106 



THE OOLOGIST 



bird. Finally, one late May day, while 

 hunting for nests of Kentucky warb- 

 ler, I chanced to visit a leafy flat that 

 lay in a wooded ravine. Never a 

 thought of the whippoorwill entered 

 my mind, but what should flop up in 

 front of me but this very elusive bird. 

 And there in a little shallow depres- 

 sion lay two white eggs that rolled 

 about slightly as the mother hurried- 

 ly left them. These specimens were 

 soon carefully packed away in the col- 

 lecting box, and I went happily tramp- 

 ing home to prepare and place them 

 in the tray where the pin-hole speci- 

 mens had been so long. 



However, the eggs were much incu- 

 bated and difficult to save. After 

 hours of tedious manipulation of the 

 tools the contents were removed and 

 the set placed away to dry. 



Several seasons later, while two 

 chums and I were out on a wooded 

 hill a half mile from our house, we 

 scared a whippoorwill from its resting 

 place on an old decaying log. The 

 time was early April and our enthu- 

 siasm for nests and eggs was pitched 

 to a soaring height. As the season ad- 

 vanced we frequently heard these 

 birds calling from the woods nearby. 

 One evening we walked at dusk on a 

 country road that led along a lofty 

 ridge to the north. A whippoorwill's 

 notes came softly from a small quad- 

 rangular strip of timber on a low ridge 

 to the west. We discussed the incid- 

 ent and agreed that there must be a 

 nest of the bird in that vicinity. 



Therefore, on May 20, we set forth 

 to make an extensive search for the 

 eggs. Much of this wood was grown 

 up in low saplings and second growth 

 oaks among which were strewn an 

 abundance of weeds and may-apple 

 stalks. Here and there lay flat 

 stretches of leaf-covered areas. Sev- 

 eral such places were examined with 

 out result, but upon searching over 



one of the leafy spaces that lay at the 

 northeast corner of the tract we came 

 very close to a darkish body which 

 fluttered and tumbled away at our ap- 

 proach. And there lay a single white 

 egg of the whippoorwill. 



Three days following this discovery 

 we came again to see what the bird 

 had added to her housekeeping equip- 

 ment. She sat close as we entered 

 the thicket, and only when I had come 

 within about three yards of her did 

 she flop away from her eggs. These 

 specimens were lightly marked with 

 shades of reddish-brown and lavender. 

 One had on it a dark spot which was 

 quite conspicuous in contrast to the 

 several lighter markings. These eggs 

 were neatly blown and added to the 

 little series. 



May 22, 1914, I was in the country 

 with two boys, who often accom- 

 panied me on nature-study trips, and 

 was making a special effort to dis- 

 cover the nest of a pair of golden- 

 winged warblers which frequently 

 sang nearby. We had reached the 

 border of an extensive mixed woods 

 which grew on the point of a ridge. 

 While I beat in the weeds with a stick 

 the boys grew tired and went up into 

 the woods, and in hunting over the 

 forest floor of them flushed a whip- 

 poorwill from a small open space that 

 was well surrounded by underbrush. 

 "Here's the kind you're looking for" 

 yelled he, and I hurried to the place 

 to find two creamy eggs which lay in 

 a slight depression in the compact 

 floor of leaves. These specimens were 

 larger than those of the preceding 

 clutches and were more typical of the 

 species, being well sprinkled with 

 shades of lavender. 



Thus I collected my last set of whip- 

 poorwill's eggs. 



SOME QUEER THINGS 



It is sometime since I have written 



