68 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 



they are heard. While the domain of the Summer Tana- 

 ger comprises the hills and higher elevations, the Scarlet 

 Tanager sticks to the rich and varied sylva which fol- 

 lows the streams high up into the valleys and ravines, 

 affording us thereby the opportunity to hear both species 

 sing at the same time. 



Many people have noticed that in Missouri, from Perry 

 County southwestward along the southern slope of the 

 Ozarks, we have two kinds of Whippoorwill. They have 

 heard, alone or together with the well-known common 

 call, another different call, but given under similar con- 

 ditions at night after dark and again in the early morn- 

 ing before daybreak. Very few know that the originator 

 of the strange doleful notes is the Chuck-wills-widow, a 

 larger southern relative of the more northern and better 

 known Whippoorwill. In general habits they resemble 

 each other very much, are never seen in daytime except 

 when accidentally driven from their nests or hiding 

 places in the shady retreats of the forest, preferably on 

 hillsides overgrown with much underbrush. Their call, 

 which has given rise to its queer name is uttered in rapid 

 succession for several minutes and often resumed again 

 for hours after short breathing spells. They are loudest 

 and most excited during the mating and nesting time in 

 May and June and are occasionally heard throughout 

 summer. Though they are with us from latter part of 

 April to the end of September, very few people, in the 

 region where they are plentiful, get a chance to see one, 

 so well do they understand to evade det*^ction by remain- 

 ing in their hiding places among the dry leaves and logs 

 or rocks on the ground until almost trodden upon. 



Such is the abundance of bird life in the Ozarks that 

 the trained observer may with little effort identify sixty 

 to seventy species during the nesting time in any one of 

 its valleys. 



We may yet mention a few other species frequently met 

 with in the southern slope of the Ozarks, but not at all, or 



