NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 85 



354. Whip-poor-will — caprimulgus vociferus. Clear cream-white, 

 spotted, marbled and irregularly marked with purplish-lavender, mingled 

 with reddish-brown ; the general effect is a clouded coloration like the plu- 

 mage of the birds themselves; two; size about 1.25 by .85. The eggs 

 are laid in a depression of the ground upon a few leaves, sometimes on 

 stumps and logs. The Night-jar breeds throughout its range, but chiefly 



northerly. Hah. Eastern United States and British Provinces to the Central Plains. 



355. Poor-will — phal/ENOPtilus nuttalli. White, unspotted; two, 

 size 1.05 by .80. B. L. B., in the "Young Oologist " for March, 1885, 

 mentions finding two eggs of this species in a nest on the ground, in a 

 slight hollow on the side of a hill. The eggs he describes as greatly like 

 those of the Turtle Dove, pure white and elliptical in shape. 



Hab. Plains to the Pacific of the United States and southward; abundant, 



356. Parauque Goatsucker — nvctidromus albicollis. This beau- 

 tiful species of nighthawk is distributed throughout the interior portion of 

 tropical America north to Texas, where it is common in the valley of the 

 Lovv'^er Rio Grande. It frequents shady thickets and copses; deposits its 

 eggs in these places, usually at the foot of a bush, on the ground. These 

 are two in number, of a rich creamy-buff color, sparingly marked with a 

 deeper shade of the same, and with lilac; average size 1.25 by .92. 



357. Nighthawk — chordeiles popetue. Grayish, thickly mottled 

 with varied tints of darker gray, slate and yellowish-brown ; the pattern 

 and tints are very variable; elliptical; size 1.25 by .85. The Nighthawk, 

 Bull-bat, or Goatsucker, as it is variouly called, breeds throughout its 

 range, depositing her two eggs on the cold, bare ground ; scarcely a trace 

 of a nest can be found where the eggs lay. They are frequently depos- 

 ited on bare rocks, and on the flat roofs of buildings in large cities. The 

 Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will are often confounded, or considered as birds 

 of the same species. A careful comparison with each other, or with the 

 descriptions, will at once show a very decided difference. In the evenings 

 of summer months great troops of Nighthawks may be seen high in air 

 over forest or town in search of insects, performing their wonderful evolu- 

 tions and uttering their peevish cries, or, swooping down with their strange 

 booming or rumbling sound, they skim over the grassy meadows. Thus 

 they continue till the gloaming merges into darkness, and their flight is 

 seen no longer. My poetical friend Earl has it: 



