THE NIGHTHAWK AND THE WHIPPOORWILL. 179 



and subspecies, only two of which, however, are commonly 

 found over the largest portion of our country, the others 

 occurring in the Southern or Southwestern States. Every 

 one is familiar with the plaintive cry of the WHIPPOORWILL, 

 one of the commonest members of this group. It is a noc- 

 turnal bird and secludes itself by day in the darkest recesses 

 of the woods. In such places also the young are reared, the 

 two creamy white, brown-blotched eggs being deposited on 

 the ground or on a log or stump, with no attempt at a nest. 

 By night it flies rapidly through the air, catching in its capa- 

 cious mouth flying insects of many kinds. The few stomachs 

 that have been examined show that it feeds largely on night- 

 Hying moths, sometimes taking those having a wing expanse 

 of two inches. Click-beetles and other beetles are also often 

 devoured. Four-fifths of the food of one specimen consisted 

 of injurious grasshoppers. One Ontario specimen had its 

 stomach filled with " the large female wingless ants, which 

 could only have been obtained upon the ground, and in all 

 probability in the daytime." 1 



The NIGHTHAWK, or BULL-BAT, is seen much oftener than 

 the whippoorwill, on account of its greater abundance and its 

 habit of flying about everywhere, especially on dark days and 

 towards dusk. Small flocks of them may frequently be seen 

 cleaving the air in all directions, coming close to men and 

 houses in their rapid evolutions. Its two eggs are laid on the 

 ground, generally in secluded situations, although of late it 

 often uses the flat roofs of Boston houses as nesting-places. 

 It is a great insect eater, its food consisting of May-flies, 

 dragon-flies, beetles of many kinds, "water boatmen," scor- 

 pion-flies, bugs of various sorts, and many grasshoppers. 

 From seven Nebraska specimens Professor Aughey took three 

 hundred and forty-eight Rocky Mountain locusts, an average 

 of forty-nine to each bird. An Arkansas specimen examined 



1 Nash, Birds of Ontario, p. 29. 



