198 LAND BIRDS 
Breeding Season: April and May. 
Nest: None ; eggs laid on the bare ground. 
Eggs; 2; clay-colored, dotted, mottled, or marbled with brown and 
obscure lilac. Size 1.07 X 0.77. 
Mr. GrRiNNELL says the Texan Nighthawk is a common 
summer visitant throughout the Lower Sonoran zone, 
and occurs as far north as Stanislaus and San Benito 
counties. Mr. Bendire records it at San Joaquin County, 
and Mr. Merriam found it breeding in Inyo County. 
It is the smallest of all the nighthawks found in the 
United States. Like the other varieties, it is gregarious 
while feeding; it skims over the water like a swallow, 
and scoops the tiny gnats in its wide mouth. It is said 
not to make the peculiar booming of the Eastern night- 
hawk, but to utter a peculiar humming sound while on 
the wing. 
Dr. Merrill writes of it: ‘‘The eggs are usually de- 
posited in exposed situations, among sparse chaparral, 
on ground baked almost as hard as brick 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 frequented path. 
The female sits close, and when flushed flies a few feet 
and speedily returns to its eggs. They make no attempt 
to drive an intruder away. I have ridden up to within 
five feet of a female on her eggs, dismounted, tied my 
horse and put my hand on the bird before she would 
move. ... The notes are a mewing call and a very 
curious call that is with difficulty described. It is some- 
what like the distant and very rapid tapping of a large 
woodpecker, accompanied by a humming sound, and it is 
