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CHIMNEY SWIFT. 330 
The eggs of the Nighthawk, like those of the Whippoorwill, are placed 
on the ground, with this distinction, that the Nighthawk seeks no shel- 
ter, but selects an open field or bare rock. No nest is constructed. The 
eggs are two, grayish, thickly mottled with varied tints of darker gray. 
They measure about 1.30 by .90. 
PAG MeIg cp Ya CNeie oil DEAE a SuWell HS: 
Feet neither syndactyle nor zygodact; le, scarcely or not semipalmate, of frequently 
abnormal! ratio of phalanges (middle or outer toe, or both, with fewer joints than usual 
among birds). Hind toe very small, elevated, frequently lateral or versatile. Middle toe 
not produced nor its claw pectinate. Bill much asin Caprimulgide, but rictus unbristled. 
Small. Plumage compact, of few simple subdued colors. 
Subfamily ComTURINE. Spine-tailed Swifts. 
Hind toe scarcely versatile. Tarsus covered with naked skin. Tail feathers stiffened 
and mucronate by the projection of their shafts. 
Genus CHAXTURA. Stephens. 
First primary longest; tail very short, about two-fifths the wing, slightly rounded. 
Tarsus longer than middle toe; lateral toes equal, nearly as long as the middle; hind 
toe and claw less than the middle toe without the claw. 
CHAETUBA PELAGICA (L.) Baird. 
Chimney Swift. 
Hirundo pelasgia, WILSON, Am. Orn., v. 1812, 48. 
Cypselus pelasgius, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162. 
Chetura pelasgia, NUTTALL, Man., i, 1840, 736.—REaD, Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 
1853, 395. K1IRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, ix, 1860, 203.—WuxaTON, Ohio Agric. Rep. 
for 1860, 1861, 362; Reprint, 4; in Coues’ Birds of N. W., 1874, 234; Food of Birds, 
etc, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 1875, 569; Reprint, 9— LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 
1877, 11. 
Chetura pelagica, LANGDON, Revised List, Journ, Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 178; Re- 
print, 12; Summer Birds, iii, 1880, 225. 
Chimney Swift, BaLLou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 126. 
Hirundo pelagica, LINNAUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1758, 192. 
Hirundo pelasgia, LINNZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 345. 
Cypselus pelasgius, BONAPARTE, Syn., 1828, 63. 
Chetura pelasgia, STEPHENS, Shaw’s Gen’l. Zool., xiii, 1825, 76. 
Chetura pelagica, BAIRD, BREWER, and Ripaway, N. A. Birds, ii, 1874, 432. 
Sooty-brown with faint greenish gloss above, below paler, becoming gray on the 
throat; wings black. Length, about 5; wing the same; tail, 2 or less. 
To the above description of Dr. Coues’, which is sufficient for purposes of identification, 
it may be added that the feathers of the crown are so short as to resemble scales, and 
form a projecting arch or cornice over the eyes, The eye-lids and a small circumorbital 
space are naked and purplish. A broad line of soft thick-set velvety feathers extends 
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