236 Bird -Lore 



that a faulty shutter was responsible, only two pictures resulting from almost 

 a dozen attempts. 



When the young Whip-poor-wills hatched, we built them a wattHng of 

 sticks, as they run about almost from the egg and are difficult to find. The 

 newly hatched birds were attractive-looking little chicks so long as they kept 

 their mouths shut. They were a uniform buff color, which matched well with 

 the leaves, and the instant their mother left them they each ran in opposite 

 directions and squatted. In this maneuver the old bird seemed to aid them 

 materially by the vigorous flip which she gave them as she rose, often tumbUng 

 them over on their backs. The concealing coloration of the chicks made them 

 difficult subjects for the photographer, and it was only by placing the two 

 obstinate youngsters on a bright green oak leaf, that a sufficient contrast in 



WHIP-POOR-WILLS TWO DAYS OLD 



color to show them up was obtained. The trials of getting them both on that 

 oak leaf were manifold. Several times when we thought that at last we had 

 succeeded, the old Whip-poor-will would ho^'er overhead, uttering a guttural 

 quup which was sufiicient to scatter both young ones, and which made it neces- 

 sary for us to begin all over again. 



The old bird paid no attention to our wattling, hovering over the young 

 for a moment, and then dropping quickly into the enclosure. She always 

 looked more like a big moth than a bird. 



Meanwhile, the downy chicks of yesterday had become grown birds, and, 

 feeling their importance, they had quite hterally "flown the coop." I found 

 the mother brooding one full-grown bird a day or so later. She was not far 

 from the enclosure, but well under a laurel bush. What became of the other 

 young bird I never knew. 



During the next year, in June, I again stumbled on a Whip-poor-will's 

 nest. I was hunting for the nest of a Ruffed Grouse and found instead My 



