40 



BULLETIN 86, TJHITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



seems to be imdoubtedly of the present race, being altogether too 

 large for GhordeUes virgmianus ehapmard; if so, it is only a late 

 migrant, because a male collected at the same locality on the same 

 day is certainly GhordeUes v. chapmani, the breeding form of the 

 region. Specimens from various parts of the breeding range of 

 GhordeUes virginianus virginianus exhibit the following average 

 measurements : 



In view of the fact that the migration route of this subspecies is 

 across the Gulf of Mexico and through, or rather over, the West 

 Indies, there are surprisingly few records from these islands, even 

 the Greater Antilles. A single specimen, taken, September 29, 1887, 

 on the island of Barbados,^ is the only authentic record from any of 

 the Lesser Antilles. There are no certain records from any part of 

 Mexico excepting the northeastern comer (Nuevo Leon, May 19^), 

 nor from Central America northwest of Costa Rica. The single bird 

 found dead, in 1820, on MelviUe Island, Franklin Territory, Canada,* 

 was, of course, a mere straggler so far beyond even the northernmost 

 extension of the breeding range of the subspecies. 



Except, perhaps, in the southern part of its range, GhordeUes vir- 

 ginianus virginianus rears but a single brood. In the south it breeds 

 chiefly in May and June, and there is record of eggs as early as 

 April 28; in the north, during June and July, and there are un- 

 hatched eggs to be found sometimes as late as July 31. 



The §arliest binomial name for the eastern nighthawk is Gapri- 

 mMlgus virginianus of Gmelin,* based on the bird from Virginia. 

 His diagnosis is in full as follows : 



C[aprimulgus]. fuscus, transverslm griseo-fusco et hinc inde cinereo-varius, 

 subtus ex rubescente albus transversim striatus, menti macula trlgona alba, 

 area oculorum et cervlce aurantils maculis varia. 



MaMtat aestate in America septentrionali, praesertim Virginia, europaeo minor 

 8 poUices longus, in montamAs, vespere prope dotrms frequens, eogue tennpore 



1 Feilden, Ibis, 1889, p. 486. 



" Hartert, Cat Birds Brit. Mus., vol. 16, 1892, p. 611. 



» Sabine, Suppl. Appendix Parry's 1st. Voyage, 1824, p. cxciv. 



* Syst. Nat., vol. 1, pt. 2, 1789, p. 1028. 



