397. 
881. 
129. 
452 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — PICARLA — CYPSELIFORMES. 
rather smaller. South Atlantie and Gulf a pales to Indian Territory, Texas and N. 
Mexico, 8. to Central America ; resident on ou®Southern border. Twice as bulky as a whip- 
poorwill, the general tone rufous. Eggs 2, 1.45 X 1.05, heavily marked in intricate pattern 
with browns and neutral tints. 
A. voci/ferus. (Liat. vociferus, voice-bearing. Figs. 289, 292, 293.) WHIPPOORWILL. 
Nigut-JAr. The rictal bristles simple. Upper parts variegated with gray, black, whitish, and 
tawny ; prevailing tone gray ; black streaks sharp on the head and back, the colors elsewhere 
delicately marbled, including the four median tail-feathers ; wings and their coverts with bars of 
rufous spots; lateral tail-feathers black, with large white (g) or small tawny (?) terminal 
spaces; a white (@) or tawny (Q). throat-bar. Adult @: Assuming stone-gray as the 
ground-color of the upper parts: Crown with a purplish cast, heavily dashed lengthwise with 
black ; back darker, with smaller streaks; tail beautifully marbled with slate-gray and black 
tending crosswise on the 4 middle feathers ; scapulars with bold black centre-fields set in frosty 
marbling; hind neck with white specks, as if continued around from the white throat-bar. 
Primaries black, with a little marbling at their ends, fully broken-barred with tawny-reddish ; 
no white spaces. Three lateral tail-feathers mostly black, with pure white terminal spaces 
1-2 inches long. Under parts quite blackish, on the breast powdered over with hoary-gray, 
more posteriorly marbled with gray and tawny, tending crosswise. Lores and ear-coverts dark 
brown. It is only in perfect plumage that the colors are as slaty and frosty as described ; 
ordinarily more brown and ochrey. Length 9.00-10.00; extent 16.00-18.00; wing 6.00 or 
more ; tail 5.00 or less; whole foot 1.40; the distance across from one corner of the mouth to 
the other about as much as length of gape. @, adult: General tone more brownish and ochrey ; 
throat-bar tawny-whitish ; tail-spaces very slight and ochraceous; rather smaller. Eastern 
U. 8. and British Provinces to the central plains, abundant, migratory ; breeds throughout, but 
chiefly northerly ; winters beyond. A shady character, oftener heard than seen, of recluse 
nocturnal habits and perfectly noiseless flight, in the breeding season ceaseless in uttering 
its strange uncouth cries with startling vehemence. The notes are hkened to the phrase which 
has given the name ; they are very rapidly reiterated, with strong accent on the last syllable; 
when very near, a clicking sound, and sometimes low murmuring tones, may also be heard. 
No nest; 2 eggs on ground or log or stump, 1.25 X 0.90, creamy-white, heavily marked with 
browns and neutral tints. The young are helpless, shapeless, downy masses; both eggs and 
young are often removed in the parent’s mouth if disturbed, as a cat carries off her kittens, 
practice, however, habitual in this curious family of birds. Unlike the night-hawk, the whip- 
a 
poorwill rarely flies by day, unless flushed from its shady retreats. 
(addenda) A. v. arizome. ARIZONA WHIPPOORWILL. Similar: larger: rictal bristles longer. 
&: Throat-bar and superciliary streak ochraceous ; lores and ear-coverts tawny ; white spaces 
on tail short; under tail-coverts nearly ‘unbarred. 
Length 10.20; extent 19.40; wing 6.65; tail 4.45; 
longest rictal bristle 1.80; longest tail-spot 1.55. 
Arizona. Perhaps approaching A. macromystax. 
PHALZENO'PTILUS. (Gr. dadawa, phalaina, a 
moth; wridov, ptilon, feather: alluding to the pow- 
dery plumage, like the furriness of a moth’s wings. 
Fig. 294.) Poor-wiuis. Nostrils tubular, cylin- 
dric, opening forward and outward. Rictal bristles 
immense, but simple. Tarsus naked except just on 
the joint above (as in Nyctidromus), as long as mid- 
dle toe without claw. Tail square, much shorter 
than the rounded wings, which fold nearly to its Fic. 294. — Head and foot of Nuttall’s Poor- 
end. Plumage peculiarly soft and velvety, in hoar- Wil, nat. size. (Ad nat. del. R. Ridgway.) 
