JUNE. 
218 
F, — The spring is the chief time for the singing of birds : 
it appears to be connected with their pairing, and the rearing 
of their young. When these duties are performed, our little 
musicians become silent : a few sing in autumn, but very few 
indeed during the heat of summer. They have not left the 
country, however ; they have merely retired from view 
into the recesses of the woods and swamps. I saw some of 
the warblers in a cedar swamp yesterday : I believe they 
were the Bay-breasted Warbler and Canada Flycatcher ( Syl- 
via Castanea, and Muscicapa Canadensis J. The finches 
are much more familiar ; the Purple Finch C Fringilla Pur- 
purea ) yet remains with us ; the Goldfinch ( Fringilla 
Tristis J, the King- bird ( Muscicapa Tyr annus J, and the 
sparrows, are still hopping about the fences ; and the Ked- 
wings f Sturnus Predatorius J and Grakles f Graculus ) are 
occasionally seen. 
C. — Last evening, as I was returning from the field about 
sunset, some rather large, dark birds kept flying over my head, 
sweeping along with great swiftness : they had a pale spot 
on each wing. Their wings were long, and they flew like 
swallows, with great power of wing. Now and then, they 
uttered a short harsh scream. 
F, — They were Night Hawks ( Caprimulgus America- 
nus J : they screech in the air every evening from sunset till 
after darkness has closed in. They are spread over the 
whole of the United States, in some of which they are called 
the bull-bat, partly from their resemblance to bats, as they 
flit along in the twilight, and partly from another circum- 
stance^ which is very peculiar. In the evenings, the males 
amuse themselves by mounting on the wing to a great height, 
then suddenly dropping down perpendicularly, head foremost, 
like a lump of lead ; they bring themselves up with a turn 
before they come to the ground, then mount, and precipitate 
themselves again. While in the act of descending, they sud- 
denly utter a hollow booming sound, which may be heard at 
