160 
NIGHT HAWK. 
NIGHT HAWK. — CAPRIMULGUS AMERICANUS. 
Plate XL. Fig. 1. Male. Fig. 2. Female. 
Long-winged Goatsucker, Arct. Zool. No. 337. - — Peak's Museum, No. 7723, male ; 
7724, female. 
CAPRIMUL G US AMERICANUS ?— Wilson. * 
Caprimulgus Virginianus, Bonap. Synop. p. 62 Cliordeiles Virgimorus, Sic. North. 
Zool. ii. p. 337. 
This bird, in Virginia and some of the southern districts, 
is called a Bat; the name Night Hawk is usually given it in 
the middle and northern states, probably on account of its 
appearance when on wing very much resembling some of onr 
* North America appears to contain three species of this curious genus, 
— the present one, with the following, and C. Carolinensis, afterwards 
described. The whole are nearly of like size, and, from the general 
similarity of marking which runs through the group, will somewhat resemble 
each other. Wilson may, therefore, claim the first merit of clearly distin- 
guishing them, although he remained in uncertainty regarding the descriptions 
and synonyms of other authors. Vieillot appears to have described this species 
under the name of C. popetue ; but, notwithstanding, I cannot help preferring 
that given by Wilson, particularly as it seems confined to the New World. 
Bonaparte remarks, that the Night Hawks are among the Swallows what 
the Owls are among the Falconidce ; and, if we may be allowed the expression, 
the C. Americanus has more of the hirundine look than the others. The 
whole plumage is harder, the ends of the quills are more pointed, the tail is 
forked, and the rictus wants the strong array of bristles which we consider one 
of the essentials in the most perfect form of Caprimulgus. We may here 
remark, (although we know that there are exceptions,) that we have generally 
observed, in those having the tail forked, and, consequently, with a greater 
power of quick flight and rapid turnings, that the plumage is more rigid, and 
the flight occasionally diurnal. This is borne out, also, in our present species, 
which play “ about in the air, over the breeding-place, even during the day ; ” 
and, in their migrations, “ may be seen almost every where, from five o’clock 
until after sunset, passing along the Schulykill and the adjacent shores.” 
The truly night-feeding species have the plumage loose and downy, as in 
the nocturnal Owls ; the wings more blunted, and the plumules coming to a 
slender point, and unconnected ; the tail rounded, and the rictus armed, in some 
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