The Nighthawk. 



221 



outside of himself, and went far to form 

 and strengthen his character. He needed 

 this calm reliance on his wife's strength, 

 for his own nature was essentially self-in- 

 dulgent, and all self-indulgent natures are 

 weak. 



And yet how necessary was such a man 

 as Audubon to the development of his 

 wife's character. The sunshine of later 

 years lent softness to it, but it was in the 

 hard battling with the storms of adversity 

 that it gathered strength, in the long years 

 of self-denial for duty's sake that it ex- 

 panded to its full proportions. He laid 

 his genius on the altar, she her lofty char- 

 acter and wifely devotion; and as they 

 breasted the fierce storms of adversity to- 

 gether their union became so complete that 



the individuality of each was merged in the 

 other, forming that ideally perfect union 

 so rarely witnessed. 



Men went to see Audubon and render 

 homage to his genius, and came away im- 

 pressed with the gentle and guileless sweet- 

 ness of his wife and the tender reverence 

 he displayed to her. For the greater num- 

 ber, Audubon filled the foreground of the 

 picture so completely, that the devotion to 

 his wife in later years is credited to the 

 noble simplicity of his character, without a 

 suspicion that this reverence was her just 

 due, but here and there some one with 

 keener insight than the others has given 

 vent to the impression "that Audubon owed 

 more to his wife than the world knew, or 

 ever would know." 



THE NIGHTHAWK. 



THIS bird seems to be singularly un- 

 fortunate in its common names, one 

 of them being an absurd survival of ancient 

 superstition, and others attributing to it 

 characteristics which it does not possess. 

 No doubt it was called Goatsucker by the 

 early settlers of America because of its re- 

 semblance to the European nightjar, which 

 from time immemorial has been supposed 

 by the ignorant and vulgar to rob the goats 

 of their milk at night. Its name of BuUbat 

 alludes to the groaning sound which it 

 makes at certain seasons of the year, and 

 which bears some resemblance to the low 

 bellow of a bull, and to its common habit 

 of flying in the dusk of the evening. Cra- 

 paud volant^ or Flying Toad, which Audubon 

 gives as its name among the Louisiana Cre- 

 oles, perhaps refers to the same sound, 

 which is not unlike the low-pitched tones of 

 a toad or frog. Nighthawk, although per- 

 haps less objectionable than any of the 

 titles given to the bird, is still a misnomer, 



for it is not a hawk, nor is it exclusively a 

 night bird. 



Conspicuous enough toward evening, and 

 sometimes during the whole day, especially 

 when the weather is gloomy and the sky is 

 overcast, the Nighthawk is yet a bird about 

 which most people know very little. Ex- 

 cept during the migration in autumn, when 

 in favorable weather it may often be seen 

 on the wing at all hours of the day, it is 

 most active during the twilight hours. It 

 darts about through the upper air with a 

 firm, light, yet sustained flight, often utter- 

 ing its shrill-squeak, and sometimes descend- 

 ing like a falling bolt from a great height 

 toward the earth, and then turning suddenly 

 upward, produces the loud booming sound 

 already alluded to, which, if heard near at 

 hand, is very startling. This sound is re- 

 garded as characteristic of the mating 

 season, yet we have heard it as late as the 

 first days of August. There is a difference 

 of opinion among ornithologists as to the 



