band near the tips of the outer feathers; throat 

 white; chin and upper breast black; rest of under- 

 pays barred with black and white, sometimes 

 tinged with buff. Female — Similar, but no white 

 on tail; throat-patch buffy; underparts washed 

 with buffy. 



The Nighthavvk is the long-winged bird that 

 flies about erratically in summer evenings, utter- 

 ing its weird calls, now and then swooping earth- 

 ward with a booming sound caused by the rush of 

 air through its rigid wings. It passes the day, 

 ordinarily, resting in a prone position on a roof, 

 horizontal branch or on a flat rock; yet it is often 

 to be seen in flight high overhead and heard call- 

 ing, as it hunts its insect food even at midday. 



417. Whip-poor-will — Antrastomus vociferm 

 vociferus. 



Robin-size. Length 9^4 inches. 



Male — Upperparts streaked with black; head 

 finely mottled with black and white ; end half of 

 three outer tail-feathers white; belly cream-buff, 

 irregularly barred with blackish; main wing- 

 feathers black, with rufous bars; central tail-feath- 

 ers irregularly barred with black and mottled with 

 buffy and whitish; back mottled with buffv and 

 black; a narrow white band across upper breast. 

 Female — Similar, but outer tail-feathers narrowly 

 tipped with buffy; throat-band buffy instead of 

 white. 



The Whip-poor-will keeps on or near the 

 ground. In general appearance it resembles the 

 Nighthawk, but is a rather brownish bird, the 

 Nighthawk grayish. Its call, JV hip-poor-will, is 

 unmistakable. It is active only at night or at least 

 in the hours of dusk. 



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