-coverts and feathers of belly 

 region more narrowly and sparsely dark-barred; and, in the male, 

 white patches on throat, wings, and tail more extensive." He re- 

 marks further: 



In tone of coloration the male is much darker than in either Ch. v. sennetti or 

 Ch. V. henryi. Altho somewhat lighter than virginianus, this is in the direction 

 of pale gray and white rather than ochraceous. The extended mottling of the 

 otherwise blackish feathers dorsally is responsible for this lighter tone, and 

 especially notable is the extensive silvery gray mottling on the wing coverts. 

 Yet this dorsal tone does not nearly reach the paleness of sennetti. * * * 

 The [white] patch on the outer primary invades across the shaft to include 

 the outer web ; and the same is observable of the patches on the tail-feathers. 

 * * * The female of hesperis is gray rather than tawny, and is thus at 

 once distinguishable from the female of henryi. 



Nesting. — Major Bendire (1895) writes: 



A set of eggs of this subspecies was found by me on July 3, 1875, in the 

 foothills of the Blue Mountains, some 6 miles northeast of Camp Harney, 

 Oregon, laid among some pebbles on the bare ground under a little sage bush. 

 The sitting bird allowed me almost to touch it, and was very reluctant to 

 abandon its eggs, which were but slightly incubated. On my approach, it 

 rufQed its feathers and emitted a hissing sound, resembling somewhat the spit- 

 ting of a cat when mad. Their favorite nesting places in that vicinity were the 

 crests of gravelly ridges, always selecting a well-drained spot, where the rains 

 could not chill the young or eggs. Bare, rocky table-lands are also frequently 

 resorted to for similar purposes, and less often the flat tops of bowlders. 

 Extensive burnt tracts also furnish favorite abiding places for them in the 

 more northern portions of their range; in fact, in such localities they are 

 fully as abundant as on the more open sagebrush plains. 



Henry J. Kust (1911) tells of a nest that he found near Coeur 

 d'Alene, Idaho, in an open space in a cornfield, where the scattered 

 cornstalks and a few weeds furnished scanty shade for the young. 

 D. E. Brown tells me that "on the prairies of Pierce County [Wash- 

 ington] the bird nests on small patches of gravel, where the two 

 eggs blend perfectly and the bird itself is hard to see. In King 

 County, I find most of the nests in burnt-over sections. The eggs 

 are usually placed among the remains of a rotten and charred log, 

 where both egg and bird blend with the surroundings." 



A. Dawes DuBois has sent me some notes on three nests found by 

 him in Flathead County, Mont.; in one of these the eggs lay on a 

 thick bed of coarse moss which covered the rocky ground for some 

 distance around it; this was on the top of a high foothill. Of this 

 nest he says: "The bird was sitting when I approached, July 16. 

 When she saw me coming she closed her eyes and appeared to be 

 asleep. By covering the large shiny eyeballs with the lusterless lids 

 the nighthawk makes herself much more a part of her surroundings. 

 The eyes are not shut tight; a narrow slit is left through which 

 to peek. While I was in the tent blind, placed near the nest, her 



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