DUSKY POORWILL 195 



Nesting. — The steep slopes and ridges of the foothills and the sides 

 of canyons seem to form the favorite nesting haunts of this, as well 

 as other poor wills. Elmer C. Aldrich (1935) gives a very good 

 description of a locality in Tuolumne County, Calif., where a nest 

 was found on July 5, 1934: 



The altitude was about 5600 feet, aud the general vegetation of the area 

 consisted of yellow pines, incense cedars, white firs, black oak islands, a few 

 species of ceanothus, and a little manzanita, with mountain misery covering 

 most of the open hillside. The immediate location of the nest was in a little 

 circular clearing about fifteen yards in diameter, surrounded by young yellow 

 pines closely knit together by small, interwoven branches. The clearing con- 

 tained three manzanita bushes aud one ceanothus bush. The greater part of 

 it was strewn with long dead pole-like logs, which appeared to be one of the 

 basic requirements for the Poor-will's protection. The entire north side of 

 the opening was bordered by a large decayed log of a diameter of three feet, 

 which, because of the common use by the Poor-will, came to be called "the log." 



The nest was found when we were coming from the north and upon advanc- 

 ing four yards after stepping over this log. When the adult flushed from 

 the nest the observer's foot was but eighteen inches from the site. The bird 

 flew across the clearing into the edge of the dense forest, where it lit on a 

 small log and watched without movement for fifteen minutes while pictures 

 of the two light buff eggs were obtained. 



Dr. William L. Holt writes to me that he found a nest near Ban- 

 ning, Calif., on June 13, 1909. on the bare ground on the north side 

 of a sandy hill, nearly bare of vegetation. J. E. Patterson has sent 

 me two excellent photographs (pis. 25, 26) of poorwills' nests. The 

 one taken in Stanislaus County, Calif., on June 23, 1934, was on the 

 ground in open timber; the other, taken in Mariposa County, Calif., 

 on June 21, 1933, was on the groimd in a fire deadening on a hill- 

 side ; both were in the Transition Zone. 



A. J. van Eossem (1920) found a nest on April 18, 1919, a very 

 early date, on the side of a canyon, where there was a heavy growth 

 of wild lilac and white sage; "no attempt whatever seemed to have 

 been made at constructing a nest, the eggs lying on the bare ground 

 among pebbles, etc., in the shade of some dense brush that bordered 

 upon a small open space." The nest has also been found on bare 

 rock, but is usually, at least partially, shaded by some bush, loose 

 brush, brakes, or weeds. The birds are very apt to return to the 

 exact spot to nest each year. 



Eggs. — As a rule the eggs of the dusky poorwill, two in number, 

 are similar to the eggs of other poorwills, but van Rossem and 

 Bowles (1920) write: 



In a majority of the descriptions that are given for eggs of the various 

 forms of the Poor-will, the color is stated as white, without markings, some- 

 times with a pinkish tinge. However, such was by no means the case with 

 the set of eggs under discussion. Before blowing, the ground color was a 

 strong salmon pink; but this, after blowing, turned to a clear, glossy, pinkish 



