NIGHTHAWKS, ETC.: TEXAS NIGHTHAWK 
347 
ish black; tail mottled and irregularly and broadly barred with buffy, with white 
subterminal band; wing quills spotted or barred with tawny or buff, white band crossing 
four outermost quills, nearer tip than bend of wing; triangular white throat patch large, 
bordered below by brown band, spoiled with 
ochraceous; breast dark brown, mottled and 
vennieulated with lighter; rest of underparts 
ochraceous buff with conspicuous dark brown 
crossbars. Adult female: Similar to the adult 
male but more tawny throat patch, tail band 
wanting and wing with tawny spots instead 
of white band. Young: Paler than adults, suffused with tawny on a pearly gray, 
black-speckled ground; but young male with white tail and wing spots. 
Range. —Breeds in Lower Sonoran Zone from central California, southern 
Nevada, southern Utah, and southeastern Colorado to southern Texas south to 
southern Mexico; winters south of United States. 
State Records. —The Texas Nighthawk comes into New Mexico in the southern 
parts of the State. It has been noted north to Doming and Lordsburg (Bailey), 
[common about San Simon, May 9, 1920, and northeast to Lordsburg, May 10 
(Ligon)l, and was seen at several places in the Animas Valley (Goldman), and at 
Dog Spring in Grant County (Mearns). It undoubtedly breeds at all these places, 
being confined to the lowest and hottest parts of the region it inhabits. It is a com¬ 
mon breeder at Mesilla, 3,800 feet, and less common to 5,500 feet in the foothills of 
the Organ Mountains (Merrill). [It is abundant about Elephant Butte and Cuchillo 
and ranges as far north as Socorro in the Rio Grande Valley, to Tularosa in the Tula- 
rosa Valley, and to Lakewood in the Pecos Valley, nesting commonly (1916-18). 
It was heard at night, June 1, 1924, on the creosote hills eighteen miles north of 
Carlsbad (Ligon).] 
It leaves the State in August and returns the following May. It arrived at 
Mosquito Springs, just south of the New Mexico line May 12, 1892 (Mearns), at 
Apache May 17, 1886 (Anthony), and at Palomas Springs May 6, 1913 (Ligon). 
[On May 18, 1919, six were seen 25 miles southeast of Silver City (Kellogg)]. W. W. 
Cooke. 
Eggs. —Deposited on the bare ground; 2, clay-color to creamy, flushed faintly 
with pink, peppered with grays and lilac and coarser markings of brown and slate. 
Food.— “Their food consists of almost any insects that may be out when they 
are. The stomach of one had a mass of mosquitoes and a small bug. Another con¬ 
tained one or more ground beetles, injurious click beetles, large leaf chafers, leaf 
hoppers, and green plant bugs, together with 150 winged ants” (Merrill MS). 
They also eat injurious moths, bill bugs, cicadas, and grasshoppers. 
General Habits. —The Texas Nighthawk is strikingly brown when 
near enough for one to see color, and when not its broader shorter wings 
with the white band nearer the wing tips than in the other nighthawks 
are enough to distinguish it from them. At Deming Mr. Anthony 
found it fairly swarming in June and July when it was doubtless nesting 
(1892, p. 362). 
Professor Merrill writes that it is “found sparingly in the foothills 
of the Organs up to about 5,500 feet, a little more commonly in the 
Rio Grande Valley, mainly among the tornillos where there are 
uncovered interspaces, and in vast numbers on the mesa. There it 
Fig. 59. Wing of Texas Nighthawk 
