212 BIKDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YOEK 



NIGHTHAWKS, WHIP-POOR-WILLS, ETC.: 

 FAMILY CAPRIMULGID^ 



There is a belief common among country people that the 

 Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will are one and the same bird ; 

 it is probably due to the fact that the latter is so rarely 

 seen, and so constantly heard. 



NiGHTHAWK. Chordeiles virginianus 

 10.00 



Ad. $. — Entire upper parts, when seen near to, black, finely 

 speckled with gray, and a little brown ; middle pair of tail-feathers 

 like back, the others tipped with black and crossed near the tip 

 by a white band; a hroad hand of white across the throat ; breast 

 black, speckled with gray ; belly gray, barred with black, often 

 tinged with bufE ; wings long and narrow; a hroad white har crosses 

 the wing, showing best from below. Ad. f . — Similar, but throat- 

 band buff instead of white ; no white on tail. 



Eggs, laid on bare rocks or gravel roofs, dull white speckled 

 with gray or brown. 



The Nighthawk is a summer resident throughout New 

 England and New York, common in some localities, rare 

 or absent in others. It arrives in 

 May and leaves for the south tor 

 ward the end of August, when 

 large flocks of Nighthawks are 

 often seen passing overhead, par- 

 ticularly along broad river valleys ; 

 it is occasionally seen in Septem- 

 ber. 



Fig. 62. Nighthawk ^ . , , ,, , , 



Curiously enough, though the 



suburbs of many of our large cities are no longer wild 

 enough to offer the Nighthawk proper breeding-sites, it has 

 found the flat gravel-covered roofs of the cities themselves 

 suitable for nesting-sites, while the air about supplies it 

 with an abundance of food. The Nighthawk is a not un- 



