568 



S YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — PICA RLE — CORA CIjE. 



tail-tips are shorter and tinged with tawny. Length 7.00-8.00; extent 15.00; wing about 

 5.50; tail 3.50 or less ; tarsus, or middle toe without claw, 0.65. Great Plains nearly to the 

 Pacific, U. S. and British border. W. to the Sierras Nevadas of California and Cascade ranges 

 of Oregon and Washington, E. casually to Iowa and Missouri, S. to Guatemala; abundant; 

 migratory, but breeds throughout its U. S. range, and winters sparingly on our southern bor- 

 der. Note of two syllables, the first of the " whippoorwill " omitted. Eggs 2, 1.05 X 0.80, 

 down to 0.90 X 0.75, averaging 1.00 X 0.75, elliptical, white, with a faint blush, occasionally 

 with a few fugacious shell-markings about the larger end. They are laid from May to August, 

 on the bare ground. 



P. n. nit'idus. (Lat. nitidiis, shining.) Frosted Poor-will. Similar to the last, but 

 with dark markings of upper parts fewer and sharper on a much paler ground, and cross-bars 

 on under parts finer and paler. Described as a bleached desert race from Texas and Arizona, 

 N. to western Kansas. Brewst. Auk, April, 1887, p. 147 ; CouES, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 902 ; 

 A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 418 a. 



P. n. calif or'nieus, (Lat. Californian.) DuSKY Poor- will. Like the stock form, but 

 darker. Pacific coast region, Lower California and northward. Tva'o skins from Nicasio and 



Calaveras, California, are said to be "altogether 

 darker than any from elsewhere." Ridgw. Man. 

 1887, p. 588 ; Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 902 ; 

 A. O. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 418 b. 

 CHORDEl'LES. (Gr. xop^, chorde, a stringed 

 LsUjssJ'*^ " ^S^^I^^^W musical instrument ; SeiXij, evening : alluding to 



the crepuscular habits. The malformed name 

 Chordeiles of Swainson, 1831, continues to be 

 so misspelled in the A. 0. U. Lists. Fig. 385.) 

 NiOHT-HAWKS. Glahrirostral : the rictus with- 

 out long stiff bristles. Horny part of beak ex- 

 tremely small. Nostrils cylindric and rimmed 

 about, hardly tubular, opening outward and up- 

 ward. Tarsus feathered part way down in front. 

 Fig. 385. —Night-hawk, Female, nat. size. (L. Tail lightly forked, much shorter than the ex- 

 A. Fuertes.) tremely long, pointed, stiff, and thin bladed wing, 



with 1st primary as long as the next. Plumage more compact and smooth than in Night-jars ; 

 primaries mostly whole-colored (in texensis spotted), with large white (or tawny) spaces on 

 the outer 4-6 ; under parts barred across ; a large white (or tawny) V-shaped throat-bar. 

 Eggs 2, heavily colored. Not strictly nocturnal. Remarkably volitorial. 



Analysis of Species and Subspecies. 

 Primaries dusky, with large white spot on 5 of them, in both sexes, about half way from bend to point of the wing. 

 Large ; wing over 7.00, usually near 8.00. 



The ordinary form, dark. N. Am. Chiefly Eastern virginianus 



The lighter tawny form. Western N. Am ''• "Snryt 



The pale silvery-gray form. Great Plains *'■ senneth 



Small ; wing about 7.00. Florida and Gulf coast ■"• chapmani 



Primaries more or less spotted with tawny, with large white ( d" ) or tawny ( 9 ) spaces on 4 of them nearer point 

 than bend of the wing. Small : wing about 7.00. Southwestern texensis 



C. vlrginia'nus. (Lat. Virginian. Figs. 379, 385, 386.) Night-hawk. Mosquito-hawk. 

 Bull-bat. Piramidig. Pisk. Above, mottled with black, brown, gray, and tawny, the 

 former in excess ; below from breast transversely barred with blackish and white or pale ful- 

 vous; throat with a large white (^) or tawny (9 ) cross-bar; tail blackish, with pale mar- 

 bled cross-bars and a large white spot (wanting in the 9 ) on one or both webs of nearly 

 all the feathers toward the end ; primaries dusky, unmarked except by one large white spot on 



