. Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds . signal or salute. Inthe spring, and occasionally in the fall, he utters a pleas-ing, rather dreamy cuh-ciih-cuh-cuh, many times two or more birds are together, and in my ex-perience only then, they address each other with asingular weec/tew, tveeehew, weechevj, a sound which canbe imitated by the swishing of a willow wand. Muchceremony evidently prevails in the Flicker family, andon these occasions tliere is more bowing and scrapingthan one often sees outside of Spain. GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, AND HUMMINGBIRDS.(ORDER MACROCHIRES
. Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds . signal or salute. Inthe spring, and occasionally in the fall, he utters a pleas-ing, rather dreamy cuh-ciih-cuh-cuh, many times two or more birds are together, and in my ex-perience only then, they address each other with asingular weec/tew, tveeehew, weechevj, a sound which canbe imitated by the swishing of a willow wand. Muchceremony evidently prevails in the Flicker family, andon these occasions tliere is more bowing and scrapingthan one often sees outside of Spain. GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, AND HUMMINGBIRDS.(ORDER MACROCHIRES.) NiGHTHAWKS AXI) WhIP-POOR-WILLS. (Family ) In this family the mouth of birds reaches its greatestdevelopment, while the bill proper is correspondinglysmall, bearing much the same relation to the mouth thata clasp does to a purse. These birds feed at night uponinsects which they catch on the wing, and their enormousgape is ob\iously of great assistance in this mode of feed-ing. Often the sides of the mouth are beset with long Sumi^fy M. Plate XXVll. NIGHTHAWK. Length, 1000 inches. Male, above, black, white, and rusty ; below, black andwhite ; throat, bands in wing, and tail white. Female, similar, but throatrusty ; no tail-band. , 975 inches. Male, body black, rusty, and buff ; primaries spottedwith rusty ; tips of outer tail-feathers and breast-band white. Female, simi-lar, but breast-band and end of tail rusty. 143 144 NIGHTHAWK. bristles, which doubtless act like the wings to a fish-net, steering unfortunate insects down the birds cavernous throat. The Nighthawk, or Bull-bat, as he is called in the South, is familiar to most persons who have the gift of „. , ^, , seeine* birds, but—in the northeastern Nigntnawk, ^ Chordiihs States, at least—he is usually confused Tinjhuitiiim. ^x\t\\ tlio VYlii])-]ioor-will, and little is Plate XXVII. T r 1 • 1 1 Known 01 his real character. The IS^ighthawk is a l)ird of the sky. He passes theday
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidbirdlife, booksubjectbirds
