OUR HOME BIRDS. 
197 
“ The night-hawk seems particularly partial to wet 
and gloomy weather, as he is then sure to be abroad 
by day as well as by night, and is seen darting about 
in the air in all directions, making frequent short, sud- 
den turnings, as if busily engaged in catching insects. 
Another peculiarity is his habit of opening his mouth 
to its widest stretch when wounded or captured. 
“ This hawk is nine and a half inches long, and its 
general color is a blackish-brown, sprinkled in some 
parts with small spots and streaks of pale cream-color 
and red ; in other places there are bars of w T hite and 
brownish-black. 
“ The well-known whip-poor-will is only another 
species of night-hawk, and gets his name from the 
singular sounds which he utters with such emphasis 
that they seem like a repetition of these words. ‘ The 
notes of this solitary bird, from the ideas which are 
naturally associated with them, seem like the voice 
of an old friend, and are listened to by almost all 
with great interest. At first they issue from some 
retired part of the w T oods, the glen, or mountain ; m 
a few evenings, perhaps, we hear them from the ad- 
joining coppice, the garden fence, the road before the 
door, and even from the roof of the dwelling-house, 
long after the family have retired to rest. Some 
of the more ignorant and superstitious consider this 
near approach as foreboding no good to the family 
17 * 
