-264 CHORDEILES VIEGINIANUS, NIGHT-HAWK. 



b. lienryi. 



Chordeiles lienryi, Cass., 111. 185.5, 239.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 153, 922 ; P. R. E. Eop. x, 

 1859, pt. iii, 13, pi. 17.— ScL., Cat. 1862, 279 ; P. Z. S. 1866, 133.— Dress., Ibis, 

 1865, 476 (Matamoras).— Cooks, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 58.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 

 1S70, 344.— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1870, 463.— aiERR., ibid. 1872, 692.— 

 Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 3. 



Chordeiles popetue var. henryi, Allen, Ball. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 179. — B. B. & E., N. A. B. 

 ii, 1874, 404, pi. 46, f. 4. 



Chordeiles virginianus var. henryi, Codes, Key, 1872, 181. 



c. minor. 



Chordeiles virginianus, Lemb., Aves Isl. Cuba, 1850, 51. — GossE, B. Jam. 1847, 33. 



Chordeiles minor, Cab., J. f. O. 1856, 5 ; Miis. Hcin. ii, 1859, 86.— Lawk., Ann. Lye. May, 

 I860.— SCL., P. Z. S. 1861, 77 ; Cat. 1862, 279 ; P. Z. S. 1866, 433 (Cuba and 

 Jamaica). — March, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1863, 286 (Jamaica). 



Chordeiles gundlachii, Lawk., Ann. Lye. vi, 1856, 165 (Cuba). 



Bab. — Entire temperate North and Middle America. North to Hudson's Bay (Mur- 

 ray, Ediub. Phil. Journ. 1860). Cuba and Jamaica, migratory. Bahamas (Bryant, Pr. 

 Bost. Soc. vii, 1859). South to Brazil (Pelz. Orn. Braz. i, 14). Var. henryi from the 

 Southern Eocky Mountain region. Var. minor in Cuba and Jamaica (resident). 



List of specimens. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition.— 9gn,'B\a.ck Hills; 8878, Loup Fork ; 5201-03, forty 3 J^-/ 

 miles above St. Pierre. r 



Later Expeditions. — 59851, Colorado ; 60417, Laramie; 60772, Pacific Springs; 61775, r-i^ 

 62254-5, Idaho ; 6225, Wyoming. (All var. henryi.) s ' "' < 



The bird described as C. henryi is merely the paler form prevailing in the dryer and . 

 unwooded parts of the West ; the gray and tawny shades in excess of the darker ' 

 colors, and the white patches more extensive. It is not larger than ordinary rirgini- 

 anus, though so stated to be ; and the plate above cited, in the Pacific Eailroad Eeport, 

 is highly exaggerated in coloring. The West Indian form, apparently resident, I can- 

 not distinguish as a species; the only ascribed character, its smaller size, is readily 

 attributable to its southern habitat. The fact that the true virginiamis also occurs in 

 Cuba is no rebutting evidence, for I suppose the individuals of the latter to have been 

 migrants; and, as is well known, the bird performs very extensive journeys — quite 

 from the Arctic regions to Brazil. 



Mr. Allen is clearly wrong in allocating the C. texensis (Laicrence), sapiti (Bonaparte), 

 and brasilianus, and., among the synonyms of virginianus. I cannot here discuss the 

 question whether or not these names are synonymous inter se ; but they are, beyond all 

 question, permanently distinct from lirjiHianus, as Mr. Allen himself afterward became 

 aware. I should judge that " texensis," which is abnndant along our Mexican border, 

 constitutes a large northern race of C. aciifipennis (Boddwrl), with which sapiti (Xatt- 

 erer, Bonaparte) is synonymous. It may require to stand as C. acuiipemnis var. tmensis. 



The Night-hawk is as abundant in most parts of the West as else- 

 where in North America, particularly in the spring and fall, during the 

 migration. I have seen it at these seasons wherever I happened to be; 

 and it also breeds throughout most of the country. It retires south- 

 ward in the fall, entirely withdrawing from the United States. 



Mr. Allen's notice is corroborative of these statements. "It ap- 

 pears," he says in a letter to me, "to be everywhere a common inhab- 

 itant of the great central plateau of the continent. About Fort Hays, 

 Kansas, it was as abundant in June as I ever found it in any portion of 

 the Atlantic States, and presenting essentially the same habits. It 

 breeds on the bare ground, where, during our ornithological tramps, we 

 often flushed them from their quiet repose on the heated earth. We 

 also frequently found them assembled in the timber along Big Creek, 

 ceveral being sometimes observed in a single tree. They were also 

 abundant in the mountains of Colorado, being more or less common up 

 to the altitude of about 11,000 feet." 



The Mght-hawk nests on the ground, lays two eggs, a.nd the young 



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