NIGHTHAWK. 383 



haps the case wifh several of our ground-nesting birds. I have never 

 found the birds in summer on a limestone or clay soil, and the localities 

 in which I have mentioned their occurrence are all on an outcrop of 

 sandstone. 



The name of this bird is a tolerably accurate rendering of its note, 

 which is frequently and quickly uttered in the evening, both when the 

 bird is on the wing in pursuit of nocturnal insects which constitute its 

 food, or at rest. It is seldom seen in day time when it retires to the se- 

 clusion of deep undergrowth. Its plumage is soft and blended like that 

 of the owls, while the disposition of its colors resembles that of many 

 nocturnal lepidoptera. 



When wounded, and capture is threatened, the Whippoorwill will 

 sometimes raise and depress it feathers, throw back its head, and open- 

 ing its wide mouth in a threatening manner, utter a short blowing 

 sound somewhat like the hiss of a snake.- This may be the note which 

 some writers have mentioned as made by the bird while perching at night. 



The eggs of the Whippoorwill are two in number, about 1.25 inches in 

 length by .88 in width. The ground color is white, singularly marked 

 and mottled with gray and brown lines and spots. They are laid in 

 a depression of the ground upon a few leaves, but no attempt is made 

 toward the construction of a nest. 



Gbnus CHOEDEILES. Swainson. 



Bill very small, the gape with short feeble bristles. Wing very long and pointed ; Ist 

 primary equal to 2d ; tail long, slightly forked. 



Chobdeilbs virginianus (Gm.) Bp. 



IViglitha-w^li. 



Caprimulgus virginianus, Kiktxand, Ohio Geolog., Snrv., 183S, 162. — Rbad, Proo. Phila. 



Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 1853, 395. 

 diordeiles popetue, Kirkpatkick, Ohio Farmer, viii, 1859, 211. — Wheaton, Ohio Agrio. 



Rep. for 1860, 1861, 362 ; Reprint, 4 ; in Coues' Birds N. W., 1874, 234. 

 Chordeiles virginianus, Wheaton, Food of Birds, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 568 ; 



Reprint, 8. — Lajsgdon, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 11. 

 Chordeiles popetue, yar.popetue, Langdon, Revised List, Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 



1879, 178 ; Reprint, 12. 

 Nighthawk, Wheaton, Field Notes, i, 1861, 92. 



Caprimulgus virginianus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 1028. 



Caprinuelgus popetue, Vieillot, O. A. S., i, 1807, 56. 



Chordeiles virginianus, Bonaparte, List, 1838, 8. 



Chordeiles popetue, Baird, Birds N. A., 1858, 151. 



Chordeiles popetue var. popetus, Baikd, Brewer and Ridgway, N. A. Birds, ii, 1874. 



Above mottled with black, brown, gray, and tawny, the former in excess ; below from 

 the breast transversly barred with blackish and white or pale fiilvons ; throat in the 



