138 



April 21 ; next, April 22; common, April 26; Iowa City, Iowa, first 

 seen April 22; Leeds Centre, Wis., first, April 21; next, April 24; 

 Luck, Wis., first, April 28; next, April 30; common, May 11. The high 

 character of the observers, and the commonness and uninistakability 

 of the Nigkthawk, render it hardly possible that there can be any 

 mistakes in the observations, which by their very number substantiate 

 one another. And it must be remembered in this connection that the 

 temperature during the night of April 21 was high enough to inspire 

 migration in any of the heat-loving species. At 11 p. in., April 21, the 

 thermometer registered G2° F. at Saint Paul and 69° F. at Davenport. 

 The next warm wave reached the Upper Mississippi Valley April 28. 

 The rest of the notes are quite regular. The first Nigkthawk reached 

 Peoria, 111., May 6; Aledo, 111., May 11; and May 14, 15, and 16 the 

 first was recorded from Unadilla, Nebr.; Des Moines, Iowa; Waukon, 

 Iowa; Lake Mills, Wis.; Milwaukee, Wis.; New Cassel, Wis.; La Crosse, 

 Wis.; Durand, Wis.; Eiver Falls, Wis.; Eochester, Minn., and Elk 

 Eiver, Minn. May 19 it was reported from Heron Lake, Minn.; May 

 20 from Linwood, Nebr., and Huron, Dak.; May 23 from Argusville, 

 Dak.; Menoken, Dak.; Two Eivers, Manitoba, aud Oak Point, Mani- 

 toba, though at this last place it had been first noted May 19. 



In the fall of 1885 the last was seen at Elk Eiver, Minn., September 

 20; at Eiver Falls, Wis., September 15; Lanesboro, Minn., September 

 18; Grinnell, Iowa, October 10; Iowa City, Iowa, September 20; and 

 Fayette, Mo., September 19. The first was seen at Gainesville, Tex., 

 October 6, and the last November 27. At Saint Louis, Mo., migration 

 began August 17. Great movements were noted during the evenings 

 of August 21 to 23, and again August 27. Fifty were seen going south- 

 east at 5 p. m., September 15, and the last passed October 3. 



420a. Chordeiles virginianus henryi (Cass.). [357a.] Western Nighthawk. 



A common summer resident in western Manitoba and the Great Plains ; 

 common in middle and western Kansas (Goss). The records of this 

 subspecies, which is the form inhabiting the dry western Plains, indicate 

 quite a regular migration. In the spring of 1881 it wasjreported from 

 Gainesville, Tex., April 29; Darlington, Ind. Ter., May 4; Ellsworth, 

 Kans., May 9; Ellis, Kans., May 10; and Menoken, Dak., May 23. These 

 records indicate that the species performed its northward migration in 

 the spring of 1884 at the high rate of 31 miles a day for a distance of 

 upwards of 900 miles. Few species exceed the present in the extent of 

 its wanderings, its migrations extending nearly 4,000 miles— from Brazil 

 to the Arctic regions. It is found as far east as Vermillion, in south- 

 eastern Dakota, where it is a common summer resident, and where the 

 eastern Nighthawk occurs in migration only. In the spring of 1885 

 the only record received concerning the Western Nighthawk was its 

 arrival at San Angelo, Tex., April 28. Mr. Lloyd says it probably breeds 

 on the plains in Texas. Several specimens have been recorded from as 

 far east as Waukegan, 111. (Kelson). 



