148 LIFE HISTOEIBS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRT3S. 



beginning of dusk, and throughout the early part of the night, sometimes for 

 minutes at a time, without any perceptible intermission, and one can then easily 

 decoy these birds by imitating this call. 



They are said to sing also occasionally during the day, but I never heard 

 one at such a time, even during cloudy weather. As the breeding season 

 advances they become more and more silent, but they sometimes sing as late 

 as September, never with the vim and persistency, however, as on their first 

 arrival, when frequently half a dozen or more of these birds may be heard at 

 the same time, forming a perfect chorus, their notes blending so completeh' 

 into each other that they sound like a continuous "whipper-whipper-whipper," 

 the last syllable being entirely lost in the medley of noise produced; still such 

 vocal concerts are not especially unpleasant to the ear, and rather lull the 

 listener into a sound sleep. 



About dusk the Whip-poor-will emerges from its hiding place in some 

 neighboring thicket and goes hawking for its evening meal. A considerable 

 portion of its food is picked up from the ground, especialh' on well-traveled 

 roads, uu which it frequently indulges in a dust bath to rid its bodA' of vermin. 

 It will visit some favorite spots regularly, and slightly sandy rijads are preferred 

 t( ) heavier soil. Its movements on the ground are rather a^^'kward, its feet being 

 weak and short; but few of our birds are more graceful on the wing than the 

 Whip-poor-will. I have seen one touch the back of its A^'ings together as it 

 swept by me, arrest its noiseless flight instantly, drop to the ground almost 

 perpendicularly, pick up some insect, and dash away as suddenly as it halted. 

 At such times it occasionally utters a low, purring or grunting noise like 

 "dack-diick," and another sounding like " zue-see, zue-see," which can not be 

 heard unless oiie is close by. 



While on a collecting trip in Herkimer County, New York, with Dr. 

 WilHam L. Ralph, in June, 1893, I witnessed a most amusing performance, 

 Avhicli one may see perhaps once in a lifetime. I happened to be in -a little out- 

 building, some 20 feet in the rear of the house at which we were stopping, early 

 on the eA-ening of tlie 24th, about half an hour after sundown, Avlien I heard a 

 peculiar, low, clucking noise outside, which was directly followed by the familiar 

 call of "whip-poor-will." A pair of these birds paid us regular visits from the 

 neighboring forest, often perching on the roof of the house, on the garden fence, 

 on the liml)s of a crab^ apple tree near by, or occasionally alighting on the sandy 

 road passing in front of the house, where they would allow themselves to be 

 closel}- approached before taking wing, and treated us to a nightly concert. 

 Directly alongside of the small outbuilding previously referred to, a ban-el of 

 sand and lime hiul been spilled, and from the numerous tracks of these birds, 

 made by them nightly afterwards, it was evident that this spot Avas visited 

 regularl)', and Avas the trysting place of at least one pair. Looking through 

 a small nperture, I saw one of the birds waddling about in a verA' excited 

 manner over the sand-covered space, which was perhaps 2 by 3 feet square, 

 and it was so much interested in its own performance that it did not notice me, 



