BIRD BA'NDING 
155 
curved inward among the more or less exposed roots of a large 
white pine {Pinus strobus), its terminus where the birds rested 
being about twenty inches below the surface of the soil. 
On digging down to the nest the six blinking, frowsy-headed 
youngsters, three males, and three females, all fully feathered, 
were exposed to the light. Contrary to what I had been led to 
expect from previous reading the nest was not a foul, ill-smelling 
place. There were no signs of dead fish or fish bones and only 
a very little excrement was found. The young birds were temp- 
orarily removed from their cool dark nest, admired, banded and 
photographed, during which latter process they posed as quietly 
and accommodatingly as the most exacting photographer could have 
desired. They showed no tendency to walk backward, a curious 
habit mentioned by some writers. 
A few days previous to this experience, while on a field trip 
with my class, we had seen one of the parent birds, which was 
carrying a fish, alight in a tree near by. The bird probably be- 
coming excited at the presence of about twenty observers dropped 
the fish and flew away. Upon examination this fish proved to be 
a brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) . 
Whippoorwill. Antrostomus v. vociferus (Wils.). The whip- 
poorwill is a common bird of the region and during the height 
of the breeding season may be heard calling vociferously on all 
sides during the early evening and morning. On a number of 
occasions I have made counts of consecutive calls given by a 
single bird and these results only tend . to increase our wonder 
at the remarkable vocal ability of their possessors. One count 
gave 294 consecutive calls with but three very short intervals ; 
another count gave 396 calls with three very brief intervals dur- 
ing their utterance and another gave 446 calls with five brief 
intervals. The average number of consecutive calls diminished 
proportionately as the season advanced. 
On July 13 a “nest” — simply a concavity on the dead leaves 
among the aspens — containing two eggs was discovered, and a 
week later two downy young were found at a point about two 
feet from the place in which the eggs formerly reposed. Al- 
though the young birds were able to flutter along the ground 
they chose not to do this on our approach but simply squatted and 
remained quiet, apparently depending upon the simulation of their 
coloration with that of their surroundings for protection. Indeed, 
so effective was this simulation that we almost trod upon the 
birds several times before we found them. 
