_Chordeiles virginianus virginianus. Case 6, Fig. 39_
A white mark across the black outer wing-quills is
very conspicuous in flight; seen from below it
suggests a hole in the bird's wing. The female has
the throat buff and no white band in the tail. L.
10.
_Range._ Eastern North America from the Gulf
States and Georgia north to Canada and Alaska.
Winters in the tropics coming north in April. The
Florida Nighthawk (_C. v. chapmani_) a smaller
race (L. 8-1/2) is a Summer Resident in the Gulf
States.
Washington, not common S.R.; abundant T.V., Apl.
19-Oct. 8. Ossining, common S.R., May 9-Oct. 11.
Cambridge, rare S.R., common T.V., May 15-Sept.
25. N. Ohio, locally common S.R., May 1-Sept. 20.
Glen Ellyn, not common S.R., common T.V., May
1-Oct. 14. SE. Minn., common S.R.. May 4-Sept. 30.
Doubtless because we see the Nighthawk and only hear the Whip-poor-will
the notes of the latter have been often attributed to the former, with
the result that many people think there is but one species. While it is
true that there is a general resemblance in form, in details of color
and markings, the two birds are quite unlike, while so far as notes and
habits are concerned, few members of the same family differ more. The
Whip-poor-will haunts the shadows of the woods and rarely flies far
above the ground, the Nighthawk, like a Swift, courses high in the open,
even over city house-tops, where anyone who looks may see him. The
Whip-poor-will's notes have made him famous, the Nighthawk calls only a
nasal _peent, peent_, and, diving earthward on set wings, produces a
hollow, booming sound. Both nest on the ground, but the Nighthawk lays
in the fields or on pebbly roofs, and its two finely marked eggs (laid
in May or June) are quite unlike those of the Whip-poor-will.