JUNE. 213 



F. — The spring is the chief time for the singing of birds : 

 it appears to be connected with their pairing, and the rearing 

 of their young. When these duties are performed, our little 

 musicians become silent : a few sing in autumn, but very few 

 indeed during the heat of summer. They have not left the 

 country, however ; they have merely retired from view 

 into the recesses of the woods and swamps. I saw some of 

 the warblers in a cedar swamp yesterday: I believe they 

 were the Bay-breasted Warbler and Canada Flycatcher (Si/l- 

 via Castanea, and Muscicapa Canadensis), The finches 

 are much more familiar ; the Purple Finch (Fringilla Pur- 

 purea) yet remains with us; the Goldfinch (Fringilla 

 Tristis), the King-bird (Muscicapa Tyrannus)^ and the 

 sparrows, are still hopping about the fences ; and the Red- 

 wings (Sturnus Predatorius) and Grakles (Graculus) are 

 occasionally seen. 



C — Last evening, as I was returning from the field about 

 sunset, some rather large, dark birds kept flying over my head, 

 sweeping along with great swiftness : they had a pale spot 

 on each wing. Their wings were long, and they flew like 

 swallows, with great power of wing. Now and then, they 

 uttered a short harsh scream. 



F. — They were Night Hawks ( Caprimulgus America- 

 nusj : they screech in the air every evening from sunset till 

 after darkness has closed in. They are spread over the 

 whole of the United States, in some of which they are called 

 the bull-bat, partly from their resemblance to bats, as they 

 flit along in the twilight, and partly from another circum- 

 stance, which is very peculiar. In the evenings, the males 

 amuse themselves by mounting on the wing to a great height, 

 then suddenly dropping down perpendicularly, head foremost, 

 like a lump of lead ; they bring themselves up with a turn 

 before they come to the ground, then mount, and precipitate 

 themselves again. While in the act of descending, they sud- 

 denly utter a hollow booming sound, which may be heard at 



