LIST AND DESCRIPTION 97 



FAMILY CAPRIMULGID^. GOATSUCKERS 



Five species of Goatsuckers — two Whippoorwills and 

 three Nighthawks — are summer residents of South Dakota. 



The Goatsuckers are birds of the morning and evening, 

 between day birds and night flying Owls. By day they are 

 perched on fence posts, limbs of trees or on the ground, and they 

 are so nearly like their surroundmgs that, but for their form, 

 the eye could scarcely detect them. At evening these birds 

 mount on wing and may be seen circling and wheeling high in the 

 air, where they gather flying insects and moths into their large, 

 bristle rimmed mouths. Their two white eggs are always laid 

 upon the ground or upon leaves. 



417. Whippoorwill (Antrostomus vociferus vociferus.) 



This bird resembles the Nighthawks but is slightly 

 smaller, and gray predominates on the upper parts rather than 

 the mixed colors. 



A bird of the woods, where moths in abundance fly at 

 night. In the day it perches lengthwise upon a limb or beside 

 a stump, and its protective coloration is almost perfect. 



Its call, a repeated "whip-poor-will," has been heard from 

 the woods along the Missouri River and as far north as Brook- 

 ings. 



418. PooRWiLL (Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nuttalli.) 



A summer resident west of the Missouri River. Smaller 

 than the Whippoorwill and with more rufous plumage, the gen- 

 eral appearance being lighter. It always rests on the ground 

 during the day. 



420. NiGHTHAWK (Chordeiles virginianus virginianus.) 



The range of this Nighthawk is east of South Dakota, but 

 it is frequently seen in the eastern half of the State. 



About ten inches in length, and the darkest of all the Goat- 

 sucker family. Above, black with white and buff mixed; uhder 

 parts black, barred with white. Throat white in the male and 

 rusty in the female. 



Just as the Whippoorwill is a bird of the woods, the 

 Nighthawk is a bird of the prairies. 



