198 



BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Range. Eastern North America, wintering in the extreme southern part of the United States, 

 and southward to Central America. 



Range in North Carolina. Nearly whole State in summer, but absent or much less common in 

 the eastern section. 



\- The well known Whip-poor-will reaches our State about the first part of April 

 or even late in March, but the records seem to show that these birds probably pass 

 on, while the breeding birds arrive some two or three weeks later. These conclu- 

 sions result from a consideration of the fact that the dates of arrival fall largely 

 into two groups, one centering about early April, the other about two weeks later. 

 The latest date recorded at Raleigh in fall was November 6, the next latest Octo- 

 ber 10. 



FIG. 155. NIGHTHAWK (UPPER) AND WHIP-POOR-WILL (LOWER). 



This is a nocturnal woodland bird, often heard but seldom seen, which leads to- 

 the erroneous idea that the Whip-poor-will and the "Bullbat" are the same bird. 

 This is not an unnatural conclusion, due to the fact that we see the one bird shortly 

 before sunset, and hear the other a little later. 



The nesting habits of this species are similar to those of the Chuck-will's-widow. 

 The eggs are two in number, and at Raleigh are laid from late April to mid-June. 

 In appearance they are not markedly different from those of the larger bird except 

 in size. They average 1.12 x .88. 



The notes are the well known whip-poor-will cry, which when heard close at 

 hand loses most of its resemblance to those words, but consists of three loud swish- 

 ing notes, something like "whish-shoo-whish." 



