﻿ON A NESTING SPECIMEN OF CAPRIMULGUS GRISEATUS 



WALDEN. 



By Dean C. Worcester. 

 {From the office of the Secretary of the Interior.) 



On May 29, 1907, as I was riding over a piece of stony ground sparsely 

 covered with vegetation, my horse stepped within six inches of a goat- 

 sucker (Caprimulgus griseatits Wald.) which was sitting on two eggs. 

 The bird fluttered a scant two feet from her nest and lay quiet on the 

 ground with her wings fully extended. After riding on for a short 

 distance, I dismounted and returned to the nest. The bird allowed 

 me to approach within five or six feet of her, and then attempted to toll 

 me away by fluttering along the ground. After I had followed her for 

 some distance she began to make short flights, doubling so quickly as 

 she alighted that the eye could hardly follow her. Her color blended 

 perfectly with the sand, gravel and stones about her so that in several 

 instances, having looked away from her, I was quite unable to see her 

 again until I walked up near enough to flush her. 



On the following day I returned with a camera and took the photo- 

 graphs here reproduced. 



The first (PI. I, fig. 1) was taken at a distance of approximately ten 

 feet; the second (PL I, fig. 2) at about five feet; the third (PI. II, 

 fig. 1) at thirty inches. 



The bird at first was asleep, but while the camera was being set up 

 for the third photograph with the lens close to her, she occasionally 

 opened her eyes and was evidently depending upon her color to protect 

 her. 



Having secured the three photographs above mentioned, I endeavored 

 to take a fourth from above, with the tripod directly over the nest. I 

 succeeded in focusing without disturbing the bird; but the sunlight was 

 intense and the flirting of the black cloth with which I was protecting 

 the plateholder as I was about to insert the latter in the camera, caused 

 her to take flight. 



As on the previous day, she flew but a few feet at a time, at first alight- 

 ing with wings outstretched and resting on the ground. As I followed 

 her away from the nest, she increased the length of her flights, and 

 again began to alight with a very swift doubling movement which ren- 

 dered it most difficult for the eye to follow her. 



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