THE NIGHT-HAWK. 123 



At early evening, and in cloudy weather throughout the 

 greater part of the day, he ascends into the air ; and when 

 lie has attained a considerable height, partially closing his 

 wings, he drops with great velocity through the distance of 

 seventy-five or one hundred feet, sometimes nearly to the 

 earth. The sound made by the air passing through the wing 

 quills is so loud that I have often heard it at certainly the 

 distance of half a mile : it resembles, as Nuttall truly says, 

 the sound produced by blowing into the bung-hole of an 

 empty hogshead. This act is often repeated, the bird darting 

 about at the same time in every direction, and uttering his 

 sharp squeak. Wilson was of the opinion, that this habit of 

 the Night-hawk was confined to the period of incubation; 

 the male acting in this manner, as he thought, to intimidate 

 any person from approaching the nest. I have had abun- 

 dant opportunities for observing the bird in all times of the 

 summer, and during its stay with us ; and I should unhesi- 

 tatingly affirm, that, from the time of early courtship, until 

 the young are hatched, if not after, the male acts in this 

 manner. 



This species constructs no nest, but lays its eggs on the 

 bare ground in a slight hollow scratched by the female, or 

 often on a bare rock. I have found numbers of these eggs, 

 particularly in the northern parts of Maine, where, in walk- 

 ing over a pasture or rocky field, I have flushed sometimes 

 a bird in every ten rods. I remember a ledge of rocks 

 back of the settlement known as Wilson's Mills, which 

 seemed a favorite breeding-place for these birds ; and, in the 

 space of every four or five rods, a female was sitting on her 

 eggs. The eggs are two in number, elliptical in shape, of 

 a dirty- white- color, which is covered with fine dottings 

 of different shades of brown, with obscure markings of 

 slate-color, and some spots of lavender. Length from 1.23 

 to 1.25 inch ; breadth, from .82 to .85 inch. A great num- 

 ber of specimens from different sections do not exhibit an 

 appreciable variation from these dimensions. In the south- 



