NATURAL SCIENCES OP PHILADELPHIA. 105 



zontal beam of a,n outhouse, to Avliicli the rafters are attached, 

 after the manner of Sayornis fuscus^ Baird. The case oi M. cri- 

 nitus cited above seems to the writer to be a case of reversion of 

 habits. 



Why this species alone of all others of the family to which it 

 belongs should seek shelter and protection for its young in the 

 hollows of trees, is hard to divine. We should expect to see in 

 its structure a family resemblance. It is true that it is of a 

 quarrelsome disposition, and as a necessary consequence, gains 

 many enemies. To insure protection for its young against the 

 latter's attacks, it has hit upon the happy expedient of hiding 

 them away in the places designated. 



The feathers selected for the nest are mostly white, or of a 

 grayish color, which, with the characteristic hue of the inner bark 

 of trees and the rotten wood that form the bulk of the nest, i*e- 

 semble so closely the ground color of the egg and its markings, 

 that great advantage is gained thereby. The food of this species 

 is mostly bees, beetles, grasshoppers, and lepidoptera. Perched 

 upon a dead branch of a tree, the writer has observed the male 

 bird, for hours, bobbing the head this way and that, then up and 

 down, always on the alert for the beings which form its appro- 

 priate diet. During the period when the species is with young, 

 ma}^ be noticed similar practices, Avhich, however, are not so pro- 

 longed, for the male bird after brief periods of time repairs to the 

 nest with its spoils, which are dealt out to the female and the 

 young according to the character of the food. The period of in- 

 cubation ranges from 13 to 14 days. 



Order PICARI-ffi. 

 Family CAPRIMULGID^E. 



Subfamily Caprimulgin^. 

 Antrostomus vociferus, Bonap. 



This common and little known species arrives during the earl}' 

 part of May, already paired. It is of a shy and retired disposition, 

 secluding itself during the daytime in close forests, among the 

 leaves or underbrush, only venturing forth during the shadowy 

 twilight in quest of its food, which consists of crepuscular and 

 nocturnal lepidoptera and various species of Phj-llophagous 

 beetles. Such a partialit}' has it for the covert of woods that the 

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