THE TEXAN NIGHTHAWK. 173 



catching insects, probal)ly the hitter. The ordinary call note uttered by it while 

 on the wing, however, is quite different; it is still more s([ueaky than that of th.e 

 Ni"hthawk, not so loud, and reminds me somewhat of the sounds made hv a 

 very young kitten in distress. It apparently does not indulge in the peculiar 

 aerial performances, causing the booming sounds made by the other members 

 of this genus so frequently heard during the mating and breeding season; and 

 it is also more crepuscular, and unless accidentally flushed is rarely seen flying 

 about in the daytime. Dr. James C. IVIerrill, United States Army, in his "List 

 of Birds Observed in the Vicinity tif P\-)rt Brown, Texas," writes of tliis species 

 as follows: 



" Connnon summer visitor, arriving early in April. While ChordeUcs vir- 

 f/niixi/Ks lieiirijl is usually found about prairies at some distance from houses, the 

 present species is most plentiful just outside of Brownsville, and I have found 

 several sets of eggs within the fort. These are usually deposited in exposed 

 situations, among sparse chapairal, on ground Ijaked almost as hard as Ijrick by 

 the intense heat of the sun. One set of eggs was placed on a small piece of 

 tin, within a foot or two of a fre(|uented path. The female sits close, and when 

 flushed flies a few feet and speedily retiu-ns to its eggs. They make; no attempt 

 todecov an intnider away. I have ridden uii to witliin five feet of a female on 

 her eggs, dismounted, tied my horse, and put my liaiid on the bird before she 

 would move. This si)ecies is more strictly crepuscular than ChonlrUrs rirf/iii- 

 iaini.s hciiijii or Chordtiles rirginiaims, and is very seldom seen on the Aving 

 during the day. The notes are a mewing call, and a very curious call tliat is 

 AN'itli ditticulty described. It is somewhat like the distant and very rapid tap- 

 ping of a large Woodpecker, accom))anied by a humming scmnd, and it is almo.st 

 impossible to tell in what direction or at what distance the bird is that makes 

 the noise. Both these notes are uttered on the wing or on the ground, and by 

 both sexes."' 



In some respects its liabits resemble those of the Poor-will more than the 

 Nisrhthawks. I have more than once seen several of these birds alindit on the 

 bare ground in front of my camp on Ixillito Creek, near Tixcson, Arizona, after 

 sundown, and watched them hopping after insects or dusting themselves. They 

 were very tame, often allowing me to walk to within four feet of them, when 

 they would only fly a few yards and resume their feeding again. 



The Texan Nighthawk usually arrives along the southern border of its 

 range in the United States about tlie flrst week in April, and returns south again 

 in the latter part of Octol^er. Throughout the inore southern portions of its 

 habitat it uud<nibtedly raises two broods in a season. The earliest breeding 

 records I have (Ajiril 27 and 2S) are from the lower Kio Grande Valley, in 

 Texas; the latest (one of my own) is August 6, 1872, when I found a strongly 

 incubated set of eggs near Tucson, Arizona. 



Like the other mend)ers of the Caprinmh]hJ(C^ the Texan Nighthawk makes 

 no nest, but deposits its two eggs on the bare ground, where they are fully 



'Proceedings I'liiti-d States Xation.al Miisomii. Vol. I, 1S7.'<, \i. 1 l(i. 



