PICAltlAE— CAPRIMULGIDAE— C. POPETUE VAR. HENRYI. 3G7 



Fam. CAPRIMULGIDAE: Goatsuckees. 



CHOEDEILES POPETUE (Vieill.), var. HENRYI, Cass. 

 Western Nighthawk. 



Chordeiks henryi, Cass., Must. Birds of Cal. & Texas, i, 1S55, 233.— Bd., P. R. R. Rep., 

 Beckwith's Route, x, 1S57, 13, pi. xvii.— Id., Birds N. A., 185S, 153, 922.— 

 Id., U. S. & Mex. Bound. Surv., ii, pt. ii, 1859, Birds, 7.— Henry, Proc. 

 Acad. Nat. Sci. Pbila., 1859, 100 (New Mexico).— Coop. & Suckl., P. R, R. 

 Rep., xii, pt. ii, 1860, ICC— Cooper, Birds Cal., i, 1870, 344— Stev., U. S. 

 Geol. Surv. Terr., 1870, 403.— Snow, Birds Kan., 1872, 0.— Merriam, U. S. 

 Geol. Surv. Terr., 1872, C92 (Idaho; Wyoming).— Yarrow, Rep. Orn. 

 Specs., 1871, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 35. 



Cliordeiles popetue var. henryi, Allen, Bui. Mus. Coinp. Zoiil., 1S72, 179 (Middle Kan- 

 sas, west to Utah).— Bd., Brew., & Ridg., N. A. Birds, ii, 1874, 404, pi. 46, 

 f. 4. — Yarrow & Henstiaw, Rep. Orn. Specs., 1872, Wheeler's Exped., 

 1874, 23.— Henshaw, An. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., xi, 1874, 8.— Id., An. 

 List Birds Utah, 1872, Wheeler's Exped., 1S74, 47.— Id., Rep. Orn. Specs., 

 1S73, Wheeler's Exped., 1874, 88, 128.— Allen, Proc. Bost, Soc. Nat. Hist., 

 June, 1S74, 10, 18, 32. 



Chordeiks rirgininnus var. henryi, Coues, Key N. A. Birds, 1872, 181. — Id., Birds 

 Northwest, 1874, 204. 



Cliordeiles virginianus (?), Newb., P. R. R. Rep., vi, 1857, 78. 



Chordeiks popetue (?), Heerm., P. R. R. Rep., x, pt. ii, 1859, 35. 



In the Middle and Southern Region, the Nighthawk is very abundant 

 throughout the open country ; the number of individuals in a given 

 locality being usually much greater than in any section where I have ever 

 seen it in the East. It prefers the plains and lowlands generally, and in 

 the vicinity of water, whether in the shape of stagnant pools or of the 

 larger streams and rivers, is never absent. Mr. Allen gives it a vertical 

 range in the mountains up to 12,000 feet. So numerous were they in Col- 

 orado on the Rio Grande in June, that their numbers, as they flew ur) and 

 down in the open spaces along the banks, made it seem as though one con- 

 tinuous flock was streaming along. Numerous as they were, they all prob- 

 ably were residents of the neighborhood, and in tramping about the woods 

 in the daytime I frequently startled them off the ground, when in some 

 shady secluded spot they were resting through the day. Its activity on the 

 wing is best displayed in the early hours of morning and just as dusk is 

 fairly settling down upon the earth, and its powers of vision are probably 

 then at their best, as it doubles and turns in pursuit of insects with marvel- 

 ous speed and rapidity of movement. It by no means, however, spends 



