Interior of British North America. 55 



Antrostomus vociferus. 



Although it may seem presumptuous to include in a local 

 fauna a bird which has not been seen, yet the note of the Whip- 

 poor-will is so distinct and unmistakeable that I think we may 

 reasonably include it among the birds of the interior of the 

 British possessions in North America, from the fact of its voice 

 being known at the Red River Settlement, in lat. 50° N., where 

 I have frequently heard it spoken of. Mr. Donald Gunn of 

 that place, who has contributed considerably to our knowledge 

 of the natural history and climate of the Hudson's Bay Terri- 

 tories, informed me that he heard the voice of the Whip-poor- 

 will on the 2nd of May, 1856; I was also told that a chance 

 one or two had been heard on the Saskatchawan. Moreover, 

 I myself heard this bird when camped, on the night of the 

 4th of May, 1859, on the banks of Red Lake River, in the north- 

 ern part of the State of Minnesota. Its early arrival in that 

 latitude would indicate it as a northern bird ; but Dr. Richardson 

 does not mention having noticed it west of Lake Huron ; while 

 I never heard its peculiar note during my eighteen months' tra- 

 velling to the north of the United States. A. nuttalli may per- 

 haps take its place in the west. 



26. Chordeiles henryi. 



Whether this is the species (for the distinctions are but slight) 

 which is given by Dr. Richardson as a visitor to the most remote 

 Arctic lands, only the re-examination of his specimens can prove. 

 M. Bourgeau's and my own, from the Saskatchawan, have been 

 made out to be the Western Night-Hawk, as yet not found in the 

 eastern part of the continent. Specimen No. 132 (' Ibis,' vol. iv. 

 p. 3), a male, measured 9^ inches in length, and 7^ in the wing. 

 The feet were of a dark purple-flesh, marked with white ; the bill 

 dark brown; and the iris of the eye, which was small, also 

 brown. Its stomach contained the remains of insects. M. 

 Bourgeau's specimen, obtained on the prairie between the north 

 and south branches of the Saskatchawan, on the 27th of June, 

 measured in the wing 8| in. Three eggs, which he obtained at 

 the same time, were of a light olive, blotched with black more 

 thickly at one end than the other. No nest was constructed ; 



