180 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



ground, usually selecting a dry spot in brushy woodland; the 

 eggs, two in number, are laid about the first of May. 



Food habits. — The whip-poor-will feeds mainly on nocturnal 

 beetles and moths, caterpillars, ants, mosquitoes, and other 

 insects, It has been known to eat the potato beetle and also 

 the Rocky Mountain locust. 



NIGHTHAWK; BULL-BAT: ChordeUes minor minor 



(Forster).* 



State records. — The nighthawk, known everywhere in the 

 South as the "bull-bat," is an abundant spring and fall mi- 

 grant and locally a common summer resident. In former 

 years immense flights occurred in the migratory season, par- 

 ticularly from the last of August through September, but 

 wholesale shooting of the birds for sport or for food has re- 

 duced their numbers very considerably. Fortunately, since 

 the passage of the Federal law protecting them at all seasons, 

 this destruction has largely ceased, and the birds are begin- 

 ning to regain thfeir former numbers. 



The breeding ranges of the two races of this species are not 

 definitely known, and there is no breeding record of the north- 

 ern form (minor) in the State. Probably, however, it will be 

 found as a summer resident in some of the northern counties. 

 The bird has been seen in the breeding season at Stevenson, 

 Leighton, Ardell, and Sand Mountain (Jackson County), but 

 at that season is everywhere rather rare and local. 



The spring migration takes place during April and early 

 May. First arrivals were noted at Spring Hill, April 6, Ren- 

 dalia, April 9 (1894) ; Smelley, April 16 (1889) ; Leighton, 

 April 18 (1892); and Sand Mountain (Jackson County), 

 April 20 (1917). Transients are seen up to the middle of 

 May, having been noted at Auburn, Jasper, York, and Bara- 

 chias. The first southbound migrants appear in the northern 

 part of the State about the first of August; the species be- 

 comes abundant by the last of that month and passes south 

 in large numbers during most of September. The last birds 

 were seen at Leighton, October 8 (1891). Large flights were 



•Chordeilcs Yir^inianus TirErinianas of the A. O. U. Check-list ; for change of name 

 see The Auk, vol. 85, p. 208, 1918. 



