April 1904] BIRDS OF THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS, ARIZONA. T5 



Poor-will does so habitually of an evening-. They seem to remain rather 

 late in the fall, as at the end of August their notes were heard as fre- 

 quently as ever, and I have a female taken by H. Kimball on September 

 29, 1895. An adult male secured on August 29, 1902, had not yet quite 

 completed its moult. 



Phalaenoptilus nuttalli (Audubon). Poor-will. 



I found the Poor-will quite abundant during the summer months in 

 the foothill region and in the lower parts of the canyons ; but though 

 most numerous below 5000 feet they were by no means restricted to these 

 parts, for I saw or heard some in all parts of the mountains occasionally 

 up to an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet. They began to arrive early in 

 April and could soon be heard calling on all sides of an evening. Al- 

 though usually silent during the night, I have frequently noticed that 

 in the morning they begin again, and for half an hour or so before day- 

 light, call nearly as much as they do in the evening. They show great 

 fondness for any open piece of ground, and about dusk can usually be 

 found along any road or trail, sitting on the ground and occasionally 

 flying up after some passing insect. I cannot recall ever having seen a 

 Poor-will alight on the limb of a tree, but on one occasion I saw one 

 alight on a guy rope of a tent, where he remained for half a minute or so. 



I have taken several specimens of the so-called Frosted Poor-will 

 (P. n. nitidus) but have not much faith in the validity of this race, be- 

 lieving it to be merely a color phase of inittaili. My series of Poor-wills 

 from Arizona contains some very pale colored birds which could easily 

 enough be distinguished from true nuttalli as far as color is concerned, 

 but it seems strange to find two closely related sub-species like these 

 occupying the same region and breeding side by side, as it were. I have 

 taken both the pale and the dark colored birds in the foothills of the 

 Huachucas, and at the summit of the highest peaks, both being more 

 numerous during the migrations than at other times. If several pairs of 

 birds could be obtained and shown to be of the same style of coloration, 

 it might go to prove the validity of the race ; but it is not easy to obtain 

 both birds of a pair of a nocturnal species like the one under considera- 

 tion, and though I secured both sexes, they were all single birds, mostly 

 migrants. I have recently secured two exceedingly pale colored Poor- 

 wills near San Fernando, Los Angeles County, California, demonstrating 

 the presence of this light phase in P. 11. calif ornicus as well as in nuttalli. 

 One of these is quite as pale as any specimen of "nitidus" tliat I secured 

 in Arizona. 



I have talked on this subject with Mr. G. F. Breninger, who has 

 done a great deal of field work in Arizona, and believe that he holds the 

 same view of it as I do. 



Chordeiles virginianus henryi (Cassin). Western Nighthawk. 



Quite a common summer resident, though as yet I believe that there 

 is no positive evidence of its breeding in the Huachucas. The earliest 

 date at which I have seen any is April 23, 1903, when a male bird was 

 flushed from an oak tree near the mouth of one of the canyons. At times 

 in the summer I have found them quite abundant in the oaks along the 

 base of the hills (about 4500 feet altitude). They were invariably in the 

 trees, sitting lengthwise of the limbs ; and were very shy and hard to 

 approach, at times flying to a considerable distance before alighting 

 again. I never flushed one from the ground. Through the months of 

 June and July, 1902, I found them very abundant on the divide at the 



