152 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTII AMERICAN BIRDS. 



In the same bulletin (Vol. VII, 1882, p. 212) Mr. Brewster describes this 

 egg as follows: "The egg is white, with a dull gloss. At first sight it appears 

 to be immaculate, but a closer inspection reveals a few faint blotches of the 

 palest possible purple, so faint, indeed, that they might pass for superficial stains 

 were it not for the fact that they underlie the external polish . The absence of 

 well-defined markings may probably lie explained by the assumption that the 

 bird had laid one or more clutches earlier in the season, thus exhausting her 

 supply of coloring pigment. The specimen measures 1.17 by 0.87 inches (or 

 29.72 by 22.10 millimetres)." 



Mr. F. Stephens, in his notes on this subspecies sent to me, says: "The 

 locality where I found the egg was a gulch near the summit of the Chiricahua 

 Mountains, in a thick forest of yellow pine. The nest, if it can be called so, 

 was a slight depression scratched in the ground, under the edge of a bowlder. 

 Incubation was advanced. I do not agree with Mr. Brewster (to whom I pre- 

 sented the egg) in thinking that it was a second brood. My opinion is that this 

 species is a late breeder, as it is also a late migrant," 



Dr. A. K. Fisher met with Stephens's Whip-poor-will during the month of 

 June, 1894, and has given me the following notes: "The Whip-poor-will's note 

 was not heard at Fort Bowie, Arizona, during the last three weeks of May, 1894. 

 When Ave made camp at the mouth of Rucker Canyon, some forty miles south of 

 the Post, in the Chiricahua Mountains, on the last day of the month, we heard a 

 few, and a couple of days later found the species abundant higher up in the 

 same canyon, among the pines (P. ponderosa). Here at early dusk and at dawn 

 their notes were heard almost continuously, and numbers of birds were seen. 

 On June 5 Mr. Fred. Hall Fowler found a nest, if the slight depression in the 

 ground can be so designated, on a steep side hill about 50 feet above the stream. 

 It was situated under an overhanging bush at the edge of a flat rock, and con- 

 tained two young, recently hatched, and the fragments of egg' shells from which 

 they had emerged. 



"At Fly Park (altitude about 10,000 feet) the species Avas A'ery much less 

 common, though a few Avere heard eA r ery night. While feeding they often alight 

 on a prominent rock or dead stub, from which they launch out after passing 

 insects and return to wait for other prey." 



Its call note, although resembling that of the common Whip-poor-will, 

 is said to be harsher and louder. Lieut, H. C. Benson, Fourth CaA T alry, United 

 States Army, also met with it near Fort Huachuca, and shot a female there on 

 May 18, 1887, which is iioav in the United States National Museum collection. 



Mr. W. W. Price writes me: "I distinctly heard the note of Stephens's 

 Whip-poor-will in the Graham Mountains, Arizona, at about 7,000 feet eleA 7 ation, 

 on July 19, 1894. I also haA r e good reasons to believe the testimony of a Goa^- 

 ernment packer, avIio says he has heard its cry in the White Mountains, north 

 of Fort Apache, in about latitude 34°." 



It appears to be pretty generally distributed throughout the higher moun- 

 tain ranges of southern Arizona, and undoubtedly bi'eeds Avherever found: its 



