140 BIRDS OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



in width. This bird, like the Chuck- will's-widow,* when flying about 

 in quest of food, may be heard to utter a kind of low growling sound. 

 This noise is the only sound I ever heard the Whip-poor-will make 

 when on the wing. 



GENUS CHORBEILES. SWAINSON. 

 420. Chordeiles virginianus. (GMEL.). 



Night Hawk. 



DESCRIPTION. (Plate 23). 



Male, above mottled with blackish, grayish and rufous ; a white V-shaped mark 

 on the throat ; behind this a collar of pale rufous blotches, and another on the breast 

 of grayish mottling ; under parts banded transversely with dull-yellowish or red- 

 dish white and brown ; wing quills quite uniformly brown ; the five outer prima- 

 ries with a white blotch midway between the tip and carpal joint, not extending on 

 the outer web of the outer quill ; tail with a terminal white patch. 



Female without the caudal white patch, the white of the throat mixed with red- 

 dish. Length about 9 inches ; extent about 23 ; wing about 8 inches. 



Hab. Northern and eastern North America, east of the Great Plains, south 

 through tropical America to Buenos Ayres. 



The Night Hawk occurs in Pennsylvania as a common summer resi- 

 dent. It usually arrives from its southern winter resorts, a few days 

 after the Whip-poor-wills have made their appearance. The note of 

 the Night Hawk, is a short, sharp squeak. During the breeding season 

 this bird has a curious habit, when flying, of falling through the air 

 with a loud booming sound, which as Nuttall has truly said, resembles 

 the noise produced by blowing into the bung-hole of an empty hogs- 

 head. This peculiar booming or whirring sound, which can be heard 

 oftentimes to the distance of a quarter of a mile or over, is produced, 

 it is stated, by the air rushing through the stiff wing feathers. The 

 Night Hawk never breeds in woods or thickets, but deposits her two 

 eggs on the bare ground or rocks in open situations ; the favorite 

 breeding places are barren and rocky lands, though sometimes they 

 have been known to deposit their eggs on roofs of buildings in large 

 cities and towns, over which these birds all day long may be seen or 

 heard flying in pursuit of their favorite insect prey. 



The eggs, elliptical in shape and about the same size as those of the 

 Whip-poor-will, so closely resemble the ground or pieces of rock on 

 which they are deposited, that they are frequently overlooked by 

 persons who are accustomed to searching for them. The Night Hawk, 

 like the Whip-poor-will, manifests great affection for her eggs and 



*The Chuck-wilTs-widow (Antrostomm carolinenxis (GmeL\ inhabits the south Atlantic and 

 Gulf States, " and lower Mississippi Valley, north to the Caroliuas and southern Illinois. 1 ' said to 

 winter chiefly south -of United States, in Mexico, Central America, etc. April, 1SS3, 1 found this 

 species breeding in Orange and Volusia counties, Florida, where these birds arc abundant. In 

 February and March I neither saw or heard them, and residents of Florida assured me that the 

 44 Chuck-will," as the bird is there known, was found in that State only as a summer resident. 



