THE NIGHT-HAWK. 161 



tions, is curious and highly entertaining. This play is quickly over, however, 

 for no sooner has the female made her choice, than her approved gives chase 

 to all intruders, drives them beyond his dominions, and returns with exulta- 

 tion, plunging and gambolling on the wing, but with less force, and without 

 nearing the ground. 



In windy weather, and as the dusk of the evening increases, the Night- 

 Hawk flies lower and more swiftly than ever, making wide and irregular 

 deviations from its general course, to overtake an insect which its keen eye 

 has seen at a distance, after which it continues onward as before. When 

 darkness comes on, it alights either on the ground or on a tree, where it 

 spends the night, now and then uttering its squeak. 



These birds can scarcely walk on the ground, on account of the small size 

 and position of their legs, which are placed very far back, for which reason 

 they cannot stand erect, but rest their breast on the ground, or on the branch 

 of a tree, on which they are obliged to alight sidewise. They alight with 

 ease, however, and squat on branches or fence-rails, now and then on the 

 tops of houses or barns. In all such positions they are easily approached. 

 I have neared them when on a fence or low wall to within a few feet, when 

 they would look upon me with their large mild eyes more as a friend than 

 an enemy, although they flew off the moment they observed any thing sus- 

 picious in my movements. They now and then squeak while thus seated, 

 and if this happens when they are perched on the trees of our cities, they 

 seldom fail to attract the attention of persons passing. 



In Louisiana this species is called by the French Creoles "Crapaud 

 volant" in Virginia "Bat;" but the name by which it is most commonly 

 known is "Night-Hawk." The beauty and rapidity of its motions render 

 it a tempting object to sportsmen generally, and its flesh is by no means 

 unpalatable. Thousands are shot on their return to the south during the 

 autumn, when they are fat and juicy. Now and then at this season, they 

 plunge through tbe air, but the rustling sound of their wings at this or any 

 other time after the love season is less remarkable. 



In the Middle States, about the 20th of May, the Night-Hawk, without 

 much care as to situation, deposits its two, almost oval, freckled eggs on the 

 bare ground, or on an elevated spot in the ploughed fields, or even on the 

 naked rock, sometimes in barren or open places in the skirts of the woods, 

 never entering their depths. No nest is ever constructed, nor is the least 

 preparation made by scooping the ground. They never, I believe, raise 

 more than one brood in a season. The young are for some time covered 

 with a soft down, the colour of which, being a dusky-brown, greatly contri- 

 butes to their safety. Should the female be disturbed during incubation, she 

 makes her escape, pretending lameness, fluttering and trembling, until she 

 Vol. I. 25 



