limb, or in the open fields sitting upon the bare ground or on the lofty tower of 

 some building. Owing to the peculiar construction of its feet and the weakness 

 of its legs, this bird sits lengthwise on a limb or squats upon the ground when 

 resting. 



The eggs, two in number, are usually laid upon the ground or a flat rock 

 without a sign of a nest or protection of any kind. Sometimes they are deposited 

 on the fiat roof of a building in the city. The mother bird if disturbed while on 

 the eggs, flutters away before you as though her wings were broken, keeping 

 just beyond your reach until she has led you for some distance ; then she will 

 mount high above the earth leaving you amazed at her skillful trick. Arriving 

 early in May. the nighthawks remain until October, when they gather in large 

 flocks and migrate leisurely southward, not sto])ping for a winter home until they 

 reach the West Indies or Brazil. 



The Bird 



By John Ruskin 



The l)ir(l is link- more ihan a drift of the air brought into form by plumes; 

 the air is in all its ([uills, it breathes through its whole frame and desh, and 

 glows with air in its flying, like a blown flame; it rests upon the air, subdues it, 

 surpasses it. outraces it — is the air, cori'^cious of itself, conquering itself, ruling 

 itself. 



-Also, into the throat of the bird is given the voice of the air. .Ml that in 

 the wind itself is weak, useless in sweetness, is knit together in its song. As 

 we may imagine the wild form of the cloud closed into the i)erfect form of the 

 bird's wings, so the wild voice of the cloud into its ordered and commanded 

 \oice; unwearied, rippling through the clear heaven in its gladness, interpreting 

 all intense passion through the soft spring nights, bursting into acclaim and 

 rapture of choir at daybreak, or lisping and twittering among the boughs and 

 hedges through heat of day, like little winds that only w:\kc the cowslip bells 

 shake, and ruffle the petals of the wild rose. 



Also, upon the jilumes of the bird are put the colors of the air; on these 

 tin gold of the cloud, that cannot be gathered by any covetousness ; the rubies 

 of the clou(U. the \ermiIion of the cloudbar, and the flame of the cloud-crest, and 

 the snow of the cloud, and its shadow, and the melted blue of the deep wells 

 of the sky^ — ^all these, seized by the creating spirit, and wo\en into films and 

 threads of plume: with wa\e on wave following and fading along breast, and 

 throat, and opened wings, infinite as the dividing of the foam and the sifting 

 of the sea sand;- — even the white down of the cloud seeming \<y flutter up between 

 the stronger plumes, seen, bin too miI'i for touch. 



175 



