420 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



In regard to the parentage of the eggs thus discovered, tlie colomtion and 

 size of which correspond so closely with those of the Poor-will, Mr. Sal\in 

 writes, in a letter ihilcil Marcli 1(1,1872: "In respect to ihe Ant)'osto7}i its 

 whic;h lays white eggs in (inateniala, 1 have carefully exanuncd the skin of 

 the female sent to nie with the eggs in question, and represented as their 

 parent. It certainly is not A. nuttalli, but appears to belong to the spe- 

 cies described by Wagler as A. macromystux. This si^ecies is very closely 

 allied to A. •vocifcrus, but appears to be sufficiently distinct, inasmuch as 

 the rictal bristles are very long, the throat is almost without white feathers, 

 and the white on the tail is more limited in extent than in A. voci/erus. 

 Tlie true A. voci/erus is frequently found in winter in Guatemala, but is 

 probably only a migrant. The other species would certainly appear to be a 

 resident in South Mexico and Guatemala. With respect to A. nuttalli, I 

 may add that I have recently acquired a skin from Guanajuata, in Mexico. 

 This is the first instance of the occurrence of the species in Mexico at all, 

 that I am aw'are of 



Mr. Kidgway met with tlie Poor-will from the eastern slope of the Sierra 

 Nevada to the Walisatch and Uintali Mountains. He describes its notes as 

 much like those of the eastern A. vocifcrus, except that the first syllable is 

 left off, the call sounding like simply ])oor-u'ill, the accent on the last sylla- 

 ble. It frequents chiefly the dry iiiesa and foot-hills of the mountains, and 

 lives almost entirely on the ground, where its two white unspotted eggs are 

 deposited beneath some small scraggy sage-bush, without any sign of a nest 

 whatever. Both sexes incubate. 



sternum of Cliurdeiles virginianus. 



sternum of Caprhnttl^us sliclomus. 



