150 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



sure the claws and legs only were used, as the young' was hugged close to the 

 body. 1 have never known the eggs to be removed, though I have left them in 

 two or three different instances. 



"I found a pair of young one morning and went home after my camera; 

 but upon my return, several hours later, they were gone and the old bird also, 

 and a careful search tailed to disclose their retreat. In this case it would 

 appear that the old bird removed them, as they were certainly too young to 

 travel far themselves. The eggs that I have found (with the exception of one 

 set) resemble each other closely, and were all taken in moderately open second- 

 growth woodland and on ridges somewhat elevated above the immediate 

 surroundings. No attempt at a nest has been observed; the eggs were placed 

 in slight depressions and usually on one large leaf, never near a log or rock. 



"The set referred to above as exceptional is quite heavily marked, and one 

 egg has the spots on one side merged into one large blotch. It was taken July 

 4, 1884, at Deep River, Connecticut, and is the latest date on which I have 

 found eggs, though I believe that two broods are reared." 



The Whip-poor-will, like the other species of the Caprimulgidce found in 

 the United States, makes no nest, but deposits its eggs usually on a layer of 

 dry leaves of deciduous trees, sometimes on dry pine needles, and occasionally 

 on the bare ground, generally under thick bushes which afford plenty of shade, 

 in some secluded and out-of-the-way corner, near the outskirts of forests, or on 

 brush-covered hillsides, river bluffs, etc., which are not readily accessible and 

 not disturbed much. It is naturally a timid and retiring bird, and does not 

 brook repeated intrusion very gracefully. The nesting- site selected is always a 

 well-drained and a dry one; light and sandy soils are preferred to heavier ones, 

 and it rarely, if ever, nests in places that are subject to overflow. 



The number of eggs to a set is two; these are deposited on alternate days, 

 and incubation commences with the first egg laid. I believe the female attends 

 to this duty almost exclusively, and she is a most devoted parent, using all the 

 well-known artifices of many ground-building species to entice the intruder 

 away from the vicinity of her treasures. Occasionally she will remove her 

 eggs if the nesting 1 site has been disturbed, and the egg is said to be carried 

 away in her capacious mouth; but this is not a regular habit by any means. 

 The callow young, however, are more frequently carried to a safe locality if too 

 often disturbed. The eggs of the Whip-poor-will are large for the size of the 

 bird, and elliptical oval in shape; the shell is rather frail, close-grained, and 

 somewhat variable in the amount of luster present; some are rather glossy, 

 while others show little or no gloss. 



The ground color of these eggs is usually pure white; occasionally a faint 

 cream tint is perceptible, and the markings consist of blotches, spots, and 

 tracings of different shades of brown, tawny and lighter tints of ecru drab, 

 lavender, lilac, and pearl gray. In most specimens the markings are profuse; 

 in some the darker, but in the majority the lighter tints predominate, and an 

 occasional egg is almost unspotted. On the whole, they are not nearly as 



