[356] BIRDS OF OREGON 



THE EARLY RECORDS of the Pacific Nighthawk (Plate 64, B) are all under 

 the name Western Nighthawk, as the present subspecies was not recog- 

 nized and named until 1905. The bird was first recorded from Oregon by 

 Newberry (1857) and later by Suckley (Cooper and Suckley 1860). All 

 the earlier naturalists mentioned it, and Rockwell (1878) recorded eggs 

 from St. Helens. It has since been listed by many others and is known 

 as an abundant summer resident of all parts of the State. It is perhaps 

 the latest migrant to arrive in Oregon. For several years, a pair that 

 nested on Gabrielson's place in East Portland appeared for the first time 

 on June 3, and our earliest records for the State are about June i each 

 year (earliest date, May 2.4, Harney County; latest, September 2.3, Kla- 

 math County). The eggs are laid in late June, numerous Oregon sets 

 having been taken between June 2.0 and July 10. No nest is built; the eggs 

 are placed on the bare ground or occasionally on tarred and gravelly roofs. 

 The aerial evolutions of the "bull bat" are a familiar sight of the long 

 summer evenings. They include not only the twisting and turning carried 

 on in search of food but also the nose dives indulged in at irregular inter- 

 vals. One watching them circling and wheeling over the treetops, open- 

 ing their capacious mouths and scooping in luckless insects as they dart 

 through the swarms of gnats, midges, flying ants, and similar insects, 

 will see a bird suddenly turn straight downward toward the earth, ending 

 the dive in a quick upturn that sends it shooting skyward to the accom- 

 paniment of a sharp "whizzing boom" caused by the sudden change of 

 angle of the wing feathers. 



