CHUCK-WILL'S-WIDOW 157 



The chuck-will's-widow frequently roosts in the same spot day 

 after day, and one may be fairly certain of surprising a bird regu- 

 larly when once the roosting area is located. During migrations it 

 occasionally is found in rather extraordinary situations, one of the 

 most striking of these being noted by J. M. McBride (1933), of New 

 Orleans. He writes that he watched one for a week, September 14 

 to 21, 1933, occupy an unprotected branch of a hackberry tree just 

 even with his second-floor window. It was to be seen daily on this 

 branch from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m. His house was in the heart of the 

 residential district of New Orleans. 



Voice. — There is no doubt that the voice of the chuck-will's-widow 

 is its most interesting and outstanding characteristic. Indeed, it 

 is the one thing that many ever know of the species. It is a bird 

 easily heard but comparatively seldom seen; therefore, though the 

 call may be a nightly sound throughout the summer, the author may 

 be utterly unknown to many by sight. However, no one who lives 

 within the range of the chuck can have failed to listen to the notes 

 perforce, and only a deaf person can fail to be aware of its presence. 

 Though the specific name of "vociferous" has been applied to the 

 whippoorwill, it is equally true of the chuck-will's-widow, if not 

 more so, but the generic name of the latter is well chosen, for the mouth 

 is certainly "cavelike." 



The call of this species is well deserving of comment, particularly 

 in view of the fact that there seems to be so much confusion about 

 it in the recent literature. Why this difference of opinion should 

 exist, and why certain positive statements have been made, are 

 sources of wonder to me and to others who know the voice of the 

 chuck intimately. How anyone could listen for only a few minutes 

 to the call and then say that "the song of the chuck-will's-widow 

 is less vigorous than that of the whippoorwill; it consists of three 

 notes .... with a slight accent on the first syllable" is beyond my 

 comprehension. And yet more than one ornithologist has so stated. 

 It seems significant that all those so describing it are northerners, 

 that they know the chuck only by reason of short southern trips of 

 a few days or weeks. Or, perhaps, they take the opinion of others 

 who have as little information as themselves. If their experience 

 with this bird covered any extended period, they could hardly fall 

 into such error. 



The call of the chuck-will's-widow is distinctly 4-syllabled (some 

 observers say five at times), and therein lies one of the marked 

 differences between it and the whippoorwill, which does have a 

 3-syllabled call. The accent is not on the first but on the third 

 syllable; in other words, on the "wid" of widow. Few birds "say" 



