A PAIS OP NIGHT-HAWKS. 



137 



forms wheeling about my head, and so I went 

 reluctantly home. 



Two days later I found time to visit the marsh. 

 On reaching the spot where the two birds had 

 been seen, presto ! a dark feathered form started 

 up before me from the ground. It was the female 

 night-hawk ; and there on the damp earth, without 

 the least trace of a nest or a covering of any kind, 

 lay two eggs. At last I had found a night-hawk's 

 nest ! The ground-color of the eggs, which were 

 quite large, was of a dirty bluish gray cast, mottled 

 and clouded with darker gray and brown. 



The behavior of the mother bird was curious. 

 She had fluttered away a few rods, pretending to 

 be hurt, and then dropped into the grass. On my 

 driving her from her hiding-place, she rose in the air 

 and began to hover about above my head, and then, 

 to my utter surprise, she swooped down toward me 

 savagely, as if she really had a mind to attack me. 

 As I walked away, she seemed to grow angrier and 

 bolder, making a swift dash at me every few minutes, 

 and actually coming so near my head as to cause 

 me involuntarily to raise my cane in self-defence. 

 A quaver of uneasiness went through me. I really 

 believe she would have struck me had I given her 

 sufficient provocation. There was a brisk shower 

 falling at the time, and so, fearing the eggs might 

 become addled, I hurried to the remote end of the 

 marsh. Suddenly my feathered pursuer disappeared. 

 Wondering if she had resumed her place on the 

 nest, I sauntered back to settle the doubt, but pres- 



