68 
THE NIGHT-HAWK 
It consists in partly closing his wings, spreading his 
tail, and resigning himself to gravitation and fate* He 
comes toward the earth head-foremost with accelerat- 
ing speed, but as the sluggish human mind is thinking 
of borrowing a spade to dig him out he catches his 
wings full of air and, with a loud whirring noise, turns 
sharply upward from the threatening roof or fence* 
He plays this game with great zest* The object is 
evidently to turn as close to some obstruction as 
possible without striking it* 
When alight the Night-hawk seems a silent, surly, 
be-whiskered little barbarian, with none of the 
graceful or endearing ways displayed on the wing* 
On a limb he sits lengthwise, rests his tail, doubles 
up his insignificant legs, and poses as a knot or mal- 
formation* On a roof he looks like an indolent, over- 
grown swallow, twisting his head suspiciously about 
as if he were a stranger in the city* In her domestic 
establishment the mother Night-hawk impresses the 
needed lesson of simplicity* She does not build a 
nest, but merely lays her eggs on the ground* City 
Night-hawks nest in the suburbs, but an enterprising 
pair, to show their lack of prejudice, will sometimes 
establish quarters on a gravel roof* The Night-hawk 
is a messenger not of peace and good-will but of the 
great predatory life of the free world* He shows us 
that the ambitions, struggles, and desires that absorb 
our life and strength are but atoms in the great 
