672 THE NORTH AMERICAN GOATSUCKERS. 
linas on the coast. But Mr. Ridgway is confident that he has 
heard it in southern Illinois ;* which, if his observation proves 
correct, will be but another instance exemplifying the well-known 
fact of birds having a more extensive latitudinal distribution in 
the interior than upon the coast; which is doubtless subject to, 
and explicable by, climatic influence. Its notes, from which it 
takes its name, resemble less then has generally been supposed 
the syllables ‘chuck-will’s-widow.” They are pronounced in a 
rapid manner with a slight elevation of the voice upon the last 
syllable. Butterflies, moths and a variety of other insects, form 
its food, as they do also that of the other members of this group. 
The next is Nuttall’s whippoorwill (A. Nuttalli Cass.), or more 
properly ‘‘poor-will,” as it is said to omit the first syllable. It in- 
habits the country west of the Mississippi river, and is domiciled 
in nearly every part of that vast extent of prairies. This is the 
smallest species, measuring only eight inches in length. Its habits 
differ essentially from its eastern congeners, as it is necessarily 
an inhabitant of open portions, and is unconversant, if I may 850 
use the expression, with the woods which they so delight in fre- 
quenting. The eggs are immaculate livid white and destitute of 
spots or blotches, and, with A. macromystax of S. Mexico, differ 
in this respect, from all the other species. 
e now come to the nighthawks (Chordeiles). The common 
nighthawk or “bull-bat”(C. popetue Baird) of the eastern states 
is abundant from British America to the West Indies, and west to 
Kansas, where it becomes lighter, and constitutes the variety 
Henryi Cass. This bird is an abundant spring and autumn visi- 
tant to the District of Columbia, arriving about May first, and 
departing the last of September. In its breeding habits it differs 
from the whippoorwill in constructing its nest, which is a mere 
hole scratched in the ground, in open places, as fields and bare 
hillsides; and never in thick woods. It sometimes deposits its 
eggs on a dead leaf, or even on a bare rock. During the pairing 
season the actions of the male are strange and interesting. At 
dusk he frequently mounts high into the air, and then, partially 
closing his wings, descends with great rapidity to near the earth ; 
the air in passing through the wing feathers in this rapid descent 
produces a loud booming sound which may be heard at a con- 
siderable distance, and has been likened to the noise occasioned 
* MS. Notes on Birds of S. Illinois. 
