June 
The night-hawk deposits its eggs sometimes on 
the ground, with perhaps the rudest outline of 
a nest in coarse twigs, sometimes on the bare 
rock, and they have even been found on the 
concrete roofs of city houses. ‘This gives rise to 
the suspicion of a culpable lack of domestic zeal, 
but possibly such judgment should be modified 
in the light of the attendant circumstance, that 
the chicks are not born in the unprotected con- 
dition of most birdlings, but when they come 
out of the shell they are downy, and densely so 
on the under side, which is an offset to the lack 
of nest-protection. According to the Darwin- 
ian scheme of development this is a significant 
conjunction of facts, but it does not necessarily 
settle the case in favor of the ‘‘hawk.’’ Did 
nature first provide the thick down, and the 
birds, observing the fact and taking counsel to- 
gether, conclude that under the circumstances 
it would be a waste of time and energy to fash- 
ion anything elaborate? Or shall we suppose 
that from time immemorial these birds were 
too lazy to treat their offspring in a proper pa- 
rental manner, and that then nature rose to the 
occasion, by struggling up into a protective 
down? Asit is improbable, according to Dar- 
win, that the two facts were originally synchro- 
187 
