A PAIR OF NIGHT-HAWKS. 



135 



XII. 



A PAIR OF NIGHT-HAWKS. 



THE night-hawk and the whippoorwill are often 

 confounded by persons of inaccurate habits of 

 observation. It is true, both birds are members of 

 the goatsucker family; but they belong to entirely 

 different genera, and are therefore of much more 

 distant kin than many people suppose. The whip- 

 poorwill is a forest bird, while the night-hawk pre- 

 fers the open country. Besides, the whippoorwill 

 is decidedly nocturnal in his habits, making the 

 woods ring at night, as every one knows, with his 

 weird, fiutelike melody ; whereas the night-hawk is 

 a bird of the day and evening. Then, a peculiar 

 mark of the night-hawk is the round white spot on 

 his wings, visible on the under surface as he per- 

 forms his wonderful feats overhead, — a mark that 

 does not distinguish his woodland relative. 



As a rule, the gloaming is the favorite time for the 

 night-hawk's wing-exercises ; then he may be seen 

 whirling, curveting, mounting, and plunging, often at 

 a dizzy height, gathering his supper of insects as he 

 flies ; but his petulant call is often heard at other 

 hours of the day, perhaps at noon when the sun is 

 shining with fierce warmth. Even during a shower 



