170 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



J. G. Suthard writes to Mr. Bent from Muskegon, Mich., as fol- 

 lows: "On June 14, 1936, I flushed a whippoorwill from an oak- 

 leafed spot on a steep hillside overlooking a large timbered swamp. 

 I shortly discovered two downy young with their eyes only partly 

 opened. They made no effort to escape and were silent when 

 handled. The parent flew around several times, uttering a whup- 

 whup-whur note, and then perched on a dead limb of a nearby tree. 

 One of the eggshells was about 6 feet below the nest on the hillside, 

 and the feces of the young had not been moved by the parents. As 

 this nest was only about 30 yards from the main highway, I re- 

 turned several times between this date and June 24 to see if, owing 

 to my disturbance of the young, the parents would move them. 

 Each time I visited the nest the parent was brooding the young 

 in practically the same spot." 



Lewis McI. Terrill, in his study of nest life, quoted under "Nest- 

 ing," says that on June 12, before the young birds were two days 

 old, "whenever the female was flushed, the nestlings hopped or 

 jumped several inches with the suddenness and unexpected agility 

 of 'jumping beans,' then squatted in hiding posture in the manner 

 of woodcock chicks. The entire movement was so rapid that it 

 almost escaped notice." He continues : 



"From the 13th to the 16th the female was brooding the young 

 either in the nest or in the shade 2 or 3 feet away. On the latter 

 date I heard one of the nestlings give a weak, complaining whip^ 

 which was answered by the mother 20 feet away. It attempted to 

 follow her, progressing by little hops, but was jn difficulty when it 

 encountered heavy undergrowth where it was unable to hop. The 

 smaller of the nestlings remained in the nest. 



"June 26 — The older bird when placed lengthwise on a limb 

 quickly turned about and perched crosswise, demonstrating youth's 

 objection to slavish custom ! The older bird now frequently used the 

 whip note, which appears to be the chief motif in the whippoorwill 

 vocabulary. The younger bird still called in wheezy tones that I 

 readily imitated by sucking my finger — so well that the mother bird 

 frequently responded by flying to me and fluttering at my feet. The 

 young at this date, nearly 16 days old, closely resembled their 

 parents." 



Terrill definitely established the incubation period of one of the 

 eggs in the nest he observed as not less than 19 days, "and possibly 

 nearer 20." Burns (1915) gives the incubation period as 17 daj^s, 

 and Audubon (1840) gives it as 14 days. 



PVu/niages. — [Author's note: The downy young whippoorwill is 

 thickly covered with long, soft, silky down, shading in color from 

 "cinnamon" on the back to "pinkish cinnamon" on the chest, and 



