GOATSUCKERS 



169 



brown or grayish-brown, finely marked with dusky, and 

 much broken by irregular niottlings or spotting 01 light 

 brownish-buff, ochraceous-bupf, or dull light tawny- 

 ochraceous, the black often in form of irregular shaft- 

 streaks ; primaries and primary coverts, brownish-black, 

 conspicuously spotted on outer webs with tawny, their 

 inner webs with bars of the same color, these not 

 extending to shaft, and becoming paler toward edge 

 of the web; terminal portion of primaries (especially 

 on inner webs) confusedly mottled with grayish-brown 

 and dusky ; lores and sides of head, narrowly barred 

 with pale tawny and dusky ; cheeks, cliin, and throat, 

 brownish-black barred (narrowly) with light tawny- 

 brownish, the first usually flecked with white in front ; 

 lo-U'cr throat crossed by a hand of xMic, this often 

 suffused with light buff, especially on center portion ; 

 chest and breast streaked with pale grayish-brown and 

 dusky and spotted, especially on chest and sides of 

 breast, with pale brownish buff, the abdomen similarly 

 marked but general color paler, the darker markings 

 more in the form of irregular narrow transverse bars ; 

 under tail-coverts, light buff, usually with irregular bars 



(often V-shaped) of dusky; bill, brown; iris, dark 

 brown; feet, l)rownish. ."Xdui-t Female: Similar to the 

 adult male but without white on lateral tail-feathers, the 

 three outer pairs of which are broadly tipped with 

 buffy. and general coloration averaging browner (more 

 suffused with buffy). 



Nest and Eggs. — Eggs: 2, white, beautifully marked 

 with spots of brown, yellowish-brown, and purple; 

 laid on old leaves or decayed bits of wood, usually in 

 deep woods, beneath dense underbrush, or in shady 

 ravines. 



Distribution. — P-astern United States and southern 

 Canada ; north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, 

 Vermont, soutliern Quebec, Ontario, southern Kee- 

 watin. Manitoba, and Saskatchewan ; west to eastern 

 edge of the Great Plains, in eastern Nebraska, Kansas, 

 etc., during migration to west-central Texas, casually to 

 eastern Colorado; breeding southward to northern 

 Louisiana, southern Georgia, northwestern Florida, 

 eastern Texas (?), etc.; wintering in Gulf States 

 (Florida to southeastern Texas) and southward 

 tlirough Mexico to Central America. 



Vvw American birds are less freciuently seen 

 than the Whip-poor-will, yet few are more 

 widely known. This apparent paradox is due 

 to the bird's call — it can hardly be called a 

 song — which is as familiar as the honest caw 

 of the Crow. Yet comparatively few people 

 can say that they have ever had more than a 

 fleeting glimpse of the bird, while a great many 

 have never seen it at all ; and probably never 

 will. It is by far the best known member of its 

 elusive family, of which the other principal 

 American representatives are the Nighlhawk, 

 the Poor-will, and the Chuck-will's-widow. 



The call of the Whip-poor-will is probably 

 familiar to more people in this country than is 

 the night utterance of any other bird or mammal, 

 because, under the protection of the darkness, 

 the bird does not hesitate to approach human 

 habitations, or even to frequent city parks. The 

 character of the call as it is commonly heard, 

 is so well known that it needs no description. 

 The three whistled notes included in the utter- 

 ance, are delivered in practically the same 

 rhythm and tempo, and with the same accent, 

 the emphasis being placed upon the first and 

 third syllables, and most emphatically on the 

 third. Comparatively few listeners get close 

 enough to the bird to hear the faint chuck which 

 precedes the phrase, and still fewer are aware 

 that it is accompanied by a peculiar bowing 

 motion, the bow coming with the first syllable. 

 Monotony and uniformity may seem to character- 

 ize the utterance, but a close listener will discover 

 that the tone and technique of Whip-poor-wills 

 may differ very considerably. This was noted 



by an auditor who listened carefully for rm hour 

 or more one evening to a chorus of fully a 

 dozen of the birds, and who remarked that some 

 of them were distinctly better singers than 



others. 



Photo by H. K. Job Courtesy of Outmg Pub. Co. 



EGGS OF WHIP-POOR-WILL 

 They are laid on old leaves beneath deep underbrush 



Concerning the remarkable persistence of the 

 Whip-poor-will, Mr. Burroughs records the 

 following amusing illustration : " One April 

 morning between three and four o'clock, hear- 

 ing one strike up near my window, I began count- 

 ing its calls. My neighbor had told me he had 

 heard one call over two hundred times without 

 a break, which seemed to me a big story. But I 

 have a much bigger one to tell. This bird actually 



