WHIP-POOR-WILL 177 



their way toward the tropics by long, silent night 

 flights. Common summer residents have gathered 

 their families together and departed* Yet this frail, 

 delicate visitor of swift and silent flight not only 

 lingers beyond his time, but fills the night with the 

 melody of summer. 



The Whip-Poor-Will is often heard but seldom 

 seen, his retiring ways contrasting strongly with the 

 conspicuous courses of the circling Night-hawk, to 

 whom he is closely related* He sits and sings in 

 the shade of the evening woods, always crouching 

 lengthwise on his perch, his weak and tiny feet being 

 incapable of supporting him in any other position* 

 His white necktie is the only relief in his dull brown 

 plumage, the fine and delicate markings of black 

 and grey being generally invisible* When he darts 

 silently after a passing insect the white on his outer 

 tail feathers becomes conspicuous, and these marks 

 distinguish him from his mate, whose equally dull 

 plumage is relieved by light buff* He pursues his 

 prey after the manner of the Kingbirds and other 

 flycatchers, but there is no resonant snap when his 

 enormous gape, with its imprisoning bristles, closes 

 upon a Moth or Beetle* He returns swiftly and 

 silently, not to a conspicuous and naked limb, like 

 the Flycatchers of the open day, but to a shaded 

 and sheltered branch, where the surrounding trees 

 intensify the deepening gloom* The wait may be 



