WITH BROWN PREDOMINATING 195 



others are subspecies, will be here recorded. The char- 

 acteristics of this species may be regarded as belonging 

 to all. 



Although called " Nighthawk," it really hunts almost 

 as much by day, and may be seen late in the afternoon or 

 early in the morning, skimming over the water or low 

 wet ground with graceful swallow-like flight. Its food 

 consists of the insects found in the air and near the 

 water, swarms of small gnats, small night-moths and 

 flies. These it catches in its capacious mouth in the 

 same manner that a fisherman uses a scoop net, the 

 " whiskers " helping to trap the prey. It may easily be 

 distinguished from the poorwill, which it closely resem- 

 bles, by the conspicuous white patches on its wings, which, 

 when seen from beneath in flight, look like holes. It is 

 known also by its diurnal habits, as it seldom flies after 

 the sun has set. The poorwill, on the contrary, unless 

 flushed, never flies by daylight, but hides through the 

 sunny hours in the shadows of the deep wood, usu- 

 ally crouching on the ground or on a well-shaded log. 

 Nighthawks spend the middle of the day squatting 

 lengthwise on a limb, their feet, like those of the poor- 

 wills, being too weak to perch. Here they sleep, trust- 

 ing for safety to protective coloring, and refuse to move 

 unless startled into flight. 



They make no nest, but lay their two speckled eggs 

 on the bare ground usually in plain view of the passer-by, 

 and not infrequently on the flat gravel roofs of buildings. 

 Always a well-drained, rather sunny place is selected, 

 and the eggs are less frequently found than one would 



