The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-11-03

a sound, not only curious and unbird-
like, but quite startling, If heard Globe
by and 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; it diff
fers with the speed at which the bird
is descending, the angle of the descent,
and the abruptness with which it is
checked. Generally speaking, the more
perpendicular and rapid the descent,
and the more abrupt the turn, the
louder and deeper the sound. Some
times the latter is like the report of a
distant cannon, at other times like the
hingle foot of steamboat whistle, and
occasionally like the sound Of wind
sweeping the strings of an aeolian
harp
Although it Is an easy matter to
identify a nighthaWk in the evening
when it's figure Is in relief against the
sky, it is by no means as easy to do so
in the daytime, when it is usually ST
lent and very inconspicuous. If there
happens to be an old apple orchard or
bit of woodland in the vicinity of the
fields over which the binds course at
night, look for your friend on the hor-
izontal branches. The fact that he
crouches along a branch and seldom
or never percheS across 1t as most
other birds do together with the fact
that his nottled plumage looks almoht
exactly like a piece Of lichen-covered
bark makes his discovery anything
but easy. Once you have found him,
however, your eye will have received a
bit Of education which will ever after
be OF great assistance to you when you
are looking for inconspicuous signs Of
animal life
When for any reason he does not Sc
lect tree for a roosting place, he will
generally be found lying on a rock
where he matcheh his surroundings so
closely that you have to look hard be-
fore you can be sure that he is there.
AS soon as he returns from the south
the nighthawk enters upon the period
Of courtship, and some two weeks later
he and his mate go to housekeeping
Here, again, their love of originality
asserts itself, and instead of building
some kind of a nest, as most of our
other birds do, they select some hpot
on the bare ground or a slight depres-
sion in fiat rock, and there Mrs.
Nighthawk lays two dull white eggs,
speckled and blotched with gray and
brown. Unprotected by so much as
blade of grass or a wisp Of straw, this
faithful mother hits exposed to the
scorching sum- to the chilling night
dews and the binding thunder-storms
not only until the eggs are Matched, |
but until the young are fedged and al
most able to shift for themselves.
The young birds are at first covered
with notified down, precisely the color
Of the rock on which they lie, and are
hard to distinguish from their sur
roundings. They can run almoht as
soon as they are Matched, and will do
so If you disturb them. They do not |
usually leave home, though, until they |
are fully fedged, and the mother pro-
tects them from sun and rain for about |
two weeks.
Nighthawks are among the few birds
to be seen in the heart of the city. I |
have frequently seen and heard them
n New York and in Boston. In the !
daytime they lie upon the fiat roofs. on
which they sometimes lay their eggs
and rear their young.-Kansas City
Star.