ANTR0STOMUS NUTTALLI, NUTTALL'S WHIPPOORWILL. 



261 



ANTEOSTOMUS NUTTALLI, (Aud.) Oass. 



Ifuttall's Whippoorwill. 



Caprimulgus nuttalli, Aud., Orn. Biog. v, 1830, 335 ; B. Am. vii, 1844, 350, pi. 495 (Upper 



Missouri). — Woodh., Sitgr. Eep. 1853, 63 (Arizona). 

 Antrostomus nuttalli, Cass., Jduru^ Phila. Acad, ii, 1852, 193; 111. i, 1855, 937.— Brew., 



N. Am. 061. i, 1857, 86.— Newb., P. E. E. Eep. vi, 1857, 77.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 



149.— IvBNN., P. E. E. Eep. x, 1859, pt. iv, 23.— HEERM.,i6id, pt. vi, 35.— Coop. 



& Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 166.— Hayd., Rep. 1862, 157.— CouKh, Ibis, 



1865, 158 (Kansas).— Dress., Ibis, 1865, 470 (Texas).— CouES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 



1866, 58 (Arizona).— SCL., P. Z. S. 1866, 137.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 340.— 

 Allen, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 179 (Kansas, Colorado, and Utah).— Snow, B. 

 Kans. 1873, 3.— Merr., U. S. Geol. Surv. 1879. 692 (Utah).— Aiken, Pr. Bost. 

 Soc. XV, 1872, 206 (Wvoming).— CouES, Key, 1872, 181.— CouES, Am. Nat. vii, 

 1873, 325 (eggs).— B. JB. & K., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 417, pi. 46, f. 3. 



Hal). — United States, west of the Mississippi. Mexico {Salein). 



List of speoimena. 



Lieutenant JFan-en's ^xpediiio?^— 8876, Black Hills; 5200, Yellowstone River. 

 Later Expeditions. — 61734-5, Ogden, Utah. 



In the Conspectus, at page 61, Bonaparte makes an Antrostomus californianus, with 

 which, he says, A. nuttalli should he compared. The latter being the only Californiau 

 species, we might suppose the two to be the same. Such, however, is not the case ; the 

 description indicates a bird belonging to the second of Dr. Sclater's two sections of the 

 genus, namely, that one in which there is a white wing-spot ; and the bird seems re- 

 lated to A. nigrescens of South America, the assigned locality being most probably erro- 

 neous. Dr. Selater appears to have overlooked the name in his synonymy of the 

 American Oaprimulgidw. 



Niittall's Whippoorwill was discovered by Audubon, on the Upper 

 Missouri, thirty years ago; but it is only recently that much material 

 has come into the possession of naturalists. The bird is, nevertheless, 

 very abundant in most parts of the West, where it is the characteristic, 

 in fact the only, species of the genus. Audubon gave a pleasant ac- 

 count of its discovery, but nothing specially to the point respecting its 

 biography, excepting the fact that its note differs from that of the 

 eastern species in omitting one syllable. He rendered it by the word 

 "oli'-will," which is perfectly expressive, though we now generally write 

 "poor' -will." This cry is very lugubrious, and in places where the birds 

 are numerous the wailing chorus is enough to excite vague apprehen- 

 sions on the part of the lonely traveler, as he lies down to rest by his 

 camp-fire, or to break his sleep with fitful dreams, in which lost spirits 

 appear to bemoan their fate and implore his intercession. It is not 

 strange that a heated fancy should riot in the circumstances of desola- 

 tion and imminent peril under which the emigrant or the explorer must 

 often be placed in the western wilderness. Experience ^comes vividly 

 to mind as I write, of night after night, when I have gradually lost con- 

 sciousness with a mind peopled with all manner of wierd images. Clos- 

 ing my eys to the stars in the broad expanse above, my only coverlet, 

 and to the ruddy gleam from the embers of the camp fire, with a thought 

 of home and perhaps a silent aspiration, it might be long before the 

 sense of hearing, unnaturally strained, would desert its post. The mo- 

 notonous tread of the sentinel would fall heavilj^on the ear; the horses 

 would seem 1o champ as never before; the bands of vagrant coyot6s 

 would howl with redoubled energy, and all the while the Poor-wills 

 shouted their alarm. Sleep, in ai)prehension, if not really expectation 



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