154 



oe:n^ithologist 



[Yol. 12-Ko. 9 



two eggs, more than I ever took in any two 

 seasons combined. 



The}' arrive amongst us here about the 20th 

 ot April, commencing to lay early in May, as I 

 have found sets of them on May 10th, and fresh 

 eggs as late as July 7th, leaving little doubt in 

 my mind but that they rear two broods during 

 the season. I have never heard them sing, and 

 if they do it must be at rare intervals. The 

 only note I have ever heard is chuck^ chuck. 

 Three eggs as a general thing is their usual 

 number with us, and now and then sets of four. 



They seem to prefer pine saplings to all other 

 places, but you will find them in oaks, myrtle, 

 bay and blackberry vines, at varying heights 

 from two to six feet fiom the ground. The 

 nests are very compact, and always composed 

 of the same material. All eggs that I have 

 ever found before were pale blue, fading some- 

 what after being blown, all but the set, referred 

 to above, found this season ; which scores an- 

 other point, and a remarkable one, for 1887. 



The ^Vhippoorwill at Raleigh, N. C. 



BY C. S. BRIMLEY. 



A few particulars concerning our past year's 

 experience with this bird may be of some inter- 

 est to some of the readers of the O. and O., 

 and as an introduction I will first give a few 

 data concerning the species : 



The Whippoorwill arrives here about the 18th 

 of April with tolerable uniformity, and from 

 that time till the end of May its notes may be 

 nightly heard by all who are near enough to 

 its favorite haunts. From June on it is seldom 

 heard and I cannot give the time of its leaving 

 us but we have on one occasion taken it as late 

 as October 10th. While here it seems to fre- 

 quent the higher and dryer woods, and it is 

 only in such localities there is any chance of 

 finding it. This year it was first observed on 

 April 18th; five days afterwards I was follow- 

 ing some Towhees in a strip of woods on a 

 rocky lidge running north, when a bird that at 

 first I took to be an unusually large Towhee 

 flew up almost from under my feet. I soon, 

 however, recognized him as a Whippoorwill, 

 and seeing him settle within easy shot I 

 straightway collected him. 



On May 5th my brother was collecting in a 

 patch of woods on the same ridge, when a pair 

 of Wliippoorwills flew up almost from under 

 his feet; he immediately collected one and then 

 started to look for eggs. His search was soon 

 crowned with success, for within a few feet of 



where the birds had flown from, lay two eggs 

 in a slight depression among the dead leaves. 

 The eggs, however, to our disgust, were within 

 a few hours of hatching and we were unable to 

 save them. Next day I went to look for the 

 other Whippoorwill and scared him up within 

 a few feet of where my brother had taken the 

 eggs and forthwith added him to our stock. 

 (This one proved a male ; the female was shot 

 the previous day). 



On May 18th I was again collecting on the 

 same wooded ridge, some half mile south of 

 where my brother had taken the eggs, when as 

 I was slowly making my way through bushes, 

 briars and dead brush, a Whippoorwill flew up 

 from a compai'atively open space before me, 

 and sitting on a fallen tree trunk commenced 

 beating her wings, at the same time giving 

 vent to a mulHed booming sound, swelling her 

 throat as she did so. I backed f;ir enough to 

 save her from utter annihilation on firing and 

 then collected her with a warbler load. I 

 found, however, that I had scarcely retired far 

 enough as more feathers were shot away than 

 was necessary or ornamental. 



After bagging the bird, I connnenced to look 

 for eggs and presently found a downy little 

 chick faiutl}^ chirping among the dead leaves; 

 I collected him and noticing that he was in no 

 depression whatever, extended my search and 

 within too feet was the nest, or rather the de- 

 pression, containing a single egg which I fond- 

 ly hoped was addled, but my hopes were dis- 

 appointed as a marked star showed itself on 

 one side and a faint chirp was heard through 

 the shell. I managed to preserve the hatched 

 chick and its mother but not the hatching one. 

 Thus nest number two produced no eggs but 

 only a little yellow chick. Nine days after on 

 May 27th, my brother was again collecting in 

 the same patch of woods where he had found 

 the first nest. He again scared up a Whippoor- 

 will; this time in the opposite corner of the 

 woods, and again collected it, on looking for 

 eggs, however, he found none but noticed a 

 slight depression among the leaves which he 

 thought might be an intended nest and presume 

 it was, forjudge of our disgust when dissection 

 showed that two or three days more would 

 have sufficed to give us a fresh set of two eggs. 



This concludes our season's experience with 

 the Whippoorwill and its nest, and I think all 

 Oologists will agree with me that it is to say 

 the least, mortifying to have been three times 

 within the same month so near getting a set of 

 Wliippoorwill's eggs, and yet be a few days 

 too early or late as we were. 



