152 BoLLES, Notes on Whip-poor-wills arid Owls. [ April 



July?. 8.35-45. "Quip o rip (or ri)." At 8.20 I went to stone 

 W. of well and hid under the narrow fringe of Spirea bushes, 2| 

 ft. high only 3 ft. from stone. No wind bright moonlight. I 

 lay flat on my stomach, and shook bushes well over my legs and 

 snarled them over my body. Then resting my chin on my hands 

 and holding my soft brown cap over my mouth and nose I waited. 

 Mosquitoes, flies and midges simply hellish. I suffer torments. 

 I wait 15 minutes. Five pass in utter silence as far as whips, are 

 concerned. Then at 8.25 two begin down by lake, and continue 

 about 5, shifting some. By 8.34 one had got to stone heap by 

 barn. I know he will come to me next and I shake myself, rub 

 off skeets and wait. Suddenly I hear a rather feeble whip, 12 

 times S. of me, then silence and then a bird flies to the stone in 

 front of my face, coming low over the bushes and lighting with its 

 tail towards me. It squeaks or clicks three times, and I fear it 

 suspects me and is giving a slight alarm note, but the next moment 

 it begins the piercing quip o' rip slightly raising its head and 

 dipping its tail each time it makes the sound. The head rises on 

 the quip and falls on the rip. The wings do not move, nor the 

 body save by slight tipping. I could see the bird's outline per- 

 fectly against the white background of the shingled barn on which 

 the moonlight fell fully. It uttered its note about twenty or 

 thirty times when to my astonishment another whip, alighted 

 near it, on the left (W.) end of the boulder. One or two sounds like 

 the soft popping of corn came from the new arrival, and the first 

 bird, which had ceased its call, faced west and began a strange, 

 slow dance, advancing a step at a time towards its mate, raising 

 its body to the full length of its legs at each step, thus making a 

 sort of undulating approach. The other bird remained where it 

 alit, but seemed to be moving its body up and down or else slowly 

 pulsating its wings. The first bird, which I think was the male, 

 seemed to continue its dance entirely around the female. As he 

 passed her, indescribable purring and popping sounds were made 

 and one of the birds flew lightly away. — the 9 I think. The 

 male resumed his first position, and remained silent. Then he 

 rose and circled in the air, catching an insect I thought, for he 

 came back at once to the spot on the rock which he always covers. 

 A moment later his mate seemed to call from below the house. 



