180 BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



a distance of twenty or thirty yards. It always appears with its body 

 parallel to the direction of the branch or trunk on which it sits, and, I 

 believe, never alights across a branch or fence rail. No sooner has the 

 sun disappeared beneath the horizon, than this bird bestirs itself, and 

 sets out in pursuit of insects. It passes low over the bushes, moves to 

 the right or left, alights on the ground to secure its prey, passes re- 

 peatedly in different directions over the same field, skims along the 

 skirts of the woods and settles occasionally on the tops of the fence 

 stakes or on the stumps of trees, from whence it sallies, like a Flycatcher, 

 after insects, and 011 seizing them returns to the same spot. When 

 thus situated, it frequently alights on the ground, to pick up a beetle ? 

 it also balances itself in the air, in front of the trunks of trees, or against 

 the sides of banks, to discover ants and other small insects that may be 

 lurking there. It is a remarkable fact that even the largest moths on 

 which the Whip-poor-will feeds, are always swallowed tail foremost, and 

 when swallowed, the wings and legs are found closely laid together, and 

 as if partially glued by the saliva or gastric juice of the bird. The act 

 of deglutition must be greatly aided by the long bristly feathers of the 

 upper mandible, as these no doubt force the wings of the insects close 

 together, before they enter the mouth." Audubon. In several of these 

 birds, which I have examined, were found only insects, chiefly of a 

 lepidopterous character ; once I took from the stomach of a male the 

 remains of two or three common potato beetles. The Whip-poor-will 

 never builds a nest. In this section it deposits its eggs about the 20th 

 of May, on the bare ground, or on dry leaves, and occasionally, though 

 rarely, it is said on logs, in the gloomy retreats of thickets or woods. 

 The eggs, never more than two in number, are white or yellowish- white, 

 irregularly spotted or blotched with brown, and bluish-gray. They 

 measure about 1.25 inches in length and .89 of an inch in width. This 

 bird, like the Chuck- will's-widow,* when flying about in quest of food, 

 may be heard to utter a kind of low growling sound. This noise is the 

 only sound I ever heard the Whip-poor-will make when on the wing. 



GENUS CHORDEILES SWAINSON. 

 Chordeiles virginianus (GMEL.). 



Nighthavvk. 



DESCRIPTION {Plate, 28). 



Male, above mottled with blackish, grayish and rufous ; a white V-shape mark 

 on the throat ; behind this a collar of pale rufous blotches, and another on the breast 

 of grayish mottling ; under parts banded transversely with dull-yellowish or red- 



*The Chuck-will's-widow (Antrnstomus carolinensis, Grmel. ) inhabits the south Atlantic and Gulf 

 states, "and lower Mississippi Valley, north to the Carolinas and southern Illinois." Said to winter 

 chiefly south of United States, in Mexico. Central America, etc. April, 1885. I found this species breed- 

 ing in Orange and Volusia counties. Florida, where these birds are abundant. In February and March I 

 neither saw or heard them, and residents of Florida assured me that the "Chick-will," as the bird is 

 there known, was found in that state only as a summer resident. 



