THE DUSKY POOR-WILL. 15y 



for the rig-lit spot, wiu'U she Hew n few yards aiul alighted. A single egg laA' 

 there in a .slight de[)re.ssioii on the clean and soniewliat coarse gravel, which 

 was rather .smooth for a few feet abont. Around was the usual brushy chaparral 

 cf the wash. The egg was brought to me by the boy in the evening, with the 

 l)ird, and a slightly smaller one had been taken tlie da\- jirevious from tlie same 

 nest." 



Mr. Lawreni-i' kindh- presented these eggs to the United States National 

 Museum collection, as well as the parent. This is not quite a typical Pliakeiioj)- 

 iiliis UMffalli (■(d/fon/icKs, ])ut it approaches tliis subs})ecies closer than the true 

 I'. uuttaUi. The fact that the female returned to lay her second egg in the same 

 spot from which the tirst had been taken the day before shows how tenacious 

 these birds are to a locality once chosen for a nesting site. To further confirm 

 this, Mr. lit ilia H. Beck writes me that he sliot two of these Poor-wills in June, 

 1894, in Monterey County, within a few feet of tlie spot where he tried to kill 

 one with a fishing pole two years previously. 



Mr. Walter E. Bryant, in his "Catalogue of the Birds of Lower California," 

 makes the following remarks about this subspecies: "Noted at several ])laces 

 Ijetween Tia Juana and San Pedro Martir bv Mr. Beldiiig. Mr. Anthonv has 

 met witli it up to 8,000 feet idtitude, and says it winters in the low liills near 

 the coast. Poor-wills were heard every evening- on the stee}) hillsides at 

 Comondu and at various localities. The only specimen secured,, a male, was 

 taken at Pozo Grande, March ID, 1889. I followed the bird some time before 

 getting a shot, and each time that it was frightened it flew ;d)out 100 >'ards and 

 alighted on cactus about 3 feet high. The Mexicans call them 'Tapa-camhio' 

 when they see them in the trail at dusk; but they also call the Night-hawks by 

 the same name. At (Jomondu they were known as 'Cow-daA',' from the almost 

 perfect resemblance of their note to those words. In upper California the 

 birds, which I have frequently heard, utter the notes rapidlv, and sounding 

 'poor-will' clearly; in Lower California the sounds are given quite slowh", and 

 resemble the words 'cow-day' rather than 'poor-will.'"' 



The only set of eggs of this subspecies in the United States National 

 Museum collection is the one already referred to, presented by Mr. R. IL 

 Lawrence. These two eggs are indistinguishable from those of the common 

 Poor- will. Their ground color shows the same pale creamy tint, with a feint 

 pinkish tinge, and their shape is also similar. They measure 26.42 by 19.30 

 and 25.15 by 19.30 millimetres, respectively, or 1.04 by 0.76 and 0.99 by 0.76 

 inches. 



The type specimen. No. 25937 (not figured), from a set of two, taken near 

 Monrovia, California, on j\Iay 4, 1893, was presented b\' Mr. P. H. Lawrence, 

 as alread^' stated. 



' Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences, 2d series, Vol. II, 1889, pj). 287, 288. 



