DCHP-3

mosquito hawk

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1a Obs.

See quote.

Quotations

1743
Musketo hawk's (alias) Suacanappasish is Like for shape and make what we call a horse fly in England, these does Rather good than harm, killing a great quantity of musketoes and flesh flies.
1959
Common Nighthawk [is also called] mosquito hawk (Que., "Hudson Bay," P.E.I., N.S., N.B., Man., Sask., B.C.).
1b

a dragon-fly.

Quotations

1826
Thousands of long large flies, similar to the English dragon fly, but a little smaller, are flying about the fields; they are called musquito hawks, on account of their killing and living on those insects.
1923
The brilliant dragon-flies, black and green, banded like sounding-poles used for the shallows, are called mosquito-hawks.
1933
[They were] dragon-flies (mosquito hawks as they are called here). . . .
2

the nighthawk, Chordeiles minor.

Quotations

1796
I saw mosquito hawks' nests, at least the eggs and young birds lying in pieces of bark on the ground.
1866
. . .the somewhat rare swallow-tail or musquito-hawk, in the neighbourhood of St. Davids, soaring in pursuit of insects, and performing the most singular and graceful evolutions.
1938
A mosquito hawk zoomed belatedly overhead.