EASTERN NIGHTHAWK 207 



In parts of the Uiiited States, especially in the South, nightha^Yks 

 are known as bats, since the birds are usuall}^ seen at dusk when 

 their erratic flight resembles somewhat that of the common mammal. 

 This resemblance linked with the bellowing or booming sound pro- 

 duced by the wing feathers during the courtship plunge has given 

 source to the commonly used name bullbat. Audubon (1840) used 

 the synonym Virginia bat and stated that the French Creoles of 

 Louisana knew the nighthawk by the metaphorical French name 

 "crapau volans," or flying toad. In the Bahamas, as well as in 

 certain localities of America, a common local name is "pick-a-me- 

 dick" a crude imitation of one of its notes. The name mosquito 

 hawk was well earned by one individual that, according to the 

 Biological Survey, had eaten 300 mosquitoes. Other names some- 

 times applied to the nighthawk but less frequently than some of 

 those previously mentioned are pisk, pork and beans, will-o'-wisp, 

 burnt-land bird, and bird hawk. 



The commonly accepted name nighthawk probably originated 

 because of the bird's resemblance to the smaller hawks when observed 

 in flight. However, it has sometimes jDroved to be an unfortunate 

 choice, since to the layman it suggests a bird of the true hawk type. 

 This name on occasions has been a source of trouble to an innocent 

 bird as illustrated in the following cases. According to B. H. 

 Warren (1890) the Pennsylvania Game Commissioners, in their 

 interpretation of the Scalp Act of 1885, took the stand that they 

 w^ere obliged to allow bounty on all nighthawks because they were 

 known as hawks. Mr. Warren also states that there is a somewhat 

 prevalent idea that nighthawks are destroyers of young poultry, the 

 name doubtless having given origin to the absurdity. The following 

 clipping taken from the Portland (Maine) Press is another example 

 of the way the name has misled well-meaning persons. "The Press 

 building acquired a new claim to distinction yesterday as the haunt 

 of wild fowl when janitor Phillip Ward, upon making an ascent to 

 the roof, discovered two hen hawk's eggs there. Apparently some 

 bird of the genus so despised by farmers had found the top of 

 Portland's skyscrapers the right kind of a nesting place, and had 

 laid her plans to hatch a few juvenile hen hawks up there. Janitor 

 Ward's unexpected arrival put an end to such plans, however, and 

 farmers may rest assured that the breed of distasteful birds who 

 pillage their chicken yards is two the less." Arthur H. Norton, 

 director of the Portland Society of Natural History, investigated 

 the story and found the victim to be an innocent nighthawk. Ad- 

 verse criticisms of the name nighthawk have been numerous but the 

 name although inappropriate is destined to persist. 



Spring. — Tlie vanguard of the nighthawks in the spring migra- 

 tion reaches Florida and the Gulf States about the middle of April. 



