Chordeiles minor
Order Caprimulgiformes
Family Caprimulgidae
Subfamily Chordeilinae
♂ Adult male.— Entire upper parts, when seen near to, black, finely speckled with gray, and a little brown; middle pair of tail-feathers like back, the others tipped with black and crossed near the tip by a white band; a broad band of white across the throat; breast black, speckled with gray; belly gray, barred with black, often tinged with buff; wings long and narrow; a broad white bar crosses the wing, showing best from below.
♀ Adult female.— Similar, but throat-band buff instead of white; no white on tail.
Eggs, laid on bare rocks or gravel roofs, dull white speckled with gray or brown.
The Nighthawk is a summer resident throughout New England and New York, conimon in some localities, rare or absent in others. It arrives in May and leaves for the south toward the end of August, when large flocks of Nighthawks are often seen passing overhead, particularly along broad river valleys; it is occasionally seen in September. Curiously enough, though the suburbs of many of our large cities are no longer wild enough to offer the Nighthawk proper breeding-sites, it has found the flat gravel-covered roofs of the cities themselves suitable for nesting-sites, while the air about supplies it with an abundance of food. The Nighthawk is a not uncommon sight over the streets of Boston and New York, and its harsh peent is a common sound. Outside the cities it breeds on rocky hillsides, or in wild pastures, laying its two eggs on flat rocks or bare spots where their speckles of gray or brown harmonize with the surrounding stones and lichens. In the breeding season the male dives down from a considerable height, and as he nears the ground turns off and up in an abrupt curve; at the same time he manages to produce, probably with his wings, a loud and peculiar booming sound.
The neighborhood of water attracts Nighthawks, as it does the swallows, and doubtless for the same reason. They may be seen hawking high over the river valleys, their long wings carrying them forward with apparent deliberation, though constant, quick upward strokes, or rapid turns to either side, betray the ceaseless search for insect food. Their size, when thus feeding, distinguishes them from any swallow and from the Swift; they are often taken for small hawks, but they may be always recognized by the bar of white across the wing, which shows best from below. Occasionally one may be seen perched lengthwise along a limb or a fence-rail.
Hoffmann – A Guide to the Birds of New England and Eastern New York (1904)