Open Nests on the Ground 



within the past ten years." In Ohio the nesting season begins 

 about the end of March. 



420. Night-hawk; Bull-bat: Chordeiles virginianus 



(Gmel.) 



Adult $ — Upper parts dark blackish brown mottled with buff; 

 wings dark brown with conspicuous white patch ; breast 

 black, feathers tipped with white or buff ; throat white ; 

 belly grayish white, barred with black ; tail dark brownish, 

 barred with buff, a white band near the end of all but the 

 two middle feathers. 



AduU $ — Nearly the same, the throat being buff instead of 

 white and no white on tail. Length — lo.oo. 



Breeding Range — Throughout the Eastern States. 



There is no nest, the eggs, two in number, being laid on the 

 bare ground in a field, on rocks, or even on the flat roof of a 

 building either in the country or in the big cities. The eggs are 

 olive-buff, light gray, or greenish, with numerous irregular 

 blotches and specks or thickly marked with evenly distributed 

 spots of darker gray, olive, and purplish. Size — 1.20 x .86. See 

 Fig. 9, Plate B. 



These birds, though called Night-hawks, do a great deal of 

 flying during the daytime, especially towards the end of sum- 

 mer, when they may be seen at almost any time of day flying 

 about over the open country. They are sometimes mistaken 

 for the whip-poor-will, though the white patch on the wing and 

 the white throat should serve to identify them. Their flight is 

 also very different, and generally, though by no means always, 

 they fly higher than the whip-poor-will. Late in the afternoon 

 they may be seen flying high above the city, looking almost like 

 large bats. 



The eggs are exceedingly difficult to find, as their colouring 

 so closely matches the ground ; even when the bird is startled 

 from the eggs and tries, as many birds do, to divert attention 

 from the eggs to herself, by a pretended broken wing or leg, it 

 is often only after a long and careful search that the eggs are 

 discovered. 



The nesting season in New England begins about the end 

 of May. 



39 



