COMMON BIRDS OF SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. 33 
only two eggs, which may be deposited almost anywhere on the forest floor, there 
being no nest. Intrusion on this spot usually results in the bird moving the eggs, 
which it carries in its mouth. 
The bird’s flight is noiseless and graceful, and is somewhat more extended and sus¬ 
tained than that of the whip-poor-will but less so than that of the nighthawk. Its 
call note, which has given rise to the name here used as well as to others of similar 
sound, is like that of the whip-poor-will, with an added syllable. 
The color of the chuck-will’s-widow is a harmonious blend of buff, brown, and 
black, well adapted to concealing the bird as it rests quietly in the woods by (lav. 
Surrounding the mouth are numerous branched bristles which with the enormous 
gape make a very efficient insect-catching apparatus. Although the bird is only 
12 inches long, the mouth fully extended forms an opening at least 2 by 31 inches 
in size. It is but natural, therefore, that the bird should prey upon some of the 
largest insects. 
Not only are large insects captured and swallowed, but even small birds. Three 
of the 45 stomachs of the chuck-will’s-widow thus far examined contained remains 
of birds, in two cases warblers. As 42 of the 45 stomachs were collected in April and 
May, the food percentages apply only to those two months. The percentage made 
up of small birds is 7.21. 
Over 58 per cent of the food is composed of large beetles of the family of leaf chafers. 
Considerably more than half of these are May beetles, the adults of the white grubs 
so destructive to forage crops and lawns. Among other destructive beetles of this 
group eaten by the chuck-will’s-widow are the spotted vine chafer, and several 
others injurious to grapevines and apple trees. There were found also in stomachs 
of this bird specimens of the southern pine sawyer, a borer that in the South has 
destroyed timber valued at millions of dollars; beetles of a group whose larvae bore 
in roots, sometimes of orchard trees; and the palmetto weevil, which is sometimes 
destructive to palms. 
Moths, mostly of large species, compose 12.36 per cent of this bird’s food in April 
and May, and dragonflies 4.63 per cent. Specimens were taken of the largest dragon¬ 
fly known to occur in eastern United States. Other items of insect food are water 
beetles, ground beetles, click beetles (the adults of wireworms), crane flies (inju¬ 
rious to pastures), horseflies, roaches, and green locusts. 
Despite the fact that the chuck-will’s-widow occasionally devours smaller insec¬ 
tivorous birds, it must be reckoned a useful species. It is probable that birds are not 
deliberately sought, but that they are taken instinctively, as would be a moth or 
other large insect coming within reach of that capacious mouth. Generally speaking, 
therefore, the chuck-will’s-widow is insectivorous and most of the insects it eats are 
destructive.—w. l. m. 
NIGHTHAWK . 1 
The nighthawk, or bull-bat, has unfortunately attracted more attention as a target 
for shooting practice than as an object of esthetic and economic consideration. How 
many thousands of these useful birds have been sacrificed in this thoughtless way it 
would be difficult to estimate, but the practice has been extant since early times 
and has resulted in an enormous reduction in their numbers. What is worse, the night- 
hawk is particularly unfitted to withstand tins sort of persecution, as it lays only 
two eggs. Thus perpetuation of the species under favorable conditions is only barely 
assured. That the bird deserves very different treatment there is no sort of doubt. 
As an adornment of the landscape it has few superiors among birds. A flock of night- 
hawks pursuing their complex but skillful aerial evolutions is an object of interest 
and admiration seldom excelled. Not only has the species a pronounced esthetic 
value, but economically it is practically beyond reproach. The nighthawk is strictly 
i Chordeiles virginianus. 
