CAPRIMULGIDiE. — CIIORDEILES VIKGINIANUS. 89 



now by me exhibit the following varying measurements, none of Avhich, it will be 

 seen, exactly correspond : 1^- inches by | ; 1| by -|f ; l]- by||; 1^\ by | ; 1^^^ 

 by ||; 1|^ by if. In these the ground is of various shades of stone-color; in one, 

 almost a dirty white ; in another, with a slight tinge of yellowish ; in a third, the 

 shading is somewhat bluish, and in yet another again it is almost clay-colored. The 

 sjiots and markings, which are thickly diffused over the whole egg, also vary more 

 or less in each specimen. One is finely dotted with small specks of light slate and 

 yellowish-brown. In another, the spots are of the same colors, but arc larger and 

 more distinct, and seem as if laid on with a bolder pencil. Again, in a third, they 

 are lighter and more indistinct than in either, the shade of yellow more predomi- 

 nant, and each blending confusedly into the other. In a fourth, the spots arc again 

 small, but are all of a dark-brown color, while the remaining two are marbled, but 

 in different degrees, with large lines, veins, and dashes of the same color. With 

 an increased number of specimens these variations might without doubt be ex- 

 tended indefinitely. Still, notwithstanding all these deviations, the egg is readily 

 distinguishable, for I know of no egg, certainly no American, which in shape, size, 

 and markings it at all resembles, with the single exception of an egg which is pre- 

 sumed to belong to the following species. 



In regard to the geographical distribution of this species, later observations, pub- 

 lished since the above was prepared, are confirmatory of all that has been stated, 

 but do not make our knowledge quite exact as to its western distribution. It is 

 assigned by Mr. Cassin to all temperate North America, and probably passes this 

 limit. Dr. Townsend obtamed specimens in Oregon ; Dr. Heermann, also, in Cali- 

 fornia ; Dr. Hall mentions it in a catalogue of the Birds of Canada which he fur- 

 nished to Mr. Cassin ; Dr. "Woodhouse foimd it throughout the south and west, 

 from the Mississippi Eiver to the Pacific Ocean, in great abundance ; Colonel Mc- 

 Call observed it in New Mexico ; and specimens from Mexico occur in the Rivoli 

 collection. It has been found also in Nicaragua by Barruel, in Jamaica by Gosse, 

 and in Cuba by Lembeye and Gundlach. Lieutenant Bland, in his catalogue of the 

 Birds of Nova Scotia, mentions it as "common, migratory, and breeding" in that 

 Province. From this it is to be inferred that during the breeding season it has one 

 of the most extended ranges among North American birds, — from Central America 

 on both the Atlantic and Pacific shores to the extreme north. 



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