. New England bird life; being a manual of New England ornithology: ed. from the manuscript of Winfrid A. Stearns . Birds. CHORDEDILES POPETUE : NIGHT-HAWK OR BULL-BAT. 53 female. Tail blackish, marbled with several pale cross-bars, and in the male with large white spaces near the ends of the feathers. Long quills of the wing blackish, with a great white spot on five outer primaries midway between their bases and tips ; in the female this mark smaller or not pure white. Length about ; extent, ; wing, ; tail, ; bill about in its hard part, but with immense gape
. New England bird life; being a manual of New England ornithology: ed. from the manuscript of Winfrid A. Stearns . Birds. CHORDEDILES POPETUE : NIGHT-HAWK OR BULL-BAT. 53 female. Tail blackish, marbled with several pale cross-bars, and in the male with large white spaces near the ends of the feathers. Long quills of the wing blackish, with a great white spot on five outer primaries midway between their bases and tips ; in the female this mark smaller or not pure white. Length about ; extent, ; wing, ; tail, ; bill about in its hard part, but with immense gape reaching below the eyes. This remarkable bird is a common summer resident in New England, arriving early in May, and departing in September. It is confined to no section, but may be observed anywhere in the twilight and also at any time during the day, especially in cloudy weather, coursing with splendid powers of flight overhead like a winged greyhound in endless evolu- tions. Sometimes it soars till it becomes but a speck to the view, and again skims swiftly low over the ground—now dashing impetuously forward, now sailing with easy bold sweeps of the pointed pinions, fig. arresting its course for a moment and then twist- ing and glancing with almost inconceivable velocity in its seemingly random race. But all this while the v/ay- ward bird is providently gleaning its food from the air; these forays are made with an eye strictly to business, for the purpose of capturing the tiny gauzy creatures which swim in the rays of the departing sun; and in contemplating such adaptation of perfect grace to utili- tarian purposes, we are taught the lesson that nature. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Stearns, Winfrid Alden, 1852-; Coues, Elliott, 1842-1899. Boston, Lee and Shepard; New Y
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1883
