154 
CHtICK- WILL’S- WIDOW. 
have I ever had an opportunity of witnessing the removal of the young. 
Should a person, coming upon the nest when the bird is sitting, refrain 
from touching the eggs, the bird ..returns to them and sits as before. This 
fact I have also ascertained by observation. 
I have not been able to discover the peculiar use of the 'pectinated claw 
which this bird has on each foot. 
The Chuck-will’s-widow manifests a strong antipathy towards all snakes, 
however harmless they may be. Although these birds cannot in any way 
injure the snakes, they alight near them on all occasions, and try to 
frighten them away, by opening their prodigious mouth, and emitting a 
strong hissing murmur. It was after witnessing one of these occurrences, 
which took place at early twilight, that the idea of representing these 
birds in such an occupation struck me. The beautiful little snake, gliding 
along the dead branch, between two Chuck-will’s-wido ws, a male and a female, 
is commonly called the Harlequin Snake , and is, I believe, quite harmless. 
The food of the bird now under consideration consists entirely of all sorts 
of insects, among which the larger species of moths and beetles are very 
conspicuous. The long bristly feathers at the base of the mandibles of these 
birds no doubt contribute greatly to prevent the insects from escaping, 
after any portion of them has entered the mouth of the bird. 
These birds become silent as soon as the young are hatched, but are 
heard again before their departure towards the end of summer. At this 
season, however, their cry is much less frequently heard than in spring. 
They leave the United States all of a sudden, about the middle of the 
month of August. 
The occurrence of the. remains of a bird in the stomach of an individual 
of this species is a very remarkable circumstance, jis it had never been 
known, or even conjectured to feed on birds. If the larger and stronger 
species, and especially the Stout-billed Podargi, should thus be found to 
be carnivorous, their affinity to the Owls, so apparent in the texture and 
colours of their plumage, will be rendered more conspicuous. 
Chuck-will’s-widow, Caprimulgus Carolinensis , Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. vi. p. 95. 
Caprimulgus Carolinensis, Bonap. Syn., p. 61. 
Chucic-will’s-widow, Caprimulgus Carolinensis, vol. i. p. 612. 
Chuck-will’s-widow, Caprimulgus Carolinensis, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. i. p. 273 •, 
vol. v. p. 401. 
Bristles with lateral filaments ; tail slightly rounded. Head and back dark 
brown, minutely mottled with yellowish-red, and longitudinally streaked 
with black ; three bands of the latter colour, from the lower mandible 
