158 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
The NigutHawk’s looks, and all his ways, are 
different. He wears the same colors that the 
whip-poor-will does, but they are arranged in an- 
other way. They are put in bars running across 
the back and tail, and there is a great deal of 
white on his upper breast. On the wing is a 
large white spot that looks like a hole across it, 
when you see him flying away up in the air. 
You can always know him by this. 
Then he does not act like the whip-poor-will. 
He is a high flyer, sailing about over our heads 
in the afternoon or evening. He is not silent 
on the wing. Now and then he gives a strange 
sharp cry like “ peent.” He is busy catching 
flies and mosquitoes as he goes. Sometimes you 
will see him dive head first toward the earth as 
if he would dash himself against it. At the 
same time he makes a loud sound, like blowing 
into the bunghole of an empty barrel. But be 
fore he touches, he turns and skims along just 
above the ground. 
The mother nighthawk, like the whip-poor- 
will, makes no nest. She chooses a sunny spot 
in a pasture or on a hillside to put her eggs. 
Sometimes in the cities, where flies and other 
things to eat are so plentiful, she takes a flat 
house-roof for her nursery. Many pairs of down- 
