THE WHIPPOORWILL. 
Caprimul/gus vocif/erus. 
PPER PARTS variegated with grey, black, whitish and 
tawny; prevailing tone, grey; black streaks on head and 
back; the colors elsewhere, delicately marbled. Wings 
and their coverts with bars of rufous spots. Lateral 
tail feathers, black, with white or tawny terminal spaces. White 
or tawny throat-bar. White specks continue around neck from 
throat-bar. Elastic bristles about the bill. Length, 9 to 10 
inches. Eastern United States and British Provinces. Migra- 
tory. No nest; two eggs, on log or stump; creamy white, heav- 
iiy marked with brown. Eggs and young sometimes removed ir 
the parent’s mouth. Habits, nocturnal. Perches, lengthwise. 
““When I was a little girl,’ said Miss Sweet, “I 
lived in a country village. Back of our house were 
some cultivated fields, and beyond those the woods. 
Every night, as soon as it began to be dark, I would 
listen for the Whippoorwill, and, as soon as he began 
to call, my mother would say ‘Come, now, the Whip- 
poorwill is calling his babies. Probably he wants to 
put them to bed before he begins his night work.’ 
‘Does he whip them?’ I would ask. She always said 
she didn’t know, but she told me many things about 
the bird, so my thoughts of him are always associated 
with bed-time stories. Although I have heard and 
known his voice ever since I can remember, I never saw 
one outside of a museum.” 
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