A PAIR OF NIGHT-HAWKS. 137 
forms wheeling about my head, and so I went 
reluctantly home. 
Two days later I found time to visit the marsh. 
On reaching the spot where the two birds had 
been seen, presto! a dark feathered form started 
up before me from the ground. It was the female 
night-hawk ; and there on the damp earth, without 
the least trace of a nest or a covering of any kind, 
lay two eggs. At last I had found a night-hawk’s 
nest! The ground-color of the eggs, which were 
quite large, was of a dirty bluish-gray cast, mottled 
and clouded with darker gray and brown. 
The behavior of the mother bird was curious. 
She had fluttered away a few rods, pretending to 
be hurt, and then dropped into the grass. On my 
driving her from her hiding-place, she rose in the air 
and began to hover about above my head, and then, 
to my utter surprise, she swooped down toward me 
savagely, as if she really had a mind to attack me. 
As I walked away, she seemed to grow angrier and 
bolder, making a swift dash at me every few minutes, 
and actually coming so near my head as to cause 
me involuntarily to raise my cane in self-defence. 
A quaver of uneasiness went through me. I really 
believe she would have struck me had I given her 
sufficient provocation. ‘There was a brisk. shower 
falling at the time, and so, fearing the eggs might 
become addled, I hurried to the remote end of the 
marsh. Suddenly my feathered pursuer disappeared. 
Wondering if she had resumed her place on the 
nest, I sauntered back to settle the doubt, but pres: 
