MLO, KEY tO THE LAND BIRDS. 19 
band across the breast, gray in the male, reddish in 
the female and young. The favorite haunt of the 
bird is near rivers and ponds, where he perches on 
some dead limb overlooking the water. Here he 
watches for fish, and if frightened from his perch flies 
away with clattering chatter to some similar spot, 
where he resumes his watch. When he sees a fish he 
hovers over the spot for a few instants, dives in and 
brings it out. Then he shakes off the water from his 
plumage, and flies to his perch with his prey. If the 
fish is too large for him to manage alive he either 
perforates its skull with a stroke of his strong bill 
and lets it die, or else, watching till it comes to the 
surface, he flutters over it and pecks out its eyes. 
This bird moves southward in winter. 
GOATSUCKERS. — Caprimulqidae. 
BILL. — Small, mouth large and wide, 
beset with bristles. 
Beare smalk- three toes im tromt 
and one behind. 
Foop. — Insects. 
36. WHIPPOORWILL.  <Antrostomus vocifer- 
ans. — Length, 9% inches. Brown and buff, mottled 
and speckled everywhere with black ; across the throat 
a band, white in the male, buff in the female. This 
bird is well known by his evening and night calls, 
from which he gets his name. He feeds on insects, 
which he catches on the wing, flying low and resting 
every few minutes on some rock, fence, or broad limb 
of a tree, where he sits lengthwise instead of crosswise 
like most other birds. During the daytime he sleeps 
on the ground in shady woods and does not rise till 
almost stepped upon. Both this and the next species 
are with us during the summer, wintering in the 
South. They both fly voluntarily only at night. 
