WOODLAND PATHS 



spite of the bewildering sameness of the 

 surroundings, so it seems to me quite mi- 

 raculous that the whip-poor-will can find 

 the way back to the eggs or young at day- 

 break. Nest there is none. It is simply 

 a spot picked, seemingly, at random, on 

 the brown last year's leaves, or the bare 

 rock of the pasture. 



But the whip-poor-will has been here 

 since early May, and till now has not 

 offered to take an apartment. Yesterday, 

 without doubt, he saw the summer coming 

 and picked his site. By to-morrow or next 

 day you might find the two eggs there 

 if you are a wizard. It takes such to find 

 a whip-poor-will's eggs. You might look 

 at them and never see them, so well do 

 they match the ground on which they lie, 

 more like pebbles than anything else, 

 with their dull white obscurely marked 



with lilac and brownish-gray spots. I 

 262 



