R79 NIGHT HAWK. 
very much resembling some of our small Hawks, and from its habit of 
flying chiefly in the evening. Though it is a bird universally known 
in the United States. and inhabits North America, in summer, from 
Tight, when they are first roused from their daily slumber, they perch on some bare 
elevation of the ground, an old wail or fence, or heap of stones, in a moss county 
on a peat stack, and commence their monotonous drum, or whirr, closely resemblin; 
the dull sound produced by a spinning-wheel, and possessing the same variation of 
apparent distance in the sound, a modification of ventriloquism, which is perceived 
in the croak of the Land Rail, or the ery of the Coot and Water Rail, or croaking 
of frogs ; at one time, it is so near as to cause an alarm that you will disturb the ut- 
terer; at another, as if the bird had removed to the extreme limit of the listener’s 
organs, while it remained unseen at a distance of perhaps not more than forty or fifty 
yards. At the commencement, this drumming sound seems to be continued for about 
ten or fifleen minutes, and occasionally during the night in the intervals of relaxation ; 
it is only, however, when perched that it is uttered, and never for so great a length 
of time as at the first. Their flight is never high, and is performed without any reg- 
ularity ; sometimes straight forward and in gli ae circles, with a slow, steady clap 
of the wings, in the middle of which they will abruptly start into the air for thirty 
or forty feet, resuming their former line by a gradual fall; at other times it will be 
performed in sudden jerks upwards, in the fall keeping the wings steady and closed 
over the back, skimming in the intervals near the ground, and still retaining the 
wings like some Gulls or Terns, or a Swallow loping in the water, until they are 
again required to give the stroke upwards ; all the while the tail is much expanded, 
and is a conspicuous object in the male, from the white spots on the outer feathers. 
When in woods, or hawking near trees, the flight is made in glides among the 
branches, or it flutters close to the summits, and seizes the various Phalcence which 
play around them. I once observed three or four of these birds hawking in this 
manner, on the confines of a spruce fir plantation, and after various evolutions, they 
balanced themselves for a few seconds on the very summit of the leading shoots. 
This was frequently repeated while I looked on. During the whole of their flight 
a short snap of the bill is heard, and a sort of click, click, with the distinct sound o} 
the monosyllable whip, or, to convey the idea better, the sound of a whip suddenly 
lashed wathiget cracking. The female, when disturbed from her nest, flits or skims 
along the surface for a short distance ; but I have never seen the young or eggs re 
moved in the manner related of the American species, even after frequent annoyance 
When the young are approached at night, before they are perfectly fledged, the olc 
birds fly in circles round, approach very near, utter incessantly their clicking cry, 
and make frequent dashes at the intruder, like a Lapwing. 
Among the Night Hawks, taking the form as understood to rank under Capri- 
us of Linnaeus, we have a close resemblance of general form and characters, 
tnough there are one or two modifications which fully entitle the species to separa- 
tion, and which work beautifully in the system of affinities or gradual development 
of form.* From these circumstances, Mr. Swainson has formed a new genus from 
our present species. 
In color, the whole of Caprimulgus is very closely allied ; “ drest, but with na- 
ture’s tenderest pencil touched,” in various shades of brown, white, and russet; the 
delicate blending of the markings produce an effect always pleasing—often more 
so than in those which can boast of a more gorgeous apparel. 
There is another structure in this bird, A has given rise to much conjecture 
among naturalists, particularly those whose opportunities of observation have beez 
comparatively limited, and has been looked upon as a peculiarity existing in this 
genus only, — I allude to the serrature of the centre claw. This structure we also 
* Tn some the mouth is furnished with very strong bristles, and in others it is entirely des- 
titute of them, as may be seen in the species of North America. Again, the tail is square, 
round, or forked, sometimes to an extraordinary extent, as in the C. psalurus, of Azara, 
and in C. acutus the shafts of the feathers project heyond the webs, and remind us of the 
genus Chetura. In some the tarsus is extremely short and weak, and covered with plumes 
to the very toes, in others long and naked. Tlie wings are rounded or sharp-pointed ; and 
in the Sierra Goatsucker we have the shaft of one of the secondaries running out to the 
length of twenty inches, with the web much expanded at tho extremity, and presenting, no 
doubt, during flight, a most unique appearance. — Ep. 
