214 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



hand- rest of under parts buff, speckled with black; middle tail- 

 feathers like back, the three outer pairs with the terminal half 

 white. Ad. 9- — Similar, but band across breast buff, and outer 

 tail-feathers narrowly tipped with buffy white. 



Eggs, creamy-white, spotted with lilac or lavender, laid in dry 

 leaves on the ground in woods. 



Fig. 64. Whip-poor-will 



The Whip-poor-will is a locally common summer resident 

 throughout New York and New England, arriving late in 



April or early in May, and 

 staying into September. It is 

 a bird of the woodland, espe- 

 cially along streams or at the 

 edges of farming-land, and has 

 become scarce in many locali- 

 ties, as the woodland has given 

 way to cultivated ground. It 

 spends the day in dense thick- 

 ets or in deep woods, on the 

 ground or on low limbs, and if surprised in such a place it 

 flutters off as if bewildered, but with noiseless flight. 



The song of the Whip-poor-will begins at dusk, is heard 

 at intervals all night long, and regularly before dawn ; it 

 is often repeated a hundred times in rapid succession. If 

 the song is heard at close range, it is found to begin with 

 an introductory chuck. During midsummer the song is less 

 frequently heard, but on the breeding-ground it is repeated 

 a few times nearly every night, even in September. 



By those who live surrounded by woods, the Whip-poor- 

 will is not infrequently seen sitting at dusk on the ridge- 

 pole of gome shed, or flying about engulfing moths and 

 beetles in its cavernous mouth. Its relative the Night- 

 hawk is much more often seen by day, roosting on some 

 limb, fence-rail, or rock. Both lie lengthwise on the limb, 

 but the Whip-poor-will has a white or buffy band on the 

 upper breast, while the Nighthawk has one on the throat. 



