Whippoorwill Calls 87 



WHEPPOORWILL CALLS 



BY DAYTON STOXER, STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, 

 lOAVA CITY, IOWA 



Altliougli something has been vxiitten concerning the 

 vocal powers of the whippoorwill, general statements are 

 the rule and definite facts and figures concerning time of 

 calling, freqnency of calls and other details are "difficult 

 to obtain. In looking np tlie available and rather widely 

 scattered literature on the subject, a few statements pur- 

 porting to throw some light on these questions were found. 

 Some of them may be worth repeating here and will afford 

 a brief historical background for the writer's own remarks. 



Concerning the season of the year when the familiar 

 calls of this bird are most frequently repeated Bendire 

 says : " On their first arrival on the breeding grounds this 

 call is es])ecially frequently and rapidy repeated at the 

 beginning of dusk and throughout the early part of the 

 night, sometimes for minutes at a time, without any per- 

 ceptible intermission .... As the breeding season ad- 

 vances they become more and more silent, but they some- 

 times sing as late as September, never with the vim and 

 persistency, however, as on their first arrival when fre- 

 quently half a dozen or more of these birds may be heard 

 at the same time, forming a perfect chorus ..." (Life 

 Histories of North American Birds, II, 147-148). 



Honeywill writes that in northern Minnesota the calls 

 were heard nearly every night during July " but after the 

 middle of August they were only heard occasionally." 

 (Auk, XXVIII, 1911, 284). This observation is confinned 

 to some degree by Barrows in Michigan who makes the 

 following statement : " On its arrival from the south the 

 Whippoorwill begins to ' sing ' almost at once and con- 

 tinues until the young are well grown but according to 

 Bicknell the note is seldom heard after the middle of the 

 year (last of June), although it is well known to sing in 

 the autumn." (Michigan Bird Life, 374). 



