34 NEW-YORK FAUNA — BIRDS. 



GENUS CHORDEILES. Swainson. 



Bill exceedingly small. Gape opening to beneath the centre of the eyes. Upper mandible 

 with the tip bent, and a deep lateral groove. Nostrils oblong, prominent, marginate. Eyes 

 and ear-openings very large. No bristles at the base of the upper mandible. First quill 

 longest. Tail emarginate. 



THE NIGHT HAWK. 



CHORDEILES AMERICANIT8. 



PLATE XXVII. FIG. 60. 



Long-winged Goatsucker. Pennant, Arct. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 436. 



Caprimu'gus americanus. Wilson, Om. Vol. 5, p. 65, pi. 40, figs. 1, 2 (male and female). 

 C. popeiue. Bonaparte, Obs. on Wils. Orn. No. 177. C. virginianus, Ann. Lye. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 62. 

 Night Hawk. Aubcbon, fol. pi. 147 ; Om. Biog. Vol. 2, p. 273, and Vol. 5, p. 406. 

 Night Jar. Nuttall, Ornithol. Vol. 1, p. 619. 

 C. (Chordeiles) virginianus. Richardson, F. B. A. Vol. 2, p. 62. 



Chordeiles virginianus. Audubon, B. of Am. Vol 1, p. 159, pi. 43 (male and female). Giraud, Birds of Long 

 Island, p. 32. 



Characteristics. Varied with black and rufous ; breast barred ; quills with a white bar. 

 Males with a white spot on the chin and a white bar on the tail. Length, 

 9 inches. 



Description. Tail distinctly emarginate, shorter than the wings. Head very large, de- 

 pressed. Eyes large. The claw of the middle toe pectinated as in the preceding genus. 



Color. Above deep blackish brown, sprinkled with innumerable cream-colored spots and 

 dashes of different shades. Beneath light rufous, with waving bars of deep brown. A broad 

 white bar extending across four and a part of five of the quills. Male, with a horseshoe- 

 shaped spot of white on the throat, and a band of white across the tail. In the female, these 

 are wanting. 



Length, 9-0-10-0. Alar extent, 23' - 24*0. 



This species, under the name of virginianus, was a confused mixture of the Night Hawk 

 and Whippoorwill by Gmelin and Brisson. It was not well defined until examined by Vieillot 

 and Wilson. Bonaparte, in the work above cited, observes that the name ofpopetue, awkward 

 and barbarous as it is, must be retained on the score of priority. In his subsequently published 

 synopsis, he adopts the name of virginianus ; passing over Wilson's name of a real species, 

 on the score of its having been already employed in this genus. Since the genus has been 

 remodelled, this objection has no weight, and we take pleasure in restoring the legitimate 

 designation of the species. 



The Night Hawk, in spite of its popular name, is scarcely nocturnal. It is seen in the 

 afternoon, high in air ; towards evening, and in the twilight, it skims over the ground, and is 

 actively engaged in the search of winged insects. It appears in our State at the same time 



