THE WHIPPOORWILL. 119 
Famiry CAPRIMULGIDA®. Tue Goat-sucKkeErs. 
Sub-Family CAPRIMULGINE. 
Bill very short, triangular, the culmen less than one-sixth the gape; the anterior 
toes united at the base by a membrane; the inner anterior toe with three joints, the 
others with four, all with distinct scutelle above; the toe much elongated, its middle 
claw pectinated on the inner edge; hind toe directed a little more than half for- 
wards; tarsi partly feathered superiorly; the bill more or less bristled, the nostrils 
separated, rather nearer the commissure than the culmen; plumage soft, lax, and 
owl-like; primary quills, ten; secondaries, eleven or twelve. 
ANTROSTOMUS, Goutp. 
Antrostomus, GouLD. Icones Avium (1838), Agassiz. 
Bill remarkably small, with tubular nostrils, and the gape with long, stiff, some- 
times pectinated, bristles; wings long, somewhat rounded, second quill longest, the 
primaries emarginated; tail rounded; plumage loose and soft. 
ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS. — Bonaparte. 
The Whippoorwill. 
Caprimulgus vociferus, Wilson. Am. Orn., V. (1812) 71; Aud. Orn. Biog., I. 
(1882) 443; V. 405. 
Antrostomus vociferus, Bonaparte. List, 1838. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Bristles without lateral filaments; wing about six and a half inches long; top of 
the head ashy-brown, longitudinally streaked with black; terminal half of the tail 
feathers (except the four central) dirty-white on both outer and inner webs; iris dark- 
hazel. Female, without white on the tail. 
Length, ten inches; wing, six and a half. 
HIS familiar species is a summer inhabitant of New 
England: it arrives from the South about the second 
week in May. Its habits are not well known, as it is not a 
very common species, and it inhabits the most secluded spots 
in the deep woods; but its song is well known to all, as are 
‘its nocturnal wanderings in search for insect food. This 
bird, as also the Night-hawk, is, to the farmer, one of the 
most valuable among the feathered tribes: its food consists 
almost entirely of night-flying Lepidoptera, and the number 
of these insects destroyed is immense. 
