454 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. —PICABIJE ^ CYPSELIFOBMES. 



Analysis of Species. 



Large: wing near 8.00. Primaries duslty, witli large white spot on 5 of tliem, in botli sexes, about half 

 way from bend to point of the wing poj^atue 399, 400, 401 



Small; wing about 7.00. Primaries more or less spotted with tawny, with large white (cf ) or tawny ( $ ) 

 spaces on 4 of them nearer point than bend of the wing. (Southwestern, } texensis 402 



399. C. popetue. (Vox barb., incog. Figs. 390, 295.) Night-hawk. Bull-bat. Above, mot- 

 tled with black, browu, gray ami tawny, the former in excess ; below from the breast transversely 

 barred with blackish and white or pale fulvous ; throat with a large white ( (J ) or tawny (?) 

 cross-bar ; tail blackish, with distant pale marbled cross-bars and a large white spot (wanting in 

 the $ ) on one or both wahs of nearly all the feathers toward the end ; primaries dusky, unmarked 

 except by one large white spot on owXbt five, about midway between their base and tip ; second- 

 aries like primaries, but with whitish tips and imperfect cross-bars. Sexes nearly alike : 9 

 with tlie M'liite spaces on the quills, but tliat on the tail replaced by tawny or not evident. 

 Y(-)Uiig similar, with the wing-spots from the nest, but the markings liner and more intricately 

 blended, iu effect more like Antrostomiis; quills edged and tipped with tawny. Length 9.00 or 

 more; extent about 23.00 ; wing about 8.00 ; taili.50; whole foot 1.25 ; culmen scarcely 0.25 ; 

 gai)e about 1.25. Temperate N. Am., chiefly Eastern, abundant ; migratory ; breeds through- 

 out its range ; winters beyond. This species Hies abroad at all times, though it is perhajis 

 most active towards evening and iu dull weather; and is genei-ally seen in companies, busily 

 foraging for insects with rapid, easy, and protracted flight; in the breeding season it performs 

 curious evolutions, falling through the air with a loud booming sound. Eggs 2, elliptical, 1.53 

 X 0.87, finely variegated with stoui;-gray and other neutral tints, over which is scratched and 

 fretted dark olive-gray ; but the pattern and tints are very variable. The young hatch covered 

 with fluffy down, whitish iielow, varied witli Idackish and brown above. It may be necessary 

 in this family for the young to be covered from the first, to protect them from tlie cold ground. 

 On being disturljed Mdiile brooding the female feigns lameness, dragging and fluttering about, 

 moaning piteiiusly, and will somethnes remove her young. 



400. C. p. hen'ryi. (To Dr. T. C. Henry.) Western Night-hawk. The lighter-colored form 

 prevailing in the dryer or unwooded portions of western United States ; the gray and fulvous 

 in excess of the darker hues, the white patches on the wing, tail and throat usually larger ; the 

 under tail-coverts more nearly uniform ; but no specific character can be assigned. 



401. C p. mi'nor. (Lat. minor, smaller.) CuBAN Night-hawk. A form found in the West 

 Indies, similar to C. popetue iu color, but rather more tawny, and decidedly smaller: wing 

 7.00 ; tail 4.(^0. Florida. 



402. C acutipen'nis texen'sis. (Lat. acutus, acute ; penna, a feather : alluding to the sharp- 

 piiinted wings. Of Texas : our bird a northern race of the S. Am. species.) Texas Night- 

 H.VWK. Smaller than the foregoing, and otherwise very distinct. General tone lighter, pattern 

 more blended and diffuse, more as in an Antrostomus. ^ , adult : Assuming upper piarts gray, 

 tliis color intimately punctate with lighter and darker shades, more boldly marked with blackish, 

 chiefly in streaks, and with tawny and white, largest on the scapulars and wing-coverts. 

 Under parts barred, as in popetue, with blackish, tawny, and whitish, but the two former pre- 

 vailing. A large white V on the throat. Four outer primaries with large white spot on both 

 webs, nearer tip than bend of the wing ; inner primaries and all the secondaries spotted with 

 tawny in brcjken bars. Tail blackish, with bn.iken gray or tawny bars, and a complete sub- 

 terminal cross-bar of wliite on all the feathers but the central pair. 9 lacking this white, all 

 the tail-feathers being motley-barred with gray and tawny throughout; the primaries all spotted 

 with tawny, larger spots of this color replacing tlie white of the $ ; throat-V tawny. Young 

 nnjre suffused with tawny on a pearly-gray, black-speckled ground; but young ^ with the 

 wliito tail- and wing-spots from the fir.st. Length 8.00 or more; extent 20.00-22.00; wing 

 about 7.00 ; tail 4.00. S.W. U. S., valleys of Eio Grande and Colorado, Texas to California 



