THE WHIP-POOR-WILL 



Goatsucker Family — Caprimulgidce 



Length: Nearly 10 inches; wings 7 inches long. 



General Appearance: A mottled brown bird with a narrow 

 white band around throat, and white outer tail- 

 feathers. 



"He seems a lichen on a log, 

 A dead leaf on the ground." 



Male and Female: Soft brown, irregularly mottled and barred 

 with black, buff, and white. Throat dark with a 

 narrow curve of white in the male, and one of bufj 

 in the female. Beak short, slightly hooked, and very 

 wide (1^ inches), with long bristles at the sides. 

 Breast dark, belly white. Middle tail-feathers mot- 

 tled brown; half of six other tail-feathers white, 

 which are visible in flight. Female has narrower 

 white tips to outer tail-feathers. 



Note: Whip'-poor-ivill, ivhip' -poor-will, whip' -poor-ivill, ut- 

 tered rapidly, monotonously, lugubriously, continu- 

 ously. My sister counted 275 repetitions of his note 

 given without a pause. To some people the sound 

 is unendurable. When near the bird, I have heard 

 him give a soft chuck between the repetition of the 

 word whip-poor-will. He is associated in my mind 

 with bright moonlight evenings, for it is then he is 

 most vociferous. He sings, also, early in the morn- 

 ing. 



Flight: Swift, yet noiseless; almost as uncanny as his note. 



Habitat: In woods and open groves, where one may come 

 upon him both at night and during the daytime sit- 

 ting lengthwise on a log or branch instead of cross- 

 wise. 



[184] 



