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122 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 
CHORDEILES POPETUE. — Baird. 
The Night-hawk; Bull Bat. 
Caprimulgus popetue, Vieillot. Ois. Am. Sept., I. (1807) 56. 
Caprimulgus Americanus, Wilson, V. (1812) 65. 
Caprimulgus Virginianus. Aud. Orn. Biog., II. (1834) 278. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Male, above greenish-black, with but little mottling on the head and back; wing 
coverts varied with grayish; scapulars with yellowish-rufous; a nuchal band of fine 
gray mottling, behind which is another coarser one of rufous spots; a white 
V-shaped mark on the throat; behind this a collar of pale-rufous blotches, and 
another on the breast of grayish mottling; under parts banded transversely with 
dull-yellowish or reddish-white and brown; wing quills quite uniformly brown; the 
five outer primaries with a white blotch midway between the tip and carpal 
joint, not extending on the outer web of the outer quill; tail with a terminal white 
patch. 
Female, without the caudal white patch, the white of the throat mixed with 
reddish. 
Length of male, nine and fifty one-hundredths inches; wing, eight and twenty 
one-hundredths inches. 
This bird is much more abundantly distributed through- 
out New England than the preceding; and its habits are, 
consequently, better known. It arrives from the south 
about the 10th of May. At this time, great numbers may 
be observed, at early twilight, coursing through the air in 
different directions, sometimes at a great height, sometimes 
just above the trees in the country, or houses in the city; 
occasionally, very near the earth or water, or, when near 
the seacoast, but just above the marshes, where they destroy 
great numbers of insects. Their flight is very rapid, their 
long wings giving quick, powerful sweeps; and, as they dart 
about in many eccentric movements, busily gleaning their 
food, they utter, at oft-repeated intervals, their short note 
or squeak, which almost exactly resembles that of the Com- 
mon Snipe. 
About the middle of May, or by the 20th of that month, 
in Maine, the male commences his attentions to the female. 
His movements at this time are interesting, and, from their 
common occurrence, familiar to all who live in the country. 
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