CAPRIMULGID^. ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS. 85 



its parent, who had, in the first place, sought ii^ vain to entice the intruder away by 

 well-feigned stratagems. Mr. Audubon's observations in the case of the Chuck- 

 wills-widow suggest the manner of its removal. 



If disturbed by a too near approach to her eggs or her young, the Whip-poor- 

 will attempts to draw off the intruder by well-acted feints, fluttering about his feet 

 as if wounded, or beating the ground with her wings, as if hardly able to move, or 

 nearly expiring. 



Massachusetts is the extreme northern limit of its distribution along the Atlantic 

 coast. It is nowhere very abundant near the sea, but becomes more common as we 

 leave the coast, and as we proceed westward is found much farther to the north. 

 In the central parts of the continent, it has even been met with in latitude 49. It 

 is to be met with nearly throughout the United States, with the exception of the ex- 

 treme northeastern and southern and southwestern portions. 



Sir John Richardson observed this bird on the northern shores of Lake Huron 

 only, but did not meet with it north of the fiftieth parallel. Dr. Hall, of Montreal, 

 mentions it as a Canadian bird. It is found in all the New England States, but is 

 less common north of Massachusetts. In a list of the birds of Nova Scotia, prepared 

 by Lieutenant Bland, Royal Engineers, the Caprimulgus vociferus is given as a rare 

 species. Mr. Lembeye gives it as a Cuban species, and Bartram found it in Florida. 

 Dr. Woodhouse, in his account of the birds noticed by the party who explored the 

 Zuni and Colorado rivers, under Captain Sitgreaves, did not meet with this species, 

 nor can I learn that it has been met with west of the Mississippi. 



The Whip-poor-will constructs no nest, but deposits her eggs on the bare ground, 

 in the thickest and most shady part of the woods. They always select elevated and 

 dry places, and usually scratch a small hollow among some dry leaves or sticks, or 

 near some prostrate log, in which they deposit their two elliptical eggs. The young, 

 when just hatched, are perfectly helpless, and depend for their safety upon their 

 resemblance to a piece of mouldy earth. They are very soon able to follow their 

 parents, and to take care of themselves. 



The egg of the Whip-poor-will is not much unlike that of the Night-jar of Eu- 

 rope. It is oblong and oval, each end nearly exactly alike in size and shape. 

 Nothing could well surpass it in the beauty of its markings. Its ground color is a 

 clear pure shade of cream-white, and the whole egg is irregularly spotted and marbled 

 with patches, lines, and bars of purplish-lavender intermixed with reddish-brown. 

 The lavender-colored markings have a very peculiar effect, as if, after the color had 

 been first laid on, a thin coating of the ground shade had been superadded, so as to 

 slightly dim, without concealing them. The brown markings appear to stand out 

 much more distinctly. The eggs also exhibit slight variations in the distribution of 

 these tints. In some, the brown-colored markings predominate, in others the lav- 

 ender spots are the more abundant ; but I have seen none in which either of these 

 shades was wanting. The egg measures 1^- inches in length by | of an inch in breadth. 



In the Southern and Middle States, the Whip-poor-will deposits her eggs as early 

 as the first or second week in May. In Massachusetts and its more northern and 

 western places of resort, it seldom sits on its eggs before the first week in June. It 



