296 



Bird - Lore 



FROM ADULT AND YOUNG OBSERVERS 



A STUDY OF A WHIP-POOR-WILL FAMILY 



This Whip-poor-will was discovered May 25 by my father and mother. They were 

 walking in the woods on a side hill, and went to the crest to obtain the view. It was a 

 bare granite ledge, that at one time had been worked, and large blocks of stone lay 

 strewn about. As they stepped back into the woods, which at that place consisted of a 

 young growth of walnut and chestnut, with more or less underbrush and huckleberry 

 bushes, a large brown bird flew from the ground at their feet and alighted on a fallen 

 tree close by. Instead of resting crosswise on the [limb, [the'[birdj^^sat lengthwise, so 

 father thought it must be a Whip-poor-will, as they are quite numerous in this locality 



WHIP-POOR-WILL ON NEST 

 "Her brown, blotched plumage so closely matched the leaves that 1 did not see her" 



after sundown. On looking for the spot from which it flew, they saw two conspicuous 

 eggs, pale blue mottled with small dark brown spots. There was no visible nest, the 

 eggs resting on the dead leaves, which were pressed down smoothly by the bird's body. 

 The next morning I went with father and set up my camera about four feet from the 

 nest. My kodak has a plate attachment, and with the help of the ground glass I care- 

 fully focused on the eggs. After taking a time exposure, for they were in the shade, I 

 attached a long rubber tube, with a bulb, to the camera, and dropped the end over a 

 stone wall about thirty feet away. Covering the camera with a black cloth and partly 

 hiding it with leafy twigs, I sat down behind the wall to wait for the old bird to come 

 back to her nest. I had taken a book with me, thinking the bird would be afraid of the 

 camera and might not return very soon. In about half an hour I looked through the 

 chinks of the wall, but could not see anything of the bird. After waiting another hour, 

 I started for home to get some lunch. Passing by the camera, I saw that the eggs had 

 disappeared. Going closer, to look more carefully, I was startled by the bird suddenly 

 flying up from the ground at my feet. She had been sitting over the eggs, and her brown, 

 blotched plumage so closely matched the leaves that I did not see her. Then I thought 



