THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. 339 
ghostly noiselessness, only to drop down into the brush again a rod or so 
away. It is almost idle to search for it with the eyes alone, so perfectly do 
the softly blended colors of the Whippoorwill’s plumage assimilate to those 
of the leaf-strewn mold. On other occasions the bird may be seen resting 
on some low limb or fence-post, and twice during migrations I have seen it 
high in trees in broad daylight, squatting lengthwise of a dun-colored limb. 
Whippoor- 
wills are crep- 
uscular and 
nocturnal in 
habit, and se- 
cure their in- 
sect prey by fly- 
ing to and fro 
across bushy 
pastures and 
swampy mead- 
ows. The bird’s 
enormous gape, 
seconded by the 
lengthy bristles 
on either side 
of the beak, 
makes the pur- 
suit about as 
artless as that 
of the entomol- 
ogist, who 
sweeps the tops 
of the weeds 
with a mos- 
quito - netting 
bag, “catching 
as catch can.” 
These noc- 
turnal fly-catch- 
ers are rather 
irregular in 
their  distribu- a ' 
tion about the : Photo by R. F. Griggs. 
state. They are THE WHIPPOORWILL’S NEST. 
likely to appear almost anywhere during migrations ; but for a breeding haunt 
