CHAPTER XXXII. 



July 30 August 5. 



THE NIGHT HAWK. 



Order Macrochires Suborder Caprimulgi 



Family Caprimulgidse Genus Chordeiles 



Species Chordeiles virginianus 

 Length 10.00; wing, 7.30 to 8.25 ; tail, 4.30 to 4.75. 

 Migration North, May; south, September. 



"In the high, pale heaven he flies and calls; 

 Then swift, oh swift, 

 On sounding wing 

 That hums like a string, 



To the quiet glades where the gnat clouds drift, 

 And the night moths flicker, he falls. 

 Then hark, the Nighthawk!" 



The family Caprimulgidse, known as the goatsucker fam- 

 ily, is composed of the nighthawks, whip-poor-wills and chuck- 

 will's-widows. There are about eighty-five species of the fam- 

 ily distributed throughout the world. About one-half of these 

 are American birds, but only seven of them are found in North 

 America, and but three of them, namely, the chuck-will's wid- 

 ow antrostomus carolinensis, the whip-poor-will, anstrostomus 

 vociferus, and the nighthawk, chordeiles virginianus, are 

 found in the Middle West. All of the species capture their 

 food of insects on the wing. As a family, the goatsuckers are 

 perhaps more crepuscular than any other birds except the owls. 

 While this is true, it cannot be said that the nighthawk, as its 



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