THE GOIiltECTORS' pJITHIiY. 



Devoted to Ornithology, Oology and Natural History. 



Whip-poor-will. 



( A tit; os torn its I \ uifcrus. ) 



The Whip-poor-will belongs to the order 

 Macrochires, Family Capriniulgidae, genus 

 Antrostomus. The Whip-poor-will arrives 

 from the sunny South, where he spends the 

 greater portion of his time, about the first 

 week in April. I have however seen him as 

 early as March 31st, they remain with us 

 until the first part of September; the latest I 

 ever saw them or heard their familiar notes 

 was Oct. 1st. Family duties do not begin as 

 soon as they arrive as is the case with some 

 of our feathered friends, but they prefer to 

 wait until the cold mother earth is once 

 thoroughly warmed before they enter into 

 the duties of life. Fresh eggs may be taken 

 in this latitude about May 5th to June 15th. 

 The nest if such it may be called is simply a 

 depression between two or more leaves, I 

 have often read of them laying upon a broad 

 leaf, but I have examined five nests and as 

 yet I have my first to find which was laid on 

 a broad leaf. The eggs are generally two in 

 number, sometimes only one.Fliptical with a 

 ground color of white, they are very hand- 

 somely marked with large and small spots of 

 yellowish brown distributed abundantly over 

 the entire surface ; deep shell markings are 

 very prevalent and are of a lilac gray or 

 avender tints. They average about ! : 12x85. 



The Whip-poor-will is seldom seen, thus 

 making the villiage or city Orinotholigist 

 and Oologist believe him to be a very rare 

 bird in his locality, but let the city egg crank 

 as we are called spend a night or two in the 

 wooded district about the first of May to the 

 last of August and on moonlight nights 



especially will he think they are certainly- 

 very common. They frequent upland woods 

 where the timber has grown up very thick 

 and where are occasional old decayed logs. 

 I have very often met persons who could 

 not distinguish the Whip-poor-will from his 

 near relation the Night Hawk. One remark- 

 able difference is in the Night Hawk the 

 tarsus is not covered with feathers, while 

 that of the Whip-poor-will is feathered all 

 the way down to the ankle joint, and again 

 the bill of the Whip-poor-will is said I 

 nearly as bluntly again as that of the Night 

 Hawk. I cannot say practically as I never 

 compared the two together. The Night 

 Hawk may be easily identified by the V 

 shaped white patch on the breast and also 

 by the white spot on each wing which are 

 very conspicious when seen flying. The 

 tail of the Whip-poor-will is rounded, while 

 that of the Night Hawk is slightly forked. 

 The Night Hawk also inhabits the Prairie 

 districts while the Whip-poor-will is seldom 

 seen far from wooded districts. I trust the 

 above may be of interest to at least a few of 

 the readers of this valuable little paper the 

 Collectors' Monthly. Although the Monthly 

 is in its infancy its Fditor is desirous of 

 making it a first class journal and let us all 

 help to make it as interesting as any of the 

 more advanced journals whenever we can, 

 by the frequent use of the pen. 

 Yours Oologically, 



C. B. Vandyo 

 Marion Co., Ills. 



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