618 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



found in the same places for their habits are very 

 different. 



The whip-poor-will is a bird of the woodlands, spend- 

 ing the day on the ground under the trees and coming 

 out into clearings or along the forest borders at night 

 to feed. At such times it sometimes ventures close to 

 door-yards and startles the unsuspecting householders 

 with its loud liquid notes "whip-poor-will whip-poor- 

 will whip-poor-will." These are given with an accent 

 that does not tend to make one sorry for poor Will, but 

 rather to feel that he quite deserves his misfortune. 



The whip-poor-wills feed upon larger insects than 

 do the night- 

 hawks, being 

 p a r t i c ularly 

 fond of the 

 large night- 

 flying moths, 

 the larvae of 

 which are very 

 destructive to 

 the foliage of 

 trees. 



Whip-poor- 

 wills are found 

 in summer 

 from Florida 

 to Nova Scotia 

 as far west as 

 the Plains. 

 They leave 

 with the night- 

 hawks for the 

 south the last 

 of September 

 or the first of 

 October, but 

 they do not go 

 far, stopping 

 in Central 

 America and 

 West Indies. 



In the Gulf States and occasionally as far north as 

 Maryland and Ohio, occurs the chuck-wills-widow, 

 which is a larger edition of the whip-poor-will. In 

 habits they are not very different except that they have 

 been seen occasionally to pursue and swallow such small 

 birds as warblers and sparrows, and humming-biids 

 have been taken from their stomachs. Their call is simi- 

 lar to that of the whip-poor-will, but is louder and more 

 slowly uttered, and each phrase has an additional syllable 

 as suggested by the name. 



In Western North America from Nebraska to the 

 Cascades and as far north as British Colombia, occurs 

 the poor-will, a small sized whip-poor-will, abbreviated 



Photograph by A. D. DuBois 



A HAWK THAT ISN'T A HAWK 



A western night-hawk incubating its eggs on a lichen covered rock. The night-hawk is one of the 

 maligned group of goatsuckers and is one of the most beneficial insect destroying birds that we have. 



Note its protective coloration. 



in actual length as well as in name and call. To those 

 who have an ear attuned to nature, its call is said to be 

 soft and soothing, but to others it is said to be diabolical 

 and suggestive of evil spirit. Such is the nature of man. 

 In southern Texas is found a whip-poor-will known 

 as Merrils parauque, the name being derived from its 

 call which is quite different from those already described, 

 being a rather hoarse "pa-rau'-que." It represents a 

 group that is quite common through tropical America and 

 which differs somewhat in feeding habits from the other 

 members in that it catches most of its insects on the 

 ground along roads or bare spaces among the mesquites. 



Like the rest 

 of the goat- 

 suckers it is 

 very protec- 

 tively colored 

 and difficult to 

 see when at 

 rest on the 

 ground. 



The Texan 

 nigh t-h awk, 

 which is found 

 from Texas to 

 Southern Cali- 

 fornia, differs 

 from the com- 

 mon night- 

 hawk in hav- 

 ing the white 

 bars near the 

 tip of its 

 wings and in 

 call which 

 Vernon Bailev 

 describes as "a 

 1 o w rapid 

 chuck, chuck, 

 chuck, follow- 

 ed by a soft 

 pur'r'r'r'r'rY. 



The whole family of goat-suckers is without excep- 

 tion one of the most beneficial that we have. An occa- 

 sional small bird swallowed by the chuck-wills-widow 

 is the only exception to a diet that is almost exclusively 

 insectivorous. They capture the night flying insects 

 which have few other bird enemies and some of which 

 are the most destructive that we have. Their wierd 

 calls and nocturnal habits will undoubtedly continue to 

 prejudice unthinking people against them and we should, 

 therefore, do everything in our power to disseminate 

 the truth and cultivate a love and respect for some of the 

 strangest, most interesting and most beneficial birds that 

 we have. 



Save fruit pits and nut shells. Two hundred peach stones or seven pounds of nut shells 

 will furnish enough carbon for a gas mask and save the life of an American soldier. 



