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The Whip-poor-will 
batch into caterpillars and destroy the leaves of shade and fruit-trees. I 
May-beetles and leaf-eating beetles are destroyed by it also. In truth, , 
fortunate, indeed, is the grower of grain, or the raiser of fruit who, i 
during the spring and summer nights, has one or more pairs of these 1 
birds about his place, for all during the hours when the farmer sleeps i 
the Whip-poor-will is busy ridding his place of these harmful insects. 
Mr. Ingersoll says: “They never regularly sweep through the upper ’ 
air as does the Nighthawk, but seek their food near the ground by leap- ; 
ing after it in short, erratic flights. They have a way of balancing them- 
selves near a tree-trunk or barn-wall, picking ants and other small prov- ! 
ender off the bark ; and even hunt for worms and beetles on the ground, 
turning over the leaves to root them out. It is not until their first hunger 
has been assuaged that one hears that long, steady 
Insect Catching chanting for which the bird is distinguished, and ^ 
which, as a sustained effort, is perhaps unequalled 
elsewhere. . . . It is an ordinary feat for him to ‘whip-poor-will’ with 
two or three hundred strokes in unbroken succession.” 
In the early autumn, the Whip-poor-wills simply disappear without , 
warning. As they reappear far to the south, we know, of course, that | 
they have migrated, but when did they go and how? Did they journey 
over the hundreds of miles of intervening space by short flights, or did 
they mount high in air, as do many small birds, and fly swiftly for long 
hours at a time ? Did they go singly or in flocks ? These and other ques- ■ 
tions about this mysterious bird of the night remain to be answered fully. 
Perhaps some young reader of this paper will grow up to be a naturalist I 
who will explain these things' more fully to the less observant students of i 
birds. 
No one should ever kill one of these useful birds. Its great value 
to mankind has become generally recognized in recent years, and the laws 
of all States where the bird is found provide that anyone who kills a 
Whip-poor-will shall be fined or imprisoned. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Whip-poor-will belongs to the Order Macrochires and Family Capri 
mulgidae; and its scientific name is Antrostomus vociferus vociferus. It ranges 
through eastern North America, breeding from the St. Lawrence Valley and Nova 
Scotia south to northern Georgia and Louisiana, as far west as the border of the 
Plains; it winters from the South Atlantic and Gulf Coast to British Honduras. 
The only other subspecies is macromystox, of Mexico and the adjacent border of 
the United States. 
t'his and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 6 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New' York City. Lists given on request. 
