BIRDS WITH UNMUSICAL VOICES. 131 



bough, upon which he settles and immediately begins 

 his song again. 



The whip-poor-will does not build a nest, but 

 selects some very secluded spot in the woods, where, 

 among the brush, dry leaves, and old logs, she usually 

 lays two eggs resembling those of the night hawk, of 

 a dull gray- white color spotted plentifully with olive- 

 brown. It is a common but curious practice among 

 some birds not to build nests, but either to depend 

 upon those of other birds or to take all the chances of 

 harm to their offspring by choosing a merely seques- 

 tered spot on the ground. 



The next strange-voiced bird is the night hawk 

 (CJiordeiles Virginianus). A strange-looking crea- 

 ture (not a true hawk at all), with a very small bill 

 and a very large mouth, closely resembling the whip- 

 poor-will, but far more beautifully marked. The 

 night hawk is about ten inches long ; around his eyes 

 is a buffish brown patch bounded below with a tri- 

 angular patch of dull white, which extends beneath 

 the bill ; the wings and tail are blackish brown with 

 sharply denned bands of dull white ; the other parts 

 are varied tones of spotted light brown. 



The female has no band of white about the 

 throat, and is very moderately marked on wings and 

 tail. She lays two eggs of a gray-white tone, 

 speckled all over with olive-brown, in some secluded 



