The Whip-poor-will 141 



his young poultry. What it does do for him is to eat the insects that lay the 

 eggs that hatch into caterpillars and destroy the leaves of shade and fruit 

 trees. May-beetles and leaf-eating beetles are destroyed by it also. In truth, 

 fortunate, indeed, is the grower of grain, or the raiser of fruit who, during the 

 spring and summer nights, has one or more pairs of these birds about his place, 

 for all during the hours when the farmer sleeps the Whip-poor-will is busy 

 ridding his place of these harmful insects. 



Mr. Ingersoll says: "They never regularly sweep through the upper air, as 

 does the Nighthawk, but seek their food near the ground by leaping after it in 

 short, erratic flights. They have a way of balancing themselves near a tree- 

 trunk or barn- wall, picking ants and other small provender off the bark; and 

 even hunt for worms and beetles on the ground, turning over the leaves to root 

 them out. It is not until their first hunger has been assuaged that one hears 

 that long steady chanting for which the bird is distinguished, and which, as 

 a sustained effort, is perhaps unequaled elsewhere." 



In the early autumn, the Whip-poor-wills simply disappear without warn- 

 ing. As they reappear far to the south, we know, of course, that they have 

 migrated, but when did they go and how? Did they journey over the hun- 

 dreds of miles of intervening space by short flights, or did they mount high 

 in air as do many small birds, and fly swiftly for long hours at a time? Did 

 they go singly or in flocks? These and other questions about this mysterious 

 bird of the night remain to be answered fully. Perhaps some younger reader 

 of this paper will grow up to be the naturalist who will explain these things 

 more fully to the less observant students of birds. 



No one should ever kill one of these useful birds. Its great value to man- 

 kind has become generally recognized in recent years, and the laws of all the 

 states where the bird is found provide that any one who kills a Whip-poor- 

 will shall be fined or imprisoned. 



CLASSIFICATION AND DISTRIBUTION 



The Whip-poor-will belongs to the Order Macrochircs and the Family Caprimiil- 

 gida, and its scientific name is Antroslomus vociferiis vociferus. It ranges through 

 eastern North America, breeding from the St. Lawrence Valley and Nova Scotia south 

 to northern Georgia and Louisiana, as far west as the border of the Plains; it winters 

 from the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast to British Honduras. The only other sub- 

 species is macromyslax, of Mexico and the adjacent border of the United States. 



Note. — Additional copies of this and other educational leatlets may be obtained for 2 cents each 

 from the National Association of Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. 



