144 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



These birds are very abundant and are more often seen on the wing 

 during daylight than any of the other members of this family. These 

 are the birds that we see skimming about over cities. Their flight is 

 very easy and graceful, their numerous evolutions in mid air being ex- 

 celled by no other bird. They swoop over the house tops with the 

 speed of a hurricane, now sailing on set wings, and again with rapidly 

 moving pinions following a devious course and the one along which 

 the insects are the most plenty, for most of their evolutions are inspir- 

 ed by a large appetite. At times they are very playful and may be 

 seen chasing one another, or the male may rise in the air, sometimes 

 until invisible, and then swoop earthward with frightful velocity end- 

 ing in an abrupt but graceful curve upward, accompanied by a faint hol- 

 low booming sound. 



While hunting they are very sociable birds and large numbers of them 

 are frequently seen coursing over meadows and hillsides, while hundreds 

 at a time may be in sight as twilight approaches in some of the larger 

 cities. Their identity is established beyond the shadow of a doubt by 

 the frequently uttered nasal pccnk, and by the white band across the pri- 

 maries, which is present on both sexes and is yery prominent whether 

 the bird is in flight or perching. 



They nest upon the ground in much more open and exposed places 

 than do the Whip-poor-wills, often in the corners of cornfields, in rocky 

 pastures or upon the gravel roofs of city blocks. The two eggs are 

 grayish, strongly mottled with darker shades of the same so that they 

 resemble very closely the surroundings amid which they are placed. 

 When discovered, the female will not leave her eggs until nearly step- 

 ped upon, and then will flutter helplessly away with wings trailing and 

 apparently badly wounded: This ruse often succeeds in drawing an en- 

 emy away fromher treasures. 



Nighthawks can, apparently, see very well in the bright daylight for 

 they show none of the uncertainty of flight that the last species does 

 when they are startled from their roosting places. In the daytime they 

 may be found sitting lengthwise on branches, logs or fence rails, or 

 upon rocks, stonewalls or gravel roofs. 



