192 LAND BIRDS 
418b. DUSKY POORWILL, OR CALIFORNIA POOR- 
WILL. — Phalenoptilus nuttall californicus. 
Famity: The Goatsuckers. 
Length : 7.00-8.00. 
Adult Male: Upper parts blackish or dark brown, with a velvety moth- 
like surface, barred with finely mottled grayish brown and distinct 
black arrow-shaped markings ; middle of crown black ; tail-feathers, 
except the middle ones, tipped with white ; sides of head and chin 
black ; white throat-patch bordered with black ; under-tail coverts 
buffy ; rest of under parts barred. 
Adult Feniale: Like male, but tail-feathers tipped with a narrower band 
of white. 
Young: Upper parts grayish, finely mixed with brown ; markings less 
distinct. 
Geographical Distribution : From the foot-hill regions west of the Sierra 
Nevada to the coast and south to Lower California. 
California Breeding Range: Latitude of Upper Sonora, west of the 
Sierra Nevada. 
Breeding Season : May. 
Nest : No nest, eggs being laid on the ground. 
Lggs : 2; glossy white, with a faint pinkish tint. Size 1.00 X 0.76. 
THROUGHOUT the coast region of California I believe 
the Dusky Poorwill is a rather common summer visitant, 
if not a summer resident. It is a haunter of caions and 
deep woody places, never of the open. I found the eggs 
of a bird of this species on the bare ground at the foot of 
a tree in Marin County. The mother was brooding ; she 
flushed from literally under my feet, brushing me as 
she took flight and hid in the deep wood, and I found 
the eggs scarcely a foot from where I was standing. 
Marking the tree and leaving for several hours, I re- 
turned to find her on the eggs again, and this time 
watched her through my glass, not going nearer than 
fifteen feet. So far as I could judge in that way, she 
