Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 



The whippoorwill, because of its nocturnal habits and plain- 

 tive note, is invested with a reputation for occult power which 

 inspires a chilling awe among superstitious people, and leads 

 them insanely to attribute to it an evil influence ; but it is a 

 harmless, useful night prowler, flying low and catching enor- 

 mous numbers of hurtful insects, always the winged varieties, in 

 its peculiar fly-trap mouth. 



It loves the rocky, solitary woods, where it sleeps all day; 

 but it is seldom seen, even after painstaking search, because of 

 its dull, mottled markings conforming so nearly to rocks and dry 

 leaves, and because of its unusual habit of stretching itself length- 

 wise on a tree branch or ledge, where it is easily confounded with a 

 patch of lichen, and thus overlooked. If by accident one happens 

 upon a sleeping bird, it suddenly rouses and flies away, making 

 no more sound than a passing butterfly — a curious and uncanny 

 silence that is quite remarkable. When the sun goes down and 

 as the gloaming deepens, the bird's activity increases, and it begins 

 its nightly duties, emitting from time to time, like a sentry on- 

 his post or a watchman of the night, the doleful call which has 

 given the bird its common name. It 



" Mourns unseen, and ceaseless sings 

 Ever a note of wail and woe," 



that our Dutch ancestors interpreted as " Qiiote-kerr-kee," and so 

 called it. They had a tradition that no frost ever appeared after 

 the bird had been heard calling in the spring, and that it wisely 

 left for warmer skies before frost came in the autumn. Prudent 

 bird, never caught napping! 



It is erratic in its choice of habitations, even when rock and 

 solitude seem suited to its taste. Under no stress of circum- 

 stances is it found close to the seashore, and in the Hudson River 

 valley it keeps a half mile or more back from the river. 



The eggs, generally two in number, are creamy white, 

 dashed with dark and olive spots, and laid on the ground on dry 

 leaves, or in a little hollow in rock or stump — never in a nest 

 built with loving care. But in extenuation of such careless- 

 ness it may be said that, if disturbed or threatened, the mother 

 shows no lack of maternal instinct, and removes her young, 

 carrying them in her beak as a cat conveys her kittens to secure 

 shelter. 



137 



