CAPRIMULGID^ — THE GOATSUCKERS. 369 



C. texensis. Outorwebs of primaries more or loss spotted with rnfous or ochrace- 

 ous; wliite patch on primaries extending over only tour ijuills. and posterior to 

 their middle portion. 



Chordeiles virginianus (Gmel.) 



NIGHTHAWK. 

 Popular sjrnonyms. Whip-poor-will; Bull Bat; Will-o'the-wisp (Connecticut). 

 Caprimulgus virginianus Gm. S. N. i. 1788, 1028 (part only).— NuTT. Man. i. 1S32, 619; ii. 

 134,609.— A UD. Orn. Biog. ii, 1834. 273; v. 1839. 406, pi. 147. 

 Caprimulgus (Chordeiles) virginianus Sw. & ElCH. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 337. 

 Chordeiles virginianus Bp. 1838.— AuD.Synop. 1839.32; B.Am, i, 1840, 259. pi. 43.— CouES, 

 Key. 1872, 351; Cheek List. 1874, No. 267; 2d ed. 1882, No. 399; B. N. W. 1874, 263. 

 Caprimulgus popetue Vieill. O. A. S. i, 1807, 50. pi. 24 (lemale). 

 Chordeiles popetue Baied, B. N. Am. 1858, 151; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 114.— B. B. & R. 

 Hist N. Am. B. ii. 1874, 401.— RroGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 357. 

 Caprimulgtis americanus WiLiS. Am. Orn. v, 1812, 65. pi. 40, figs. 1,2. 



Hab. Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay; in winter, Bahamas. Cuba, 

 Jamaica, and eastern tropical America to Brazil. 



Sp. Char. Male. Above greenish black, with but Uttlo mottling on the head and 

 back. Wing-coverts varied with grayish; scapulars with yellowi-sh rufous. A nuchal 

 band of fine gray mottHng behind which is another coarser one of rufous spots. A white 

 V-shaped mark on the throat; behind this a collar of pale rufous blotches, and another 

 on the breast of grayish mottling. Under parts banded transversely with dull yellowish 

 or reddish white and brown. Wing quills miite uniformly brown. The five outer pri- 

 mairies with a white blotch (about half an inch long) midway between the tip and carpal 

 joint, not extending on the outer web of the outer quill. Tail with a terminal white patch 

 which does not reach the outer edge of the feathers. Female without the caudal white 

 patch, the white tail-bands more mottled, the white of the throat mixed with reddish. 

 Length of male, 9.50; wing. 8.20. {Hist. N. Am. B.) 



First plumage. Above dull black, irregularly marbled everywhere with reddish 

 fawn-color and pale rusty. All the feathers are tipped, edged, and barred with the 

 lighter colors, the back appearing for the most part in subterminal spots or blotches. 

 The primaries (which are but just sprouting) are black, broadly tipped with pale rusty. 

 Under parts clothed thickly with Huffy, whitish down, beneath which on the breast and 

 sides, true feathers of a dull white barred with dark brown are beginning to appear. 

 fFrom a specimen in the cabinet of Mr. N. C. Brown, taken at Deering, Me.. June 29, 1875.) 

 It seems probable that young of this species— and perhaps of the whole family, like those 

 of the Tetraonidce and some others— pass through a state of plumage previous to the 

 usual primal one. The specimen above described is, strictly speaking, in process of 

 transition between the two, and still retains patches of the soft whitish down which must 

 have constituted its entire covering at an earlier period." (Beewstek, Bull. Nutt. Orn. 

 Club, 1876. p. 178.) 



Popularly confounded with the Whip-poor-will, the Nighthawk is 

 a bird of very different appearance and quite distinct habits. In- 

 stead of being strictly nocturnal it is Imrdly crepuscular, but may 

 often be seen flying about in broad daylight, though toward evening 

 is their favorite time of activity. Says Dr. Brewer: 



"Ordinarily laying its eggs upon the bare ground, usually in some 

 open situation, the Night Hawk has become accustomed to nest on 

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