THE NIGHT HAWK. 45 
vals, their short note or squeak, which almost exactly resembles that of the 
comimon snipe. 
About the middle of May, or by the 20th of that month in Maine, the 
male commences his attentions to the female. His movements at this time 
are interesting, and, from their common occurrence, familiar to all who live 
in the country. At early evening, and in cloudy weather throughout the 
greater part of the day, he ascends into the air, and when he has attained 
S 
‘5 considerable height, partially closing his wings, he drops with great ve- 
locity through the distance of seventy-five or one hundred feet, sometimes 
nearly to the earth. The sound made by the air passing through the wing- 
quills is so loud that we have often heard it at certainly the distance of half 
amile: it resembles, as Nuttall truly says, the sound produced by blowing 
into the bung-hole of an empty hogshead. This act is often repeated, the 
bird darting about at the same time in every direction, and uttering his sharp 
squeak. Wilson was of the opinion, that this habit of the Night Hawk was 
confined to the period of incubation ; the male acting in this manner, as he 
thought, to intimidate any person from approaching the nest. We have had 
abundant opportunities for observing the bird in all times of the summer, 
and during its stay with us; and we would unhesitatingly affirm, that, from 
the time of early courtship, until the young are hatched, if not after, the 
male acts in this manner. 
This species constructs no nest, but lays its eges on the bare ground, in a 
slight hollow seratched by the female, or often on a bare rock. We have 
found numbers of these eggs, particularly in the northern parts of Maine, 
where, in walking over a pasture or rocky field, we have flushed sometimes 
a bird in every ten rods. We remember a ledge of rocks back of the set- 
tlement known as Wilson’s Mills, which seemed a favorite breeding-place 
for these birds; and, in the space of every four or five rods, a female was 
sitting on her eggs. The eggs are two in number, elliptical in shape, of a 
dirty-white color, which is covered with fine dottings of different shades of 
brown, with obscure markings of slate color, and some spots of lavender. 
The male assists the female in incubating, as we have witnessed many 
times. When perched by her, on a tree or fence-rail, during the light of 
midday, he always sits «ong the limb or rail, instead of across it, a pecu- 
liarity which is also noticeable in the Whippoorwill. Some authors, in 
speaking of this fact, explain it by noticing the comparatively small size of 
the feet, and apparent weakness of the legs. We think this can hardly be 
a sufficient cause; for both these birds, while on the ground, can run with 
considerable speed, and, if captured, cannot only perch across the finger of 
a hand, or the back of a chair, as we have often proved, but can rest on one 
foot, drawing the other up into the feathers of the belly, like other birds, 
WO. XIt. 59 
