THE NIGHT-HAWK 
67 
fragment from a mosaic* The white spot on a Night- 
hawk's wing runs through feather after feather, 
but comes out in a strikingly regular pattern that 
shows when he is high in the evening air to best 
advantage* 
This bird has a mouth that may be called ridiculous, 
and his little, insignificant beak is but the handle to it. 
When darting at insects he opens his mouth and 
conceals himself behind it* Truly it is a mouth to 
wonder at. If you undertake to open the diminutive 
beak you will fancy that the bird has been cut in two 
horizontally. The Eel Fly or Mosquito which sees 
that mouth approaching never lives to hum the tale. 
It may be that the Night-hawk is ashamed of the 
cavernous receptacle with which he has been endowed, 
for he feeds at higher levels during early evening, 
and does not descend till night draws her sheltering 
mantle about his hideous disfigurement. Late into 
the night, and even till daylight, he continues to 
blow his whistle among the chimney - tops and 
telephone poles, sometimes startling the electric- 
lighted street with the giant shadows of his flapping 
wings ; or chasing a beetle over the heads of some 
eager crowd, reminding them of eager pursuits other 
than their own. 
The whistle is his chief recreation, and it often 
cheers the belated city straggler ; but he has another 
game as solitary as golf, though far more animated. 
