THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. 151 



handsome eggs as those of Chuck-will's-widow, and they are generally much 

 lighter colored. 



The average measurement of thirty-three specimens in the United States 

 National Museum collection is 29.13 by 21.29 millimetres, or about 1.15 by 0.84 

 inches. The largest egg of the series measures 30.48 by 22.86 millimetres, or 

 1.20 by 0.90 inches; the smallest, 27.68 by 20.57 millimetres, or 1.09 by 0.81 

 inches. 



The type specimen, No. 18256 (PI. 1, Fig. 10), from a set of two, was 

 taken by Mr. Robert Ridgway, near Wheatland, Indiana, in May, 1888, and 

 represents one of the better-marked eggs of this species; No. 20450 (PL 1, 

 Fig. 11), from the Bendire collection, also from a set of two, was taken on 

 June 9, 1887, at Owings Mills, Baltimore County, Maryland, and shows one of 

 the lighter-marked specimens. 



53. Antrostomus vociferus macromystax (Wagler). 



STEPHENS'S WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



Caprimulgus macromystax Wagler, Ibis, 1831, 533. 

 Caprimulgus vociferus macromystax Hartert, Ibis, 1892, 286. 

 (B — , G — , E — , C 881, IT 417«.) 



Geographical range : From Guatemala, Central America, north over the Mexican 

 table-lauds to southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona. 



Stephens's Whip-poor-will, a somewhat larger subspecies than its eastern 

 relative, was first described by Mr. William Brewster, in the "Bulletin of the 

 Nuttall Ornithological Club" (Vol. VI, 1881, pp. 69-72), from a specimen 

 obtained by Mr. F. Stephens, who first met with it in the Chiricahua Mountains, 

 Arizona, on May 2, 1880. Subsequently he found it also in the Santa Rita 

 Mountains, in 1881, where it was, however, less numerous than in the former 

 range the year previous. In speaking of Stephens's Whip-poor-will, Mr. Brew- 

 ster says, on page 71: "In the Chiricahua Mountains it is apparently not 

 uncommon, to judge from the following* notes which accompanied my specimen: 

 T have heard several of these Whip-poor-wills singing at one time, and am 

 told that they were heard here last year. I hear P. nuttalli every evening. 

 The}' keep high up the mountain side, while this Whip-poor-will affects the 

 lower part of the canyons.' * * * 



"In a recent letter Mr. Stephens adds: 'I heard the first Whip-poor-will 

 about the middle of May. By June 1 they were as common as I ever knew 

 them to be in the East; sometimes I could hear three or four whistling at once; 

 they were very restless and rather shy, so I got only the specimen I sent you, 

 and a female shot in the daytime. The latter flew off her nest, which, as usual, 

 was only a very slig'ht depression in the ground, but in this case was overhung 

 by a rock. The single egg (now before me) is plain white, with very faint 

 brownish spots, so faint that one would hardly notice them. She would have 

 laid no more; this was on July 4, 1880.'" 



