316 



SWALLOWS. 



toe of each foot is very mobile, aud can be brought round to the 

 remaining toes, so that all the claws take their hold in the same 

 direction. Apparently, this structure is intended to enable the bird 

 to run along the branches of trees in its nocturnal chase after beetles 

 and other insects. 



The Nightjar makes no nest, but, choosing some sheltered hollow 



under the shade of a 

 grass tuft, a bunch of 

 fern, bramble, or other 

 defence, there lays two 

 eggs on the bare ground. 

 The color of the egg is 

 grayish white, plentifully 

 mottled with pale buff 

 and gray. The young 

 are very similar to those 

 of the cuckoo. The 

 plumage of the Nightjar 

 is very rich in its color- 

 of buff, 

 white, 

 brown, and chestnut be- 

 ing arranged in pleasing 

 but most intricate pat- 

 terns, and easier to be 

 understood from a pencil 

 illustration than a de- 

 scription of the pen. 



The Whip-poor-will 

 also belongs to this group 

 of birds, and is familiar- 



ing, the tints 

 gray, black 



The Whip-poor-will {Capr-imulgus vocifer, 

 1. Male. 2. Female. 



ly known by the peculiar melancholy cry, which very much resembles 

 the other odd names by which it is called. 



SWALLOWS. 



The close-set plumage of the Swallow tribe, their long sickle-like 

 wings, their stiff;- firm tail, forked in most of the species, and their slight 

 legs and toes, are characteristics which mark them out as birds which 

 spend the greater part of their existence in the air, and exercise their 

 wings far more than their feet. 



They all feed upon insects and capture their prey in the air, ascend- 

 ing at one time to such a height that they are hardly perceptible to the 

 naked eye, and look merely like tiny dots moving upon the sky ; while 



