82 



Wild Birds. 



Fig. 72. Night Hawk twelve days old, July 6th. 



as an old bird descends like a bolt toward the earth. As these sounds increase with their 

 nearer approach, the nervous excitement of the young is curious to behold. He is all 

 a-tremor, moves now in one direction, now in another and his pe-ur ! note reaches a 



pitch unknown before. 

 Presently you hear a 

 thud as if a clod of 

 earth had dropped. 

 Then the mother bird, 

 crawling over the 

 leaves, begins calling 

 ke-ark ! ke-ark ! This 

 sound however un- 

 couth to the human 

 ear, corresponds to the 

 cluck! of the hen to 

 her chicks, and awak- 

 ens an immediate re- 

 sponse in the young 

 Night Hawk. He does 

 his best to go to his 

 mother, but the ob- 

 stacles being insur- 

 mountable, she comes 

 to him. She is load- 

 ed with fireflies, and 

 as her great mouth 

 opens, you behold the 

 wide jaws and throat 

 brilliantly illuminated 

 like a spacious apart- 

 ment all aglow with 

 electricity. With wings 

 erect and full-spread, 

 the old bird a p- 

 proached to within 

 fifteen inches of my 



hand, making an elec- 

 tric display at every 

 utterance of her harsh 

 ke-ark! Then stand- 

 ing over her young, with raised and quivering wings, she put her bill well down into his 

 throat and pumped him full. His down-covered wings were also spread and a-quiver. In this 

 position they remained interlocked and silent for one or two minutes. When the feeding 

 was over she tucked the little one under her breast and began to brood. It was not long 

 before she was off again in the darkness, and upon returning the performance was repeated, 



Fig. 73. Night Hawk sixteen days old, July loth. Length in sitting posture, 4f inches. 



