CAPRIMULGID.E. 337 



Belly and flanks tinged with wood-brown, and mottled and barred with umber. Bill blackish. 

 Legs flesh-coloured. — The female is described by Wilson as about an inch shorter, with the 

 upper plumage much lighter, as if powdered with meal ; the ends of the lateral tail feathers 

 cream-coloured ; the bar on the throat brownish-ochre ; the cheeks and region of the eyes 

 brighter brownish-orange, which passes also to the neck, and is sprinkled with black and 

 specks of white. — R. 



Form typical in the bill, nostrils, and rictus. Wings an inch and a half shorter than the 

 tail ; the second quill longest ; the third nearly equal to it ; the first longer than the fourth : 

 the second, third, and fourth are strongly notched externally, and the internal margins, for 

 about an inch and a half from the tip, are disconnected, similar to what is seen in the Owls. 

 The tarsi resemble those of C. Virginianus. — Sw. 



Dimensions. 



Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. Inch. Lin. 



Length, total . . 10 3 Length of bill above . .0 5 Length of middle toe . 8 



„ of tail . .50 „ of bill to rictus .12 „ of its nail ..03 



„ of wing . .63 „ of tarsus . .0 9 



[120.] 2. Caprimulgus (Chordeiles) Virginianus. (Sw.) The Pisk. 



Sub-family, Caprimulgins, Swains. Genus, Caprimulgus? Auct. Sub-genus, Chordeiles*, Sw. 

 Caprimulgus Americanus. Wils., v., p. 65, pi. 40, f. 1, 2. Sab. Suppl. Parry's First Voy., p. cxciv. 

 Caprimulgus Virginianus. Bonap. Syn., No. 69. 

 Peesquaw. Cree Indians. 



Few birds are better known in the fur-countries than this, which ranges in 

 summer even to the remotest Arctic islands. The very peculiar noise it makes 

 is most frequently heard in the evening"}", and often seems to be emitted close 

 to the listener, although the bird which produces it is at the time so high in the 

 air as to be nearly imperceptible. The sound resembles that produced by the 

 vibration of a tense, thick cord in a violent gust of wind. The Pisk bears con- 

 siderable resemblance to some of the Falconidw in the evolutions it performs 

 in the air, whence, and in allusion to its food, it obtains the appellation of Mos- 

 quito-Hawk at Hudson's Bay. It often remains stationary for several seconds, 



* Chorda crespusculi (Th. x ,J ^' /l et &s<X»): in allusion to the peculiar sound it makes. 



f In the high latitudes the sun does not set during the stay of this bird, which is not, therefore, so much a night 

 bird as the C. vociferus. — R. 



2 X 



