C APRIMULGID^.— ANTROSTOMUS C AR OLINEN SI S. 83 



Like most birds of this family, the Chuck-wills-widow makes no nest, but de- 

 posits her eggs on the bare ground. These are two in number, and the places se- 

 lected for them are usually thickets and solitary parts of dark woods. The ground 

 color of their eggs is a clear crystal white. They are more or less spotted, or marked 

 over their entire surface with blotches of purplish-brown and a grayish-lavender 

 color, with smaller occasional markings of a light raw-umber-brown. They are oval 

 in shape, large for the size of the bird, and alike at either end. The accompanying 

 representation is taken from an egg obtained in Florida, by Dr. Henry Bryant, of 

 Boston, who found the eggs of this bird in the same situations, in thick woods, that 

 are mentioned by Mr. Audubon, deposited on the dry leaves, without any attempt 

 at a nest. 



According to the careful observations of this watchful naturalist, the Chuck-wills- 

 widow, although it makes no nest, usually scratches a little space on the ground, 

 among some dead leaves. In this she deposits her two elliptical treasures. If the 

 eggs or the young are meddled with, this bird is sure to take alarm, and to remove 

 them, each parent aiding, to some other and distant part of the wood. After a re- 

 moval, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to find them. This has 

 been observed in respect to their eggs, and it is presumed that they do the same 

 with their young, when these are quite small. Mr. Audubon spent much time in try- 

 ing to ascertain by what means these birds remove their eggs when they have been 

 touched or handled. He states that they are carried off in the capacious mouths of 

 their parents. Each bird was observed by him, when on the watch for the purpose 

 of ascertaining, to take an egg in this manner and fly off, skimming closely over 

 the ground, vmtil lost among the branches and trees. To what distance they were 

 removed he was never able to ascertain. He has also known the young to be re- 

 moved, and he presumed the removal to have been made by their parents in the 

 same manner, although he was never eyewitness to it. 



During incubation they are said to cease from repeating their peculiar cry, from 

 which they take their name, especially after their young are hatched, although it is 

 resumed before they depart on their southern migrations, in August. 

 • In shape and marking, their eggs closely resemble those of the Whip-poor-will, 

 differing only in their larger size. All that I have seen are broadly oval in shape, 

 and measure ly% inches in length by 1 Jg in the greatest breadth. 



