Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 17.djvu/402

388 trysting-place, and there evening after evening the little domestic drama just described was enacted, thus offering me a superior opportunity to witness their love-making.

The night-hawk builds no nest, but deposits her two speckled eggs on the ground, usually selecting some ledge for this purpose. Birds of this species are very numerous in New England, and in walking a few rods I have often seen numbers of them perched on the trees which border our streets. Still, for a long time I had been unable to find their breeding-grounds, for there seemed to be no suitable places near their favorite resorts; at last, however, I found that they made use of the house-tops for this purpose, and several pair with young or eggs were discovered so situated. I have never seen the fact mentioned, but it is undoubtedly true that these birds return to their old haunts year after year, and deposit their eggs on the same spot for successive seasons. Some years ago I found two young birds just out of the shell; and the next year, being in that vicinity, I had the curiosity to visit the place, and there on the very same spot were two eggs; again the following season it was occupied by the birds. They sometimes raise two broods in a season, as was proved to me by finding two young birds about to fly, and shortly after two more eggs were deposited on the same spot. This is, I believe, contrary to their usual practice, however. A very strange peculiarity which these birds exhibit is that of removing their eggs upon being disturbed during incubation. I visited a pair that had deposited their eggs on the house-top, and the next day was surprised to find them gone, for the situation rendered them unapproachable by other than myself; but a little search revealed the fact that the eggs had been moved to another part of the roof, about a rod from their former resting-place. This removal is perhaps made by taking the egg in their very large mouths, in the manner described by Audubon. In speaking of chuck-will's widow, an allied species found in the South, he says: "When chuck-will's-widow, either male or female (for each sits alternately), has discovered that the eggs have been touched, it ruffles its feathers and appears extremely dejected for a minute or two, after which it emits a low, murmuring cry, scarcely audible at a distance of more than eighteen or twenty yards. At this time the other parent reaches the spot, flying so low over the ground that I thought its little. feet must have touched it as it skimmed along, and, after a few low notes and some gesticulations, all indicative of great distress, takes an egg in its large mouth, the other bird doing the same, when they fly off together, skimming closely over the ground, until they disappeared among the branches and trees."

On any of our streams or lakes, whether in the unbroken forest or where civilization reigns, we may find the kingfisher perched on some stake or rock, surveying the water beneath him with eager eye in search of his finny prey, or skimming over the surface and uttering his harsh cry, which is so similar to the sound of the watchman's rattle