374 NIGHT HAWK. 
As soon as incubation commences, the male keeps a most vigilant 
watch around. He is then more frequently seen pla; ing about in the 
air over the place, even during the day, mounting ty several quick 
vibrations of the wings, then a few slower, uttering all the while a 
sharp, harsh squeak, till, having gained the highest point, he suddenly 
precipitates himself, head foremost, and with great rapidity, down 
sixty or eighty feet, wheeling up again as suddenly; at which instant 
is heard a loud booming sound, very much resembling that produced 
by blowing strongly into the bunghole of an empty hogshead ; and 
which is doubtless produced by the sudden expansion of his capacious 
mouth, while he passes through the air, as exhibited in the figure on 
the plate. He again mounts by alternate quick and leisurely motions 
of the wings, playing about as he ascends, uttering his usual hoarse 
squeak, till, in a few minutes, he again dives with the same impetu- 
osity and violent sound as before. Some are of opinion that this is 
done to intimidate man or beast from approaching his nest; and he is 
particularly observed to repeat these divings most frequently around 
those who come near the spot, sweeping down past them, sometimes 
so near, and so suddenly, as to startle and alarm them. The same in- 
dividual is, however, often seen performing these manceuvres over the 
river, the hill, the meadow, and the marsh, in the space of a quarter 
of an hour, and also towards the fall, when he has no nest. This sin- 
gular habit belongs peculiarly to the male. The female has, indeed, 
the common hoarse note, and much the same mode of flight ; but nev- 
er precipitates herself in the manner of the male. During the time 
she is sitting, she will suffer you to approach within a foot or two be- 
fore she attempts to stir, and, when she does, it is in such a fluttering, 
tumbling manner, and with such appearance of a lame and wounded 
bird, as nine times in ten to deceive the person, and induce him to 
pursue her. This “ pious fraud,” as the poet Thomson calls it, is kept 
up until the person 1s sufficiently removed from the nest, when she 
immediately mounts and disappears. When the young are first hatched, 
it is difficult to distinguish them from the surface of the ground, 
their down being of a pale brownish color, and they are altogether 
destitute of the common shape of birds, sitting so fixed and so squat 
as to be easily mistaken for a slight prominent mouldiness lying on 
the ground. I cannot say whether they have two broods in the sea- 
son; I rather conjecture that they have generally but one. 
The Night Hawk is a bird of strong and vigorous flight, and of 
large volume of wing. It often visits the city, darting and squeaking 
over the streets at a great height, diving perpendicularly with the 
same hollow sound,as before described. 1 have also seen them sit- 
ting on chimney-tops in some of the most busy parts of the city, oc- 
casionally uttering their common note. 
When the weather happens to be wet and gloomy, the Night 
Hawks are seen abroad at all times of the day, generally at a consid- 
erable height; their favorite time, however, is from two hours before 
sunset until dusk. At such times they seem all vivacity, darting 
about in the air in every direction, making frequent short sudden 
turnings, as if busily engaged in catching insects. Even in the hot- 
test, clearest weather, they are occasionally seen abroad, squeaking at 
short intervals. They are also often found sitting along the fences, 
