CHAPTER XXII 



TWO WINGED MYSTERIES 

 THE NIGHTHAWK 



The sun was quite low when the party drove out of 

 the lane ; the birds were singing their very best, and 

 Olive stopped the horses on top of the next hill, that 

 they might all look at the beautiful twilight picture 

 around them. 



*' How quickly the sun slides Avhen it once begins to 

 go ! " said Nat. "It looks as if it were going into a 

 cage with the striped clouds for bars." 



" Shirk — shirk — boom ! " A large bird that had 

 been sailing about overhead dropped through the air 

 till it was almost over the surrey, then turned sud- 

 denly and darted upward again. 



" What is that? " cried Nat and Dodo. 



''That's a Nighthawk — don't you remember the bird 

 Ave heard early one morning in the river woods ? He's 

 looking for small birds to eat," answered Rap. 



" He is called the Nighthawk, but never eats any- 

 thing except beetles, flies, and other insects," said the 

 Doctor, " for he is not a real Hawk. He takes his name 

 from the fact that he dashes about at twilight and in 

 cloudy weather like a Hawk ; but his broad, shallow 

 mouth is only suitable for insect-eating, like his cousin's, 



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