180 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tree, but clearly visible from the ground, and made frequent sallies 

 out into the air, sometimes sweeping clear away from the tree, some- 

 times only flitting among its branches, returning either to the perch 

 from which it had flown, or to another one. Presumably these sal- 

 lies were made in pursuit of flying insects — there was a businesslike 

 air in the bird's behavior — but there was no sound of any snapping 

 of the beak audible to me as I stood near the foot of the tree. Our 

 first intimation that the bird had arrived from its day's seclusion 

 was the sound of a low chuck repeated at short intervals. The bird 

 gave this note from its perch and from the air; it was very similar 

 to the introductory note in the whippoorwill song, but a little sharper. 

 As the bird flew about, it sailed a good deal, wheeling around with 

 some tilting from one side to the other, the wings held out straight 

 and flat from the body with no, or very little, bend at the wrist joint. 

 I was strangely reminded of the flight of a shearwater — the whip- 

 poorwill seeming to avoid the branches as the shearwater avoids the 

 tops of the waves, tilting over them as it sails. 



This was when the bird was moving slowly, but at times it in- 

 creased its speed and executed the most intricate maneuvers, appear- 

 ing and disappearing among the branches, ever changing its 

 direction, either sailing or flapping its wings, swerving sharply from 

 side to side, heeling over till one wing pointed nearly to the zenith 

 and the other to the earth, then snapping back to an even keel. It 

 shot straight upward, dived head downward, and doubled back, 

 twisting and gyrating with such rapidity that it seemed to be 

 tumbling about in the air. The turns were so quick and the pace 

 so reckless that the bird appeared in a frenzy and in danger of dash- 

 ing itself against a limb of the tree, yet from the midst of these 

 complicated evolutions it instantly righted itself and, with a flash 

 of wings, settled flat and motionless on its perch. 



Although there was the appearance of a lack of caution in these 

 mad dashes among the network of branches, we were convinced, as 

 we watched, that the bird governed its movements with perfect 

 precision, with the acme of coordination. 



The flight seemed silent; even when the bird passed witliin a few 

 feet of my head, I heard no sound. It appeared to be alone, and 

 after remaining for ten minutes or so, it flew off, and we heard 

 or saw no more of it until the next evening. 



When we flashed a light on it, the eye gleamed back a bright 

 orange. 



Mr. Nelson said that earlier in the winter the behavior of the 

 bird had been different. It came about the house every evening 

 for a while, visiting a small tree (Assonia) to which insects were 

 attracted by big clusters of open flowers. This tree was about 10 



