Nighihawk 177 



cealment perfect. Not even the ovenbird con- 

 trives that a peep at her eggs shall be so diffictdt 

 for us. It is next to impossible to find them. 

 UnHke the wicked cowbird, who builds no nest 

 because she has no maternal instinct, the whip- 

 poor-will, who is a devoted mother, makes none 

 because none is needed. Once I happened upon 

 two fuzzy, dark, yellowish-gray, baby whip-poor- 

 wills (mostly mouths) in a hollow of a decayed, 

 lichen-covered log, which was their "comfy" 

 cradle ; but the frantic mother, who flopped and 

 tumbled about on the ground around them, 

 whining like a puppy, sent me running away 

 from sheer pity. 



In the Southern States a somewhat larger 

 whip-poor-will, but with the same habits, is 

 known as chuck-will's-widow. 



NIGHTHAWK 



Called also: Bull-bat; Night-jar; Mosquito-hawk 



Did you ever hear a rushing, whirring, boom- 

 ing sound as though w^nd were blowing 

 across the bung-hole of an empty barrel? The 

 nighthawk, who makes it, is such a high flyer^ 

 that in the dusk of the late afternoon or early 

 evening, when he delights to sail abroad to get 

 bis dinner, you cannot always see him; but as 



