274 NIGHT-HAWK. 



and even on chimney tops, from which they are heard to squeak their 

 sharp notes, to the amusement or surprise of those who observe them. 



I have seen this species in the British Provinces of New Brunswick 

 and Nova Scotia, where they remain so late as the beginning of October, 

 but I observed none in Newfoundland, or on the shores of Labrador. In 

 going north, their appeai'ance in the Middle States is about the first of 

 May ; but they seldom reach Maine before June. 



The Night-Hawk has a firm, light, and greatly prolonged flight. In 

 dull cloudy weather, it may be seen on the wing during the whole day, 

 and is more clamorous than at any other time. The motions of its wings 

 while flying are peculiarly graceful, and the playfulness which it evinces 

 renders its flight quite interesting. The bird appears to glide through 

 the air with all imaginable ease, assisting its ascent, or supporting itself 

 on high, by irregular hurried flappings performed at intervals, as if it 

 had unexpectedly fallen in with its prey, pursued, and seized it. Its on- 

 ward motion is then continued. It moves in this manner, either up- 

 wards in circles, emitting a loud sharp squeak at the beginning of each 

 sudden start it takes, or straight downwards, then to the right or left 

 whether high or low, as it presses onward, now skimming closely over the 

 rivers, lakes, or shores of the Atlantic, and again wending its way over 

 the forests or mountain tops. During the love season its mode of flight 

 is particularly interesting : the male may be said to court his mate en- 

 tirely on the wing, strutting as it were through the air, and performing a 

 variety of evolutions with the greatest ease and elegance, insomuch that 

 no bird with which I am acquainted can rival it in this respect. 



It frequently raises itself a hundred yards, sometimes much more, and 

 apparently in the same careless manner already mentioned, its squeaking 

 notes becoming louder and more frequent the higher it ascends ; when, 

 checking its course, it at once glides obliquely downwards, with wings 

 and tail half closed, and with such rapidity that a person might easily 

 conceive it to be about to dash itself against the ground. But when close 

 to the earth, often at no greater distance than a few feet, it instantaneously 

 stretches out its wings, so as to be nearly directed downwards at right 

 angles with the body, expands its tail, and thus suddenly checks its 

 downward career. It then brushes as it were, through the air, with in- 

 conceivable force, in a semicircular line of a few yards in extent. This 

 is the moment when the singular noise produced by this bird is heard, for 

 the next instant it rises in an almost perpendicular course, and soon be- 



