The Poorwills 



Taken in the hand, one sees what a quiet, inoffensive fay the Poor-will 

 is, all feathers and itself a mere featherweight. The silken sheen and 

 delicate tracery of the frost-work upon the plumage it were hopeless to 

 describe. It is as though some fairy snowball had struck the bird full 

 on the forehead, and from thence gone shivering, with ever lessening 

 traces, all over the upperparts. Or, perhaps, to allow another fancy, the 

 dust of the innumerable moth-millers, with which the bird is always 

 wrestling, gets powdered over its garments. The large bristles which 

 line the upper mandible, and which increase the catching capacity of the 

 extensive gape by half, are seen to be really modified feathers, and not 

 hairs, as might be supposed, for in younger specimens they are protected 

 by little horny basal sheaths. With this equipment, and wings, our 

 gentle hero easily becomes the envy of mere human entomologists. 





35*^ **& ..'■* V* 1* ^ »"^w 3 



Taken in the Ojai 



EGGS OF DUSKY POORWILL, IN SITU 



Photo by Donald R, Dickey 



w 5 8 



