Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-21
MYSTERIOUS cNlGHTHAWk
1T IS KNOWN AS THE GYMNAsT OF
THE Arr
Species About Whose life but Little
is KnOwn-Hard to Distinguish on
Account of CoIorins.
From the New York Herald.

| From the New York Herald.
| II at dusk on a warm summer evening
you are tramping through fragrant daisy
| field in New England you are apt to see
| long winged gray bird rise and soar away
| skyward, uttering at intervals a loud nasal
| call of "peent! peent." In the fading Light
you can see him fitting. batlike. against the
western sky, occasionally twisting and
turning with marvellous dexterity. or from
great heights dropping earthward like
plummet. This is the nighthawk. bird of
whose real life comparatively little is
known.
| Whence he received his name know not,
| for although he Is truly bird of the
| night as any owl can be. he is no more
| hawk than he is weathercock. He is a
prominent member of the large family OF
| goat suckers and a first cousin to the whip
poor-will and chuck-wilrs widow. Never
| theless, at times his flight is swooping and
| hawklike. and this fact. together with his
nocturnal habits may account for his haV-
ing been miscalled.
| He is a most interesting citizen to become
| acquainted with for he is clever, both men
| tally and physically and, moreover, there
| is modest. unobtruSve air about him
which Immediately commands your respect.
| Visit him as often as you like, his compan-
| ionship never wearies you, for not only are
| his habits entirely different from those of
| most of the birds We see in eastern North
| America, but those habits are often sur
| pr1sing mysterious and dramatic.
| Go to Winter Homes.
About the middle of October the night
hawks gather together in focks and leave
the bleak New England landscape for their
| winter home in South America. They do
not return to until the following May,
| when the warm weather insures a plentiful
| supply of the insects which form the prin-
cipal part of their food. Then, about sun
set, you may see one mount into the air
| from some pasture or rock-studded hillside
| and whirl away above your head. AS he
scars you see what appears to be a large
hole in each dark wing, through which you
seem to see he sky In reality these ap
pearing holes are white patches the
wings. Possibly these conspicuous marks
| enable the mate of the bird to distinguish
it more readily in the gloom. or they may
serve guiding lights to its comrades in
| their long night journeys to and from the
south
do not imagine that an adult nighthawk
would make a great success as a pedes-
trian but once in the air he is athlete,
an acrobat and an aeronaut in one. The
variety of his movements is endless. and it
Is never possible to predict just what he is
going to do next. Now he is wheeling with
| rapid flight, a mere spec against the sky;
then with a few zigzag, downward shoots
| he is fitting. batlike, not far above your
head. Again he is mounting on rapid wing
| when suddenly he checks his speed and
performs a series Of aerial gymnastics, pos
sibly in an attempt toTcapture some unusu-
ally active insect which is trying to dodge
| his gaping mouth. After Tapping away
| quietly for moment OF two, he is soaring
again. height upon height. occasionally
turning and twisting abruptly in this direc-
ton or that. all the time uttering the one
cry of 'peent! peent!'t which grows fainter
and fainter as greater heights are reached.
! Now several ''peentss are uttered In close
succession: there are 9 few rapid fappings
n no ZINC orI hoJF IL III
| wings, the bird shoots rea3thWard like
| dark meteor. At the. moment when you
| might expect to see him dashed upon the
ground he saves himself by. an abrupt turn
and again mounts skyward as leisurely as
| before n. dr.
A Startling sound.
| At the instant Of the sudden check in his
| downward course there is heard a sound
not only curious and unbirdfke,- but quite
| startling If heard close by saad for the first
time This sound. which is made by the
| air rushing through the outer feathers of
| the wings, is not always the same; 1t diff
| fers with the speed at which the bird Is
| descending, the angle Of the descent and
| Generally speaking, the more perpendicular
| and rapid the descent. and the more alb
| rupt the turn, the louder and deeper the
| sound. Sometimes the latter is like the
| report of a distant cannon, at other times
like the single toot Of steamboat whistle,
| and occasionally like the sound of wind
! sweeping the strings of an aeolian harp
The object Of the bird in going through
| this performance is yet unknown. Pos
| sibly the mere pleasure and excitement
| offer sufficient inducement and the bird is
| simply enjoying a tOboggan slide without
| the toboggan. Or it may be that the at
tendant booming sound is produced for rea-
sons similar to those which prompt the
| drumming of the grouse and the rolling
tattoo of the woodpecker. Who knows
but that it may be kind Of wireless teleg-
raphy by which the bird Is enabled to COM
municate cipher messages to his mate?
| The other common name. bullbat, has
doubtless been given to the bird by reason
| of the fact that the curious sound it pro-
| duces has suggested to some ears the bel
| lowing of a bull.
As long there Is any light the night
| hawk can be seen Circling against the sky
and far into the night there comes to US
from the darkness the lonely cry and
| strange booming, which tell US that this
weird bird is still upon the wing.
Although it is an easy matter to identify
| a nighthawk in the evening when its fig
ure is in relief against the sky. 1t is by no
means as easy to do so in the daytime,
| when 1t is usually silent and very incOn-
| spicuous If there happens to be an old
| apple orchard or a bit of woodland in the
vicinity of the fields over which the bird
courses at night. look for your friend on
the horizontal branches. The fact that he
crouches along the branch and seldom or
| never perches across 1t as most other
| birds do. together with the fact that his
notified plumage looks almost exactly like
a piece of lchen-covered bark, makes his
| discovery anything but easy. Once you
| have found him. however, your eyes will
have received a bit of education which will
| ever be Of great assistance to you when
you are looking for inconspicuous signs of
animal life
| Lies on a Rock.
! When for any reason he does not select
a tree for a roosting place he will generally
| be found lying on a rock. where he matches