GOATSUCKERS 



171 



brownish-black band near the tips and the white tip, 

 broader; lores, region around eyes, and sides of head, 

 nearly uniform sepia-brown ; cheeks and chin, lighter 

 sepia or grayish-brown, minutely freckled with darker, 

 the former usually intermixed with white in front, this 

 sometimes forming a distinct mouth streak; throat, 

 immaculate silky white, this extending farther back- 

 ward on the sides than on middle portion ; extreme 

 lower throat and upper chest, mostly uniform very 

 dark sooty-brown or sooty-black, the lower chest with 

 tips of feathers, pale colored, sometimes pale grayish 

 minutely stippled with darker, sometimes barred with 

 black and pale grayish or wdiite, sometimes a large 

 whitish spot, of variable form; breast and sides, dull 

 white or buffy-white narrowly barred with dusky- 

 brown or black, the barring more close in front, more 

 distant behind: rest of underparts, cream buff to bufTy- 

 white, the flanks sometimes with rather distant and 



rather broad bars of dusky ; under wing-coverts, buff 

 usually immaculate but sometimes with a few dusky 

 spots or bars near edge of wing; inner webs of pri- 

 maries, buff (except tips) with six or seven large curved 

 transverse spots of dusky, of which the end ones do 

 not cross to edge of the web; bill, black; iris, brown; 

 naked eyelids, dull ochraceous ; legs and feet, brownish, 

 the former sometimes more lilaceous. 



Nest and Eggs. — Rgcs : 2, pure white, unspotted; 

 deposited on liare ground in brush at edge of timber or 

 in :i bunch of briers or a thicket upon the open prairies. 



Distribution.^ Western United States, north to 

 soutlieastern I'.ritish Columbia, Idaho, Montana, and 

 northwestern North Dakota ; east to southeastern South 

 Dakota, eastern Nebraska, western Iowa, eastern Kan- 

 sas, and western and central Texas; west to California 

 to about latitude of 40° ; south to Lower California and 

 central Mexico. 



I first lu'ard the song of the Poor-will in a the day-time, and when evening comes it re- 

 wild cai'ion in the mountains of New Mexico. mains in scckision until the shadows of night 

 In companv with Charles F. Lumniis, the archeol- have fallen. -Sunlight seems to blind it, as may 

 ogist, I was camping in the long-silent homes of be observed by anyone who chances to come upon 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



POOR- WILL (5 nat. size) 



the cliff dwellers, high up on the white tufa walls 

 of the haunted cliffs of Tyu-on-yi. 



It was a quiet summer night with the moon 

 shining in great brilliancv. The surroundings 

 were most impressive, and when the sudden 

 cry of poor-will, poor-zcill, was borne on the 

 air from across the cai'ion, it was as if a voice 

 from the sijirit-land had spoken. 



In many places through the high semi-desert 

 regions of the southwest this bird may be found. 

 It captures its prey of various insects by short 

 flights much in the manner employed by the 

 Whip-poor-will. It is distinctly nocturnal in its 

 movements. Apparently it never goes abroad in 



the bird by day as it sits drowsing on the fallen 

 leaves beneath some bush or lowhanging tree. 

 If when disturbed it chances to light where the 

 sunlight is bright, one may walk to within a 

 few feet before it appears to notice the approach. 

 The two white unspotted eggs are usually laid 

 on the bare ground without any attempt at nest 

 building. Two closely related subspecies, viz., 

 the Frosted Poor-will (Phalcriioptilus niiltalli 

 tiifidits) and the Dusky, or California, Poor-will 

 ( Pliahrnoptiliis nuttaUl calif ornicns) are recog- 

 nized by naturalists. All these birds retire south- 

 ward when winter a])pears. 



T. Gilbert Pe.-\kson. 



