BIRDS OF THE AIR. 343 



the Nighthawk, one of the most friendly and useful of birds. 

 Its supposedly ill-omened en- is sometimes heard from the 

 ridgepole or from the orchard trees. ]Mr. James Buckham, 

 in an interesting article in "Zion's Herald," calls attention 

 to the fact that the Whip-poor-will is often a doorstep singer. 

 It sometimes sits on the broad stone step before the farm- 

 house door and calls w/tipowiU repeatedly. AVhen close at 

 hand a soft cluck may be heard after each phrase. The bird 

 may be distinguished from the Nighthawk l)y its shorter 

 wings and long, rounded tail. 



The Whip-poor-will is an animated insect trap. Its 

 enormous mouth is surrounded by long bristles which form 

 a wide fringe about the yawning cavity, and the bird flies 

 rather low among the trees and over the undergrowth, 

 snapping up nocturnal insects in flight. It is perhaps the 

 greatest enemy of night moths, but is quite as destructive 

 to May beetles and other leaf-eating beetles. Hairy cater- 

 pillars, like the tent and tussock caterpillars, as well as span- 

 worms, grasshoppers, and ants, are sometimes eaten in large 

 numbers. 



SWALLO\A^S. 



This family of daylight air-coursers has four common 

 representatives in this Commonwealth. The Purple Martin, 

 common until within a few years, is now generally rare 

 except in migration. The illustration of the Swallow roost, 

 although taken from a sketch made on the Musketaquid, was 

 nevertheless suggested by Ernest Thompson Seton's beauti- 

 ful drawing, now reproduced in Chapman's "Bird-Life." It 

 shows the four common Swallows, and exhibits their habit 

 of roosting in reeds. Swallows collect in flocks throughout 

 the season of migration. In July, as soon as the young are 

 reared, they begin to flock at night near bodies of water, and 

 prepare to migrate. Swallows gather in winter in the great 

 swamps of southern Florida in enormous flights, wdiich, after 

 uniting in one, discharge into the reeds at dusk. The de- 

 scent of such a multitude resembles in appearance a great 

 waterspout topped by an enormous black cloud. In the 

 ihorning they scatter out over the country to feed. 



