AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY 131 



elevated than the rest, half closes his wings and makes a mighty plunge 

 towards the earth. Down he comes with the speed of an arrow, the air 

 hissing through his outspread primaries with a booming noise audible 

 at a considerable distance. Just before he reaches the ground in his 

 apparently suicidal effort, an upward fling of the tail and a change in 

 the position of his wings and what a moment before looked like a sure 

 death is transformed into a marvelous exhibition of skill, and the per- 

 former is again tranquilly following the rest of the band while another 

 goes through the same performance. As this occurs just at the mating 

 time it is generally supposed that this is one of the tests of skill that 

 the males are made to undergo before being accepted by the fair dam- 

 sels of the flock. 



As an example of protective coloration, no better example can be 

 found. So firm is the belief of the bird itself in its invisibility that 

 nearly always they will not believe they are discovered until one actual- 

 ly puts out the hand to seize them. I have been all about a sitting bird 

 without pretending to notice it often putting my foot within perhaps 

 twenty-four inches of where the mottled ball of feathers rested. I could 

 see the feathers on the breast rise and fall as she breathed heavily in 

 her subdued excitement. At the first sign that I had discovered her 

 she flew away with a low purring note. A little later when the two 

 stone colored eggs had been superceded by two downy little chicks, she 

 was even more loath to leave the nest. Still hoping against hope that 

 she might be able to lead me away from her small charges she practiced 

 all the arts the most skillful bird is capable of. Owing to her short 

 legs and extremely long wings, her deceitful manouvers undoubtedly 

 would prove more successful than many of the other birds that resort 

 to such tricks. The way she would trip and fall over her own wings 

 did appear very natural. It is claimed by some that the Nighthawk 

 will remove the eggs or young if discovered, though I have never had 

 any such experience. 



When not in flight the birds are reposing quietly upon a rock, stone 

 wall, roof-top, or upon a fence rail or horizontal branch of a tree; in the 

 later cases they always sit lengthwise of the limb or rail. 



Their dislike for cold weather is shown by the fact that they are 

 among the last of the arrivals in the spring and the first to leave. 



In their endeavor to get as far as possible from the severe winter 

 weather of North America, at this time they are found distributed 

 through South America, even to Patagonia. 



