226 
GOATSUCKERS 
Eggs. — Placed on the ground, usually near a clump of bushes; cream or 
bull', spotted and splashed with browns, buff, pink, and lavender. 
Food. — Moths, beetles, and other insects. 
When in southern Texas near the Mexican line we were startled at 
our camp-fire supper one evening by a strange new note, a hoarse 
pa-rau'-que, and hurrying out into the dusk found a large bird hunt¬ 
ing insects on the road in poor-will fashion, Hying from one bare 
spot of ground to another among the mesquites. As we followed 
him he repeated his call from each spot, and once gave it from the 
top rail of a fence. 
GENUS CHORDEILES. 
General Characters. — Bill short with wide gape ; bristles not decidedly 
shorter than bill; nostrils cylindrical and rimhied about, 
hardly tubular, opening outward and upward ; feet weak, 
hind toe short, front toes connected by web, middle toe 
long, its claw pectinated; tarsus feathered part way 
down in front; tail lightly forked, much shorter than 
Fig. 290. ' the long narrow wing. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Wing band back of tip of seventh quill (Figs. 292 and 293). 
texensis, p. 228. 
1\ Wing baud mainly or wholly forward from tip of seventh quill. 
2. Upper parts glossy black, mottled with lighter virginianus, p. 226. 
2'. Upper parts mainly grayish or brownish. 
3. Paler. Plains. sennetti, p, 228. 
3'. Darker. Western states. henryi, p. 227. 
420. Chordeiles virginianus ( Gmel. ). Nighthawk. 
Adult male. — White throat patch bordered below by blackish chest 
patch; belly 
barred with 
blackish and 
white ; upper 
parts glossy 
black mottled 
with gray and 
lightly marked with buffy brown ; white or buffy wing 
band mainly or wholly forward from tip of seventh quill; 
space between white band and primary coverts plain blackish, secondaries 
indistinctly if at all spotted with buffy or brownish; tail except middle 
feathers crossed with broad white band near tip. Adult female: white of 
tail restricted or wanting. Young: more finely and profusely mottled 
than adults. Wing: 7.30-8.25, tail 4.30-4.75. 
Distribution. — Breeds from the Hudson Bay region and the Mackenzie 
River at 65° south through the United States, east of the Plains, and in 
wooded districts to Washington, Oregon, and northern California; south 
in winter to the Bahamas, Central America, and the greater part of South 
America. 
Eggs. — Laid on the bare ground in exposed situations; 2, creamy, olive 
Fig. 292. 
Fig. 291. 
