e t i * 
190 ` Mr. Peabody on the oy 
rises to snatch them, and then resumes its PD 
and proceeds with its song. 
"The nest of the whippoorwill, if it can be "ida to 
have any, is a mere hollow place in the ground, in 
some retired part of the woods. The eggs, bluish 
white, with blotches of dark olive, are laid directly 
on the ground. "The young are soon able to run 
about, and. until they can fly, are sufficiently pro- 
tected by their resemblance to the ground. This 
bird is very susceptible of cold ; during the severe 
season of 1832, many of them were found dead in 
New England in the month of June. It would be 
no subject of regret if they were more common in 
Massachusetts, for their note is pleasant, heard in the 
silence of evening, and their services in destroying 
insects are not balanced by any injuries whatever. 
The Nicar Hawk, Caprimulgus Virginianus, 
notwithstanding its popular name, is much less prop- 
erly called a bird of night than the former. It flies 
in the day, even when the sun is shining, and retires 
to rest before it is late in the evening, about at the 
time when the whippoorwill begins his song. Its 
wings are very large in proportion to its weight, and 
its flight is firm and graceful; it sweeps in circles, 
sometimes rising high in the air, then shooting sud- 
denly downward, with a sharp squeak, which seems 
to say that it has caught sight of its victim. In the 
evening, it flies lower than by day, often striking 
off wildly from its line of flight, doubtless to pursue 
some insect which its sharp eye has discovered. It 
