1 68 NIGHT HAWK. 



From one of them I took nearly a common snuff-box full of 

 these insects, all seemingly fresh swallowed. 



By the middle or 20th of September, very few of these 

 birds are to be seen in Pennsylvania ; how far south they go, 

 or at what particular time they pass the southern boundaries 

 of the United States, I am unable to say. None of them 

 winter in Georgia. 



The ridiculous name goatsucker, — which was first bestowed 

 on the European species, from a foolish notion that it sucked 

 the teats of the goats, because, probably, it inhabited the 

 solitary heights where they fed, which nickname has been 

 since applied to the whole genus, — I have thought proper to 

 omit. There is something worse than absurd in continuing 

 to brand a whole family of birds with a knavish name, after 

 they are universally known to be innocent of the charge. It 

 is not only unjust, but tends to encourage the belief in an idle 

 fable that is totally destitute of all foundation. 



The night hawk is nine inches and a half in length, and 

 twenty-three inches in extent ; the upper parts are of a 

 very deep blackish brown, unmixed on the primaries, but 

 thickly sprinkled or powdered on the back scapulars and head 

 with innumerable minute spots and streaks of a pale cream 

 colour, interspersed with specks of reddish ; the scapulars are 

 barred with the same, also the tail-coverts and tail, the inner 

 edges of which are barred with white and deep brownish 

 black for an inch and a half from the tip, where they are 

 crossed broadly with a band of white, the two middle ones 

 excepted, which are plain deep brown, barred and sprinkled 

 with light clay ; a spot of pure white extends over the five 

 first primaries, the outer edge of the exterior feather excepted, 

 and about the middle of the wing ; a triangular spot of white 

 also marks the throat, bending up on each side of the neck ; 

 the bill is exceedingly small, scarcely one-eighth of an inch in 

 length, and of a black colour; the nostrils circular, and sur- 

 rounded with a prominent rim ; eye, large and full, of a deep 

 bluish black ; the legs are short, feathered a little below the 



