OEDEE FiGAKlilj". PICAEIAN BIEDS. 

 SUBORDER (j 1 Jl b-hllji I Cypseliform Birds. 



Family OAPRIMULGIDiE : Goatsuckers. 



'''' ANTEOSTOMUS VOCIFEEUS, (WUs.) Bp. - <?-- '■" 



Whippoorwill ; Night-Jar. 



" Caprimulgua minor, Foest., Cat. An. N. A. 1771, 13." (Cass.) 



" Caprimulijus eurapceui, Barton, Frag. Nat. Hist. Pa. 1799, 14." {Cass.) 



" Caprimulgus virginianus, Linn. — Gm." — Vieill., Ois. Am. Sept. i, 1807, 55, pi. 23 (mixed 



with Chordeiles popetue). 

 " Caprinmlgus clamator, ViEiix., Nonv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. 1817, 324." 

 Caprimulgus vodferus, WiLS., Am. Oru. t, ISVi, 71, pi. 41, fig. 1, 2, 3.— Bp., Syn. 

 1828, 62.— Sw. & Rich., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 336.— Nutt., Man. i, 1832, 614.— AuD., 

 Orn. Biog. i, 1832, 443 ; v, 405 ; pi. 82 ; Syn. 1839, 32 ; B. Am. i, 1840, 155, pi. 42.— 

 GiR., B. L. I. 1844, 31.— PuTN., Pr. Ess. Inst. 1, 1856, 205.— Maxim., J. f. 0. vi, 

 1858, 98. — Trippb, Pr. Ess. Inst, vi, 1871, 114 (Minnesota, very abundant, May 

 to September). 

 Antrostomus vodferus, Bp., List, 1838, 8; Consp. i, 1850, 60.— Cass., Journ. Phila. Acad, 

 ii, lS52, 122 ; 111. 1855, 236.— Brewer, N. Am. Ool. i, 1857, 84.— Bd., B. N. A. 

 1858, 148.— SCL., P. Z. S. 1859, 367 ; Cat. 1862, 2S0 (Xalapa and La Parada).— 

 Salv., Ibis, ii, 1860, 275 (Guatemala).— Sce., P. Z. S. 1866, 137.— McIlwr., Pr. 

 Ess. Inst. V, 1866, 83 (Canada).— Axeen. Mem. Bost. Soe. i, 1868, 498, 506 (Iowa, 

 and Illinois, very abundant). — Allen, Ball. M. C. Z. ii, 1871, 300 (Florida, win- 

 tering) ; iii, 1872,129, 179 (Leavenworth, Kans.). — Trippe, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv, 

 1872, 232 (Iowa, abundant, breeding).— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 3.— CouES, Key, 

 1872, 180, fig. 116.— B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 413, pi. 46, f. 2. 

 Caprimulgus vodferans, Waeth., J. f. O. xvi, 1868, 369. 



Hai. — ^Eastern United States and British Provinces. North to about 50°. West to '; 

 the Plains. South through portions of Mexico to Guatemala. Breeds in most of its J 

 United States range. Winters from the Gulf coast southward. Apparently replaced jj 

 in the West Indies by the closely related species, if not var., A. cuianensis (Lawe., Ann. 

 Lye. vii, 1860, 2S0— vodferus of D'OrUgny, Lemhene, and G-undtach). //li-J 



Not obtained by the Expeditions. 



The Whippoorwill extends onlj- to the eastern border of the Missouri 

 region, being replaced further west by the following species. It is said 

 to be rare in Kansas (where I did not find it), but abundant in Iowa, 

 there breeding. But even in the Carolinas, where it is a common and 

 characteristic bird during the summer, I did not think it present in such 

 numbers as I found it along the Eed Eiver of the iN'orth, between Da- 

 kota and Minnesota. At Pembina, every night in June we were sere- 

 naded by a chorus of these strange voices, penetrating the darkness, it 

 seemed, from all points at once along the line of heavy timber that 

 skirted the river. 



The reproduction of this species is similar to that of the Night-hawk, 

 which was also breeding at the same time. It lays on the ground, in 

 the woods, constructing no proper nest, and depositing only two eggs. 

 These are elliptical, nearly or quite equal at both ends, about 1.25 long 

 by 0.85 wide, and are curiously scratched and mottled all over with 

 brown surface markings and paler purplish-gray shell colors upon a 

 whitish ground. The egg is quite variable in amount of intensity of 

 coloration, some specimens being heavily marbled, while others appear 

 as if faded or bleached, from indistinctness of the tracery. 



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