40 



BULLETIN 86, XJISTITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



seems to be undoubtedly of the present race, being altogether too 

 large for Ghordeiles virginianus chafTnani; if so, it is only a late 

 migrant, because a male collected at the same locality on the same 

 day is certainly Ghordeiles v. chapTnmii^ the breeding form of the 

 region. Specimens from various parts of the breeding range of 

 Ghordeiles virginianus virginianus exhibit the following average 

 measurements : 



In view of the fact that the migration route of this subspecies is 

 across the Gulf of Mexico and through, or rather over, the West 

 Indies, there are surprisingly few records from these islands, even 

 the Greater Antilles. A single specimen, taken, September 29, 1887, 

 on the island of Barbados,^ is the only authentic record from any of 

 the Lesser Antilles. There are no certain records from any part of 

 Mexico excepting the northeastern corner (Nuevo Leon, May 19^), 

 nor from Central America northwest of Costa Eica, The single bird 

 found dead, in 1820, on Melville Island, Franklin Territory, Canada,^ 

 was, of course, a mere straggler so far beyond even the northernmost 

 extension of the breeding range of the subspecies. 



Except, perhaps, in the southern part of its range, Ghordeiles vir- 

 ginianus virginianus rears but a single brood. In the south it breeds 

 chiefly in May and June, and there is record of eggs as early as 

 April 28; in the north, during June and July, and there are un- 

 hatched eggs to be found sometimes as late as July 31. 



The earliest binomial name for the eastern nighthawk is Gapri- 

 m/vilgus virginianus of Gmelin,* based on the bird from Virginia. 

 His diagnosis is in full as follows : 



C[aprimulgus]. fuscus, trausversim griseo-fusco et hinc inde cinereo-varius, 

 subtus ex rubescente albus trausversim sti'iatus, menti macula trigona alba, 

 area oculorum et cennce aurantiis maculis varia. 



Habitat aestate in America septentrionaU, praesertim Virginia, europaeo minor, 

 8 pollices longus, in montanis, vespere prope domus frequens, eoque tempore 



1 Feilden, Ibis, 1889, p. 486. 



^Hartert, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 16, 1892, p. 611. 



3 Sabine, Suppl. Appendix Parry's 1st. Voyage, 1824, p. cxciv. 



* Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 1028. 



