454 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICAEI^ — CYPSELIFOBMES. 



Analysis of Species. 

 Large: wing near 8.00. Primaries dusky, with large white spot on 5 of them, in both sexes, about half 



way from bend to point of the wing popetue 399, 400, 401 



Small : wing about 7.00. Primaries more or less spotted with tawny, with large white (cf ) or tawny ( 9 ) 



spaces on 4 of them nearer point than bend of the wing. (Southwestern.) texensis 40» 



3»9. C. popetue. (Vox barb., incog. Figs. 290, 295.) Night-hawk. Bull-bat. Above, mot- 

 tled with black, browu, gray aud tawny, the former in excess ; below from the breast transversely 

 barred with blackish aud white or pale fulvous ; throat with a large white ( $) or tawny ( J ) 

 cross-bar ; tail blackish, with distant pale marbled cross-bars and a large white spot (wanting in 

 the 9 ) on one or both webs of neaiiy all the feathers toward the end ; primaries dusky, unmarked 

 except by one large white spot on outer ^re, about midway between their base and tip ; second- 

 aries like primaries, but with whitish tips and imperfect cross-bars. Sexes nearly alike : 9 

 with the white spaces on the quills, but that on the tail replaced by tawny or not evident. 

 Young similar, with the wing-spots from the nest, but the markings finer and more intricately 

 blended, in effect more like Antrostomus; quills edged aud tipped with tawny. Length 9.00 or 

 more; extent about 23.00 ; wing about 8.00 ; tail i. 50; whole foot 1.25 ; culmeu scarcely 0.25 ; 

 gape about 1.25. Temperate N. Am., chiefly Eastern, abundant; migratory; breeds through- 

 out its range ; winters beyond. This species flies abroad at all times, though it is perhaps 

 most active towards evening aud in dull weather ; aud is generally seen in companies, busily 

 foraging for insects with rapid, easy, and protracted flight ; in the breeding season it performs 

 curious evolutions, falling through the air wdtli a loud booming sound. Eggs 2, elliptical, 1.52 

 X 0.87, finely variegated with stone-gray aud other neutral tints, over which is scratched aud 

 fretted dark olive-gray ; but the pattern and tints are very variable. The young hatch covered 

 with fluffy down, whitish below, varied with blackish and brown above. It may be necessary 

 in this family for the young to be covered from the first, to protect them from the cold ground. 

 On being disturbed while brooding the female feigns lameness, dragging and fluttering about, 

 uioauing piteously, aud Mall sometimes remove her young. 



400. C. p. hen'ryi. (To Dr. T. C. Henry.) Western Night-hawk. The lighter- colored form 

 prevailing in the dryer or unwooded portions of western United States ; the gray aud fulvous 

 in excess of the darker hues, the white patches on the wing, tail and throat usually larger ; the 

 under tail-coverts more nearly uniform ; but no specific character can be assigned. 



401. C. p. mi'nor. (Lat. minor, smaller.) Cuban Night-hawk. A foi-m found in the West 

 Indies, similar to C. popetue in color, but rather more tawny, and decidedly smaller : wing 

 7.00; tail 4.00. Florida. 



402. C. acutipen'nis texen'sis. (Lat. acutus, acute; penna, a feather: alluding to the sharp- 

 pointed wings. Of Texas : our bird a northern race of the S. Am. species.) Texas Night- 

 hawk. Smaller than the foregoing, and otherwise very distinct. General tone lighter, pattern 

 more blended and diffuse, more as in an Antrostomus. $ , adult : Assuming upper parts gray, 

 this color intimately punctate with lighter and darker shades, more boldly marked with blackish, 

 chiefly in streaks, and \\dth tawny and white, largest on the scapulars and wing-coverts. 

 Under parts barred, as in popetue, with blackish, tawny, and whitish, but the two formerpre- 

 vailing. A large white V on the throat. Four outer primaries \vith large white spot on both 

 webs, nearer tip than bend of the wing ; inner primaries and all the secondaries spotted with 

 tawny in broken bars. Tail blackish, with broken gray or tawny bars, and a complete sub- 

 terminal cross-bar of white on all the feathers but the central pair. 9 lacking this white, all 

 the tail-feathers being motley-ban-ed with gray aud tawny throughout; the primaries all spotted 

 ^^■ith tawny, larger spots of this color replacing the white tif the $ ; throat-V tawny. Young 

 more suffused with tawny on a -pearly-gray, black-speckled ground ; but youug $ with the 

 white tail- and wing-spots from the fii'st. Length 8.00 or more ; extent 20.00-22.00 ; wing 

 about 7.00 ; tail 4.00. S.W. U. S., valleys of Rio Grande aud Colorado, Texas to California 



