BIRDS OF NEW YORK 1 6/ 



Chordeiles virginianus virginianus (Gmelin) 

 Nighthawk 



Plate 6s 



Caprimulgus virginianus Gmelin. Syst. Nat. 1789. 1:1028 

 Chordeiles americarius DeKay. Zool. of N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 34, fig. 60 

 Chordeiles virginianus virginianus A. 0. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 

 1910. p. ig8. No. 420 



chordeiles, formed from Gr., Xop°^. a stringed instrument, and SetXr), evening 



Description. In shape resembling the Whippoorwill, but the tail 

 forked instead of rounded; color of the plumage not so intricately blended 

 as in the Whippoorwill and without the fulvous and ocherous; colors 

 blackish and grayish, more or less barred and spotted with dusky and white. 

 The wing feathers blackish crossed with a broad white band which appears 

 like a hole through the wing while the bird is in flight; tail blackish with 

 broken or wavy bars of grayish buff and with a white band near the end 

 except on the middle pair of feathers ; a broad white throat band; breast 

 and under part barred with blackish and white. The large white spot 

 on the wing, and white band on the tail, as well as its forked tip, are con- 

 spicuous marks when the bird is in flight. 



Length 9.5-10 inches; extent 24; wing 7.3-8.3; tail 4.3-4.8; bill .25. 



Distribution. Breeds from southern Yukon, Keewatin and New- 

 foundland south to the Gulf States and westward to the edge of the Great 

 Plains, and winters in South America from Brazil to Argentina. In New 

 York it is found in every county of the State as a summer resident, but 

 is somewhat local in its breeding. In the wilder portions of the State it 

 still nests on the rocks and the rugged field, but in the more thickly inhabited 

 districts, on the fiat tops of buildings. Dates of spring arrival are rather 

 uncertain, but it is evident that the Nighthawk reaches this State from 

 the ist to the 15th of May. In the fall it is last seen from the ist to the 

 20th of September. During the autumn migrations, especially in the month 

 of August, this species is much more numerous than at any other time of 

 the year, and is seen in all portions of the State, even where it is unknown 

 as a summer resident, often appearing in large flocks. Various observers 

 have reported great scattering troops of thousands and thousands of night- 

 hawks from the vicinity of Oneida lake and from Chautauqua county during 



