NIGHT HAWK. 
11 
not only unjust, but tends to encourage the belief in 
an idle fable that is totally destitute of all foundation. 
The night hawk is nine inches and a half in length, 
and twenty-three inches in extent ; the upper parts are 
of a very deep blackish brown, unmixed on the pri- 
maries, but thickly sprinkled or powdered on the back 
scapulars and head with innumerahle minute spots and 
streaks of a pale cream colour, interspersed with specks 
of reddish; the scapulars are barred with the same, 
also the tail-coverts and tail, the inner edges of which 
are barred with white and deep brownish black for 
an inch and a half from the tip, where they are crossed 
broadly with a band of white, the two middle ones 
excepted, which are plain deep brown, barred and 
sprinkled with light clay ; a spot of pure white extends 
over the five first primaries, the outer edge of the 
exterior feather excepted, and about the middle of the 
wing ; a triangular spot of white also marks the throat, 
bending up on each side of the neck ; the bill is exceed- 
ing small, scarcely one-eighth of an inch in length, and 
of a black colour ; the nostrils, circular, and surrounded 
with a prominent rim; eye, large and full, of a deep 
bluish black ; the legs are short, feathered a little 
below the knees, and, as well as the toes, of a purplish 
flesh colour, seamed with white; the middle claw is 
pectinated on its inner edge, to serve as a comb to clear 
the bird of vermin; the whole lower parts of the 
body are marked with transverse lines of dusky and 
yellowish. The tail is somewhat shorter than the 
wings when shut, is handsomely forked, and consists 
of ten broad feathers; the mouth is extremely large, 
and of a reddish flesh colour within ; there are no 
bristles about the bill ; the tongue is very small, and 
attached to the inner surface of the mouth. 
The female measures about nine inches in length, 
and twenty-two in breadth ; differs in having no white 
band on the tail, but has the spot of white on the wing ; 
wants the triangular spot of white on the throat, instead 
of which there is a dully defined mark of a reddish 
cream colour ; the wings are nearly black, all the quills 
