NIGHT HAWK. 3ST 



Ni'Stlin/js. The only specimen I ever saw was shown to me Iiy Mi-. Brewster, who obtained it from Mr. N. C. Brown. 

 riiis was covered with downy feathers of a dark-brown eolor, spotted and tipped irregularly with rufous and yellowish. It 

 is ([uitc jiriiliable that this species undergoes several changes from birth to the time it assumes the jilumage described adovc. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Specimens vary somewhat in markings, especially above, and while those from Florida are generally darker, the}' show 

 more white above; this is especially noticeable in birds which I obtained at Lake Harney late in May when they were breed- 

 ing; in fact they exhibit .some approach in this respect to the bleached \V'estern form, '^Henryi." There is, however, no 

 appreciable difference in size between Florida birds and those taken even as far north as Maine. Distributed during the 

 breeding season throughout the entire extent of North America. Wintei-s in the West Indies. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of twenty-four specimens from Florida and New England. Length, 9-00; stretch, 22\7; wing, 

 7'82: tail, 3-95: bill, -25; tai-sus, '.57. Longest specimen, 9'7.5; greatest extent of wing, 2-i-2!>; longest wing, 8'90: tail, 4'55; 

 bill, -30; tarsus, ■6.'). Shorte,st specimen, 8-25; smallest extent of wing, 2r00; shortest wing, 6-75; tail, 3-25; bill, "20; tar- 

 sus, '45. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nnslx, simply hollows scratched in the gnmnd, or the eggs are frequently deposited on bare i-ocks and, of late years, 

 also on the flit, concrete-covered roof-; of houses in cities like New York and Boston. 



-/v/(/.<, two in number, eUi])tical in form, dirty white in color, spotted and blotched irregularly with lirown, slatj' and 

 lilac. Dimeasions from Tl'Ox '80 to r26 x '85. 



HABITS. 



It is impossible to find a bird which is more generally known wheneA'cr it occurs than 

 the Night Hawks. Even the Seminoles of Florida described it to me long before its arriv- 

 al and when I showed Tiger a skin he exclaimed, at once, ^'■Ho-pil-car!" a name by which 

 they designate it, and once more proceeded to give me a good account of its habits, by 

 whicli I judged that it bred in the vicinity. They were very abundant tibuut the first week 

 in Aj)ril at Miami yet many of these were probably only migrants, but I found tliem com- 

 mon and nesting on Merritt's Island, Indian River, and obtained a single egg deposited on 

 a sp:)t destitute of vegetation. Later, about the fifteenth of the month, the same season, 

 I found them, evidently breeding, in the piney woods but failed to find an egg. The males 

 were sitting on the limbs of high pine trees but the females were not visible during the 

 day, only making their appearance at twilight. I found the fresh eggs in the grain fields 

 of Pennsylvania iluring the last week of May and obtained the females with eggs ready to 

 be deposited, in Maine, on the fifth of June. When breeding, the females are not at all 

 shy, as they will permit one to walk (juite near them without starting. Indeed I have 

 nearly placed my foot upon them as they sit crouched flat against the ground, before they 

 would rise, then woull only fly a few yards and settle a'j^ain. So closely do the colors of the 

 Night Hawks corresp:)nd with those of the soil which is destitute of vegetation, that it is 

 almost impossible to detect the birds, especially when the surface is slightly broken or cov- 

 ered with stones. Like many ground nesters which are similarly colored, these birds ap- 

 pear to be aware that this similarity of col;)r to that of surrounding objects is their best 

 protection, consequently they will almost always remain quiet until the intruder approaclies 

 very near them. When forced to take wing, tliey rise \ery suddenly, flying in an eccen- 

 tric or zigZMg course but with a rapid motion. The females merely utter a kind of croak 

 repeated once or twice when first on the wing, then are silent. 



