THE WESTERN NIGUTHAWK. 169 



Avere as familiar as the stirring- of the i)ine Ixmglis dverliead, and tlie famiing of 

 their wings ahiiost as littk' heeded. A couphi of young-, recently liatehed, were 

 found near the camp on July 27, 1887, showing that two broods are reared the 

 same year, or that its season of reproduction is (|uite protl-acted. The A'oice of 

 this species is quite unlike that of Chordeiles texensis.'"^ 



In southern California it is a somewhat rai-e summer resident, l)ut in tlie 

 middle and northern portions of this State it is not unconimon. In the lower 

 Rio Grande Valley, throughout western Texas, the Plains, and the Great Basin 

 regions it seems to be generally distributed, and appears to be equally at home 

 in the hottest desert districts — like Death Valley, for instance, below sea level — 

 as on the higher mountain summits in the Sierra Nevadas and the liocky moun- 

 tains. I found the Western Nighthawk fairly common in the vicinity of all 

 the military Posts where I have been stationed in the West, and I have not 

 observed the slightest difference in its general habits, call notes, etc. from those 

 of its eastern relatives. 



In the lower Rio Grande Valle}% in Texas, nidificatiou commences occa- 

 sionally in the last week in April and lasts well into July, and here t\vo broods 

 are undoubtedly raised in a season, while in the more northern portions I believe 

 one is the rule, and here eggs are rarely found before the middle of Jinie, and 

 ii-equently not before the first Aveek in July. Its nesting habits are also similar; 

 it V)reeds in corresponding situations, excepting, as far as I knoAv, tlie flat roofs 

 of houses. I have not yet heard of their breeding on housetops in any part of 

 tlieir range. A set of eggs of this subspecies Avas found by me on July 3, 1875, 

 in the foothills of the Blue Mountahis, some 6 miles northeast of Camp Harnej^, 

 Oregon, laid among some pebbles on the bare ground under a little sage bush. 

 The sitting bird allowed me almost to touch it, ;uid was very reluctant to 

 al)a.ndon its eggs,"Av]iich Avere but slightly incubated. On my approach, it ruffled 

 its feathers and emitted a hissing sound, resembling someAvhat the spitting of a 

 cat when m;ul. Their favorite nesting places in that A^cinity Avere the crests of 

 gravelly ridges, always selecting a well-di-aiued spot, where the rains could not 

 chill the young or eggs. Bare, rocky table-lands are also frequently resorted 

 to for similar purposes, and less often the flat tops of bowlders. p]xtensive burnt 

 tracts also furnish favorite abiding places for them in the more northern portions 

 of tlieir range ; in fact, in such localities they are fully as abundant as on the 

 more open sagebrusli plains. They are very devoted parents. lAIr. W. G. Smith, 

 of Loveland, Colorado, writes me: "I had otie swoop doAvn several times at a 

 dog that used to accompany me, finally driving it aAvay. I think the bird had 

 a nest close by and resorted to this means to ])rotect its young or sitting mate." 



The eggs of the Western Nighthawk, botli in shajje and markings, are 

 scarcely distinguishable from those of the eastern bird, and the same description 

 Avill ansAver for both; on the Avliole, however, the ligliter-colored types seem to 

 predominate over the darker ones. The eggs figured of tlie preceding species 

 Avill also answer for this, and the single egg figured of this subspecies can like- 

 wise be matched among the series of the former. 



' The Auk, Vol. VII, 1890, pp. 254, 255. 



