Wing, 7.00 to 7.30; tail, 4.40 to 4.75; Colors not appreciably different. Hab. Middle America, north into southern border of United States … var. texensis.
Chordeiles popetue, var. popetue, Baird.
NIGHT-HAWK; BULL-BAT.
Caprimulgus popetue, Vieillot, Ois. Am. Sept. I, 1807, 56, pl. xxiv ♀. Chordeiles popetue, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 151.—Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 1864, 113 (Br. Col. nesting).—Cooper & Suckley, 166.—Samuels, 122. Caprimulgus americanus, Wilson, V, 1812, 65, pl. cxl. f. 1, 2. Chordeiles americanus, DeKay, N. Y. Zoöl. II, 1844, 34, pl. xxvii. Caprimulgus virginianus, Brisson, II, 1760, 477 (in part only).—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 273, pl. cxlvii.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858.—Warthausen, Cab. J. 1868, 373 (nesting). Caprimulgus (Chordeiles) virginianus, Sw. F. Bor.-Am. II. 1831, 62. Chordeiles virginianus, Bon. List, 1838.—Aud. Birds Am. I, 1840, 159, pl. xliii.—Newberry, Zoöl. Cal. and Oregon Route, 79; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, 1857. Long-winged Goatsucker, Pennant, Arctic Zoöl. II, 1785, 337.
Chordeiles popetue.
Sp. Char. Male, above greenish-black, but with little mottling on the head and back. Wing-coverts varied with grayish; scapulars with yellowish-rufous. A nuchal band of fine gray mottling, behind which is another coarser one of rufous spots. A white V-shaped mark on the throat; behind this a collar of pale rufous blotches, and another on the breast of grayish mottling. Under parts banded transversely with dull yellowish or reddish-white and brown. Wing-quills quite uniformly brown. The five outer primaries with a white blotch (about half an inch long) midway between the tip and carpal joint, not extending on the outer web of the outer quill. Tail with a terminal white patch, which does not reach the outer edge of the feathers. Female without the caudal white patch, the white tail-bands more mottled, the white of the throat mixed with reddish. Length of male, 9.50; wing, 8.20.
Hab. United States and north to Hudson Bay; in winter visits Greater Antilles, and southward to Central America (Rio Janeiro, Pelzeln); said to breed in Jamaica. In Rocky Mountains, replaced by the variety henryi. Localities: Trout Lake, H. B. T. (Murray, Edinb. Phil. Journ. 1860); Bahamas (Bryant, Bost. Soc. VII, 1859); Guatemala. (Scl. Ibis, II, 275); Cuba (Lawr.); Jamaica (March, P. A. N. S. 1863, 285, breeds); Matamoras (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 471, breeds); Rio Janeiro, January (Pelz., Orn. Bras. I, 14); Veragua (Salvin, P. Z. S. 1870, 203).
Habits. The common Night-Hawk of North America is a very common species throughout a widely extended area, and within the United States breeds wherever found. Its range extends from Florida and Texas to the extreme northern latitudes, and from the Atlantic at least to the great Central Plains. It has been found as far to the south as Panama.
At Matamoras Mr. Dresser found this species abundant during the summer