NIGHTHAWK. 
GOATSUCKER. BULL BAT. 
ChORDEILES VIRGINIAITOS. 
Char. Gape wide ; bill extremely small ; no rictal bristles. Above, 
dull black mottled with brown and gray ; wings brown, a patch of white 
on five outer primaries ; tail dusky, with bars of gray and a patch of 
white near the extremity ; lower parts reddish white with bars of brown ; 
throat with patch of white. Length about inches. 
A^est. Usually in open woods ; the eggs generally laid upon a rock or 
on the turf, — sometimes they are laid on a gravel roof in a city. 
Eggs. 2 ; dull white or buff, thickly mottled with brown, slate, and 
lilac; 1.25 X 0.85. 
Towards the close of April the Nighthawks arrive in the 
Middle States, and early in May they are first seen near the 
sea-coast of Massachusetts, which at all times appears to be a 
favorite resort. In the interior of the continent they penetrate 
as far as the sources of the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, 
and the territory of Oregon ; they are likewise observed 
around the dreary coasts of Hudson Bay and the remotest 
Arctic islands, breeding in the wdiole intermediate region to 
the more temperate and elevated parts of Georgia. They are 
now commonly seen towards evening, in pairs, sailing round in 
sweeping circles high in the air, occasionally descending lower 
