THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



339 



ghostly noiselessness, only to drop down into the brush again a rod or so 

 away. It is almost idle to search for it with the eyes alone, so perfectly do 



[y blended colors of the Whippoorwill's plumage assimilate to those 

 of the leaf-strewn mold. On other occasions the bird may be seen resting 

 on some low limb or fence-post, and twice during migrations I have seen it 

 high m trees in broad daylight, squatting lengthwise of a dun-colored limb. 



Whip] r- 



wills are crep- 

 uscular and 

 nocturnal in 

 habit, and >e- 

 cure their in- 

 sect prey by fly- 

 ing 1" and fro 

 b u s h y 

 pastures and 

 swampy mead- 

 ow s. The bird's 

 enormous gape, 

 seconded by the 

 1 in sties 

 on either side 

 ol the beak. 



the pur- 



oul as 



as that 

 of the entomol- 

 o g i s t , w h o 

 sweeps the tops 

 of the weeds 

 with a mos- 

 netting 

 bag, "catching 



b can." 

 These noc- 

 turnal fly-catch- 

 ers are rather 

 irregular in 

 their distribu- 

 tion about the Photo by R. F. Griggs. 



state Thev are THE whippoorwilvs nest. 



likely to appear almost anywhere during migrations; but for a breeding haunt 



