BIRDS OF THE AIR. 341 



NIGHTHAWKS, WHIP-POOR-WILLS, ETC. 



Birds of this family are especially fitted for the cap- 

 ture of flying insects. Their beaks are small and weak, but 

 their mouths are very capacious, their gullets are large, and 

 their stomachs enormous. Some species fly high over open 

 country ; others live mainly in the woods. Together with 

 the Owls and Bats they form a night police for the control 

 of nocturnal insects. 



Our two common species, the Nighthawk and the Whip- 

 poor-will, are frequently confounded ; but in appearance, 

 habits, and color of eggs they are so different that this mistake 

 could not be made except by the most superficial observer. 



Nighthawk. Bull Bat. 

 Chordeiles virginianus. 



Length. Nine to ten inches. 



Adult Male. Above, black, gray, and tawny, mixed and mottled; wings long 

 and narrow, crossed by a broad white bar which shows best in flight ; tail 

 slightly forked or notched, all except the two middle tail feathers crossed 

 near tip with a white band; throat with a broad band of white; breast 

 blackish, marked with gray; other under parts gray (sometimes tinged 

 with buffy) , barred with blackish. 



Adult Female. Similar, but duller ; throat band buff ; no white on tail. 



Eggs. Laid on bare ledge, rocky ground, or a gravel roof. 



Season. May to September. 



The Nighthawk is neither a night bird nor a Hawk, un- 

 less it may be called a mosquito Hawk. It flies chiefly at 

 evening, but is seldom heard to cry after dark, and often 

 may be seen flying about during the greater part of the 

 day, sometimes at great heights. It has deposited its eggs 

 on gravel roofs in cities for at least forty years, and prob- 

 ably longer. It may be seen on summer afternoons hawk- 

 ing for insects high over the city streets. The usual note 

 is a s-k-i-r-k or s-c-a-i-p-e, a little like the call of Wilson's 

 Snipe, rather a startling squeak when heard close at hand. 



This is the only loud note I have ever heard uttered by 

 this bird, except the boom which accompanies its sudden de- 

 scent through the air, and which is supposed to be made by 

 the wings. The Nighthawk is very devoted to its young, 

 which, like its eggs, are so protectively colored that they are 



