192 LAND BIRDS 



418b. DUSKY POORWILL, OR CALIFORNIA POOR- 

 WILL. — PhaUenoptilus nuttalli califomicus. 



Family : The Goatsuckers. 



Length: 7.00-8.00. 



Adult Male : Upper parts blackish or dark brown, with a velvety moth- 

 like surface, barred with finely mottled grayish brown and distinct 

 black arrow-shaped markings ; middle of crown black ; tail-feathers, 

 except the middle ones, tipped with white ; sides of head and chin 

 black ; white throat-patch bordered with black ; under-tail coverts 

 bufify ; rest of under parts barred. 



Adult Female : Like male, but tail-feathers tipped with a narrower band 

 of white. 



Yowng : Upper parts grayish, finely mixed with brown ; markings less 

 distinct. 



Geographical Distribution : From the foot-hill regions west of the Sierra 

 Nevada to the coast and south to Lower California. 



California Sreedwig Range : Latitude of Upper Sonora, west of the 

 Sierra Nevada. 



Breeding Season : May. 



Nest : No nest, eggs being laid on the ground. 



Fggs : 2 ; glossy whitej with a faint pinkish tint. Size 1.00 X 0.76. 



Throughout the coast region of California I believe 

 the Dusky Poorwill is a rather common summer visitant, 

 if not a summer resident. It is a haunter of canons and 

 deep woody places, never of the open. I found the eggs 

 of a bird of this species on the bare ground at the foot of 

 a tree in Marin County. The mother was brooding ; she 

 flushed from literally under my feet, brushing me as 

 she took flight and hid in the deep wood, and I found 

 the eggs scarcely a foot from where I was standing. 

 Marking the tree and leaving for several hours, I re- 

 turned to find her on the eggs again, and this time 

 watched her through my glass, not going nearer than 

 fifteen feet. So far as I could judge in that way, she 



