THE OSPREY. 



101 



STEPHENS' WHIP-POOR-WILL, ANTROSTOMUS MACROMYSTAX (WAGLER). 

 Bv J. H. RILEY, Washing-ton. D. C* 



The bird known as Stephens' Whip-poor-will 

 wa.-. described by Wagler (Isis, 1831, 533) from 

 Mexico, but owing to the poor description the 

 bird was not recognized by later authors until 

 SclatenP. '/.. S.. 1858, 296), reporting upon a col- 

 lection of birds made by Salle in the state of 

 Oaxaca, Mexico, identified an Antrostomui as 

 probably belonging- to Wagier's macromysta \ . 

 saying that "'it agrees with all the character- he 

 gives of that species." Sclater again (P. Z. S.. 

 1866, 137 . in lii — "Notes upon the American Cap- 

 rimulgida" with only the same specimen re- 

 ported upon in 1858, says: "Whether this bird is 

 really Wagier's C. macromystax is certainly pro- 

 blematical, but there is no doubt at all of its 

 being quite distinct from . /. voci/erus, although 

 at first sight it is surprisingly like that species 

 in colouration. " 



Probably from the lack of proper material 

 from Mexico, American ornithologists, applying 

 Wai; lei'- name to another species until recently. 

 Brewster (Bull. Xutt. Orn. Club, vi, 1881, 69) 

 described a Whip-poor-will from Arizona as 

 Antrostomui vociferus arizonce, under which 

 name it was placed in the A. O. U. Check-List 

 of 1886. Hartert (Ibis, 1892, 296), however, after 

 an examination of the type, determined that the 

 bird described by Brewster was the macromystax 

 of Wagler. which he thought was a g 1 sub- 

 species of vociferus, and that Antrostomui was 

 not sufficiently distinct from Caprimulgtti to be 

 recognized as a genus. Salvin and Godman in 

 the Biologia Centrali-Americana, ii. 1893, 387, 

 justly gave full specific rank to this bird. So 

 much for the systematic history: now we will 

 proceed to an examination of what has been 

 written on the life history and the egg-. 



Brewster, quoting a letter from K. Stephens. 

 (Bull. Xutt. Orn. Club. 1881, 71.. says: "I heard 

 the first Whip-poor-will about the middle of 

 May. By June 1. they were a- common as I 

 ever knew them to be in the east. Sometimes 

 I could hear three or four whistling at once. 

 They were very restless and rather shy, so I got 

 only the specimen I sent you, and a female shot 

 in the daytime. The latter tlew off her nest. 

 which, as usual, was only a very slight depres- 

 sion in the ground, but in this case was over- 

 hung by a rock. The single egg mow before 

 me) is plain white with very faint brownish 

 spots, so faint that one would hardly notice 

 them. She would have laid no more. This was 

 on July 14. 1880. The people in the canon said 

 they were not a- plenty in 1880, as they were 

 last summer. I heard the males until August, at 

 which time I lefl tin- Chiracahua Mountains. I 

 have not heard the species elsewhere in Arizona." 



In the Biologia Centrali-Americana. 11. 1893, 

 3x7, Salvin and Godman have this to say on its 

 habits in Guatemala: "On 20th April, 1860, Mr. 

 K'. Owen found, in the Santa Barbara Mount- 

 ains in Vera Paz, two eggs of this specie.-, and 

 secured the parent. These eggs, though of the 

 shape and texture usual in the Caprimulgidts, 

 are pure spotless white: they were deposited on 



the ground at the foot of a large pine tree, but 

 there was no nest. That these eggs belonged 

 to the bird secured cannot be reasonably doubt- 

 ed; but their colour is quite unusual and perhaps 

 abnormal, though it must be remembered Pha- 

 Icenoptilus nuttalli lays white eggs, and those of 

 Sienopsis ruficervix are of the same colour." 



The late Major Bendire, in Life Histories 

 North Am. Birds, 11. 1894, 152, quoting from 

 notes furnished by Doctor Fisher, says: "The 

 Whip-poor-will's note was not heard at Fort 

 Howie. Arizona, during the last three weeks of 

 May. lso4. When we made campatthe mouth 

 of Kucker Canyon, some forty miles south of 

 the Post in the Chiracahua Mountains, on the 

 last day of the month, we heard a few, and a 

 couple of days later found the species abundant 

 higher up in the same Canyon, among the pines 



/'. ponderosa). Here at early dusk and at dawn 

 their notes were heard almost continuously and 

 numbers of birds were seen. On June 5. Mr. 

 Fred. Hall Fowler found a nest, if a slight de- 

 pression in the ground can be so designated, on 

 a steep hillside about 50 feet above the stream. 

 It was situated under an overhanging bush at 

 the edge of a flat rock, and contained two young, 

 recently hatched, and the fragments of shells 

 from which they had emerged." The pieces of 

 shells are white, apparently without spots. 



All the descriptions I have been able to ex- 

 amine agree in giving- the complement at from 

 oik- to two. generally the latter number, and in 

 describing- the eggs as white or with. only very 

 faint nearly imperceptible markings. Twoeggs, 

 recently acquired by Dr. W. L. Ralph and now 

 in his magnificent collection donated to the 

 United States National Museum, are of an ellip- 

 tical oval shape and of a pure spotless white, 

 measuring 2*..- x 2n and 28 x 2n mm. respec- 

 tively. They were collected near Colonia Garcia 



- i ft. alt.), Chihuahua. Mexico. June 6, 1899. 



The nest was a hollow, sparsely lined with pine 

 needles, among- rocks on the side of a canon. 

 ( hi, of the parent birds was secured and accom- 

 panied the egg-. 



From tli'- foregoing it will be seen that the 

 breeding range of macromystax is an extensive 

 one, extending-, as it does, from the mountains 

 of southern Arizona over the tablelands of 

 Mexico at least to Guatemala, but apparently 

 not occurring at very low altitudes, being 

 evidently a mountain species. 



Different systematists have been sorely per- 

 plexed whether to regard this as only a race of 

 vociferus or to accord it the rank of a species. 

 For my part. I believe with Professor Newt' >n. 

 that while Oology is not a science by it-el f. that 

 nevertheless the study of egg- and the habits of 

 birds have a certain indefinable value in deter- 

 mining the status of species and that any bird 

 which, in a state of nature, lays eggs as dis- 

 tinct as do vociferus and macromystax should be 

 accorded full specific rank. Therefore Ste- 

 phens' Whip-poor-will should stand as Antros- 

 tomus macromystax (Wagler). 



♦Published by permission ot Dr. W. L. Ralpb. 



