The Nighthawk 
Prairie 
Perches 
The bird has a habit, while making these flights, of taking sudden 
plunges downward, making a quick curve upward when near the ground, 
at which time is heard a peculiar groaning sound, now known to be made 
by the rush of the air through the wings ; and it is to this booming 
that the bird owes its Southern name “Bull-bat.” 
dooming 1 These noises, and its reiterated k-ze-e-et, suggesting 
the sudden tearing of calico, sometimes annoy light 
sleepers, especially in towns. 
When at rest the Nighthawk is usually seen — if seen at all, for its 
pose and coloring make it then very unnoticeable — squatting on the bare 
limb of a tree, or on the rail of a fence, where it sits with the body 
lengthwise of the perch, instead of crosswise, as is the general custom 
of birds. 
The writer was engaged in railroad work in the State of Nebraska 
at the time when that State was mostly a bare, treeless prairie. At that 
time Nighthawks were very abundant there — in fact, the most abundant 
of any birds ; but as there were no trees or fences they could perch 
only on the ground. As soon as the stakes were set for the railroad 
each was taken possession of by some bird, generally a Sparrow, and 
occupied all day, although not always by the same bird. When the 
telegraph-poles were set the small Sparrow Hawks, also an abundant 
species, at once took possession of each as a con- 
venient and long-needed lookout from which to watch 
for ground-squirrels. When the rails were laid on 
the road-bed the Nighthawks immediately used them as roosting-places, 
and in the afternoon of each day two long lines of these birds could be 
seen stretching away in either direction as far as the eye could reach. 
The Nighthawk does not attach itself to the abodes of man, and 
render itself agreeable by sprightly manners and pleasing companion- 
ship, but holds itself aloof from the works of civilization, and brings 
forth its two young ones upon a flat rock or a bare knoll, remote from 
human dwellings. To this rule, however, it makes one curious and ad- 
vantageous exception. In large cities, where most of the buildings are 
high, with flat roofs, often covered with gravel, the house-tops are usu- 
ally as free from human intrusion as the top of a mountain ; and the 
Nighthawks take advantage of this artificial desert to lay their eggs 
and rear their young safe from man, who crawls about in the crevices 
of streets far below. Hence, the citizens, even of the 
House-roofs metropolis itself, constantly see and hear this wild 
bird circling swiftly above the city’s heat and clamor, 
its plumage touched brightly by the setting sun. 
Ihe body of the Nighthawk is much smaller than one would suppose 
from seeing the bird upon the wing. The long pinions, and the loose, 
fluffy feathers, tend to give an exaggerated appearance of size. The 
body is actually so small, and with so little flesh on the loose skeleton, 
that it is about the last bird one would suppose that anyone would kill 
for food. The muscles of the breast, which move the long wings, con- 
