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NESTS AND EGGS OF 



420. NIGHTHAWK. Chordeiles virginianus (Gmel.) Geog. Dist.— Eastern 

 North America, north-to Hudson Bay, west to the edge of the Great Plains, south 

 through tropical America. 



The Nighthawk, Bullbat, or Goatsucker, as it is variously called, breeds through- 

 out its range, depositing two eggs in open situations, such as fields, etc., on the cold 

 bare ground, often among stones; scarcely a trace of a nest can be found where the 

 eggs lay. They are frequently deposited on bare rocks, and on the flat roofs of build- 

 ings in large cities. Mr. Norrls once found a set on the stump of a tree about eighteen 

 inches from the ground ; and a set in his cabinet was taken from the gravel roof of a 

 four-story building in the center of Philadelphia, The Nighthawk and Whip-poor- 

 will are often confounded or considered as birds of the same species. A careful com- 



420. Nighthawk (From Brehm) 



parison with each other, or with the descriptions, will at once show a very decided 

 difference. The large, white patches on the five outer primaries of the wings of the 

 Nighthawk when flying, appear like tattered holes caused by the shot from a gun. 

 In the evenings of summer months great troops of Nighthawks may be seen high In 

 air over forest or town in search of insects, performing their wonderful evolutions 

 and uttering their peevish cries, or swooping down with their strange booming or 

 rumbling sound, they skim over the grassy meadows. Thus they continue till the 

 gloaming merges into darkness, and their flight is seen no longer. The eggs of the 

 Nighthawk vary from pale olive-buff to buffy and grayish-white,' thickly mottled 

 and dashed with varied tints of darker gray, slate, olivie, or even blackish, mixed 

 with a marbling and clouding of purplish-gray; the pattern and tints are very vari- 

 able. The shape is elliptical, and average size 1.25x.85. Six eggs measure 1.24x.85, 

 1.27X.87, 1.22X.83, 1.24X.86, 1.21x.82, 1.24X.84. 



420a. WESTEKN NIGHTHAWK. Otordeiles virginianus henryi (Cass.) Geog. 

 Dist.— Western United States from the Great Plains to the Pacific, and from British 

 Columbia south to Northern South America. 



