206 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



CHORDEILES MINOR MINOR (Forster) 



EASTERN NIGHTHAWK 



Plates 29-33 



Contributed by Alfred Otto Gross 



HABITS 



The nightliawk, because of its piercing calls and the extraordinary 

 evolutions and gyrations of its flight, attracts many persons, even 

 the casual observers who ordinarily pay no special attention to birds. 

 A bird so unique and striking, one that during its breeding season 

 plays such an important role in our experiences out of doors, is 

 destined to be the recipient of many common names. 



Long before the white man came to America the nighthawk was 

 well known to the Indians, and we find it taking a prominent place 

 in their myths and traditions. Apparently the notes of this bird 

 appealed most, since the names chosen by the various tribes were 

 usually graphic allusions to the calls or to the characteristic boom- 

 ing noise heard during the courtship season. To the tribes along 

 the Connecticut River this booming was the sound of the Shad 

 Spirit announcing to the shoals of shad, about to ascend the river, 

 of their impending fate. The nighthawk was known to the Semi- 

 noles of Florida as "Ho-pil-car." In the Milicite Indian Natural 

 History there is the name "Pik-teis-k wes," and according to W. W. 

 Cooke (1884) the Chippewas not only had the name "Besh-que" for 

 the nighthawk but recognized it as a species distinct from the whip- 

 poorwill, to which they gave the name "Gwen-go-wi-a." That the 

 Chippewa Indians differentiated these two species is all the more 

 remarkable when we recall that this distinction was confused by 

 Catesby and the American ornithologists of the next 50 years who 

 followed him. It was Alexander Wilson who first noted that they 

 were distinct species. 



When the first European settlers came to our coast they com- 

 pared the nighthawk and the whippoorwill with the nightjar of their 

 old homes, and hence we find this name in the earlier ornithological 

 writings used as a synonym for the American bird. In certain 

 districts of England and Scotland the nightjar is called the goat- 

 sucker, a name that originated from the queer superstition that this 

 bird with its enormous mouth sucked the teats of goats. Like the 

 name nightjar the name goatsucker also crossed the Atlantic, as is 

 manifested by such names as long-winged goatsucker and Virginia 

 goatsucker to be found in the older books and papers dealing with 

 American birds. The name goatsucker is still applied to tlie order 

 and family but is seldom used today in designating the species. 



