236 
There is no other sound in the Canadian woods so poetically mournful 
as the reiterated call of the Whip-poor-will. The translation of bird 
notes into words usually requires a stretch of the imagination, but this 
bird says “Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will” with unusual distinctness. 
For a calling station it selects a perch on a fallen tree trunk, a bare branch, 
the roof of a building, or even a tent-pole. It returns to its various stations 
regularly on successive nights and seems to visit each in turn. Between 
periods of calling the bird hawks and wheels through the tree tops in 
large interlacing circles, sometimes swooping towards the ground in a long 
pendulum-like swing. In the daytime it seeks the ground in some quiet 
patch of underbrush where it passes the time at rest. When disturbed 
by an intruder it rises with a loose, poorly controlled flight that gives no 
indication of its wonderful command of the air at other times, flutters 
a short distance over the tangle, and drops again to earth. 
The Whip-poor-will is often regarded as identical with the Nighthawk. 
This is a not unnatural mistake when they are not seen side by side, as 
they are quite similar enough to be confused. 
Economic Status. The Whip-poor-will feeds largely upon night- 
flying beetles, especially May beetles or June bugs. 
418. Poor- will. PhalaenoptUus nuttaUi. L, 7-50. Above: a rich, dark, seal-brown, 
frosted over with a fine complicated pattern of silver-grey. Below: the same colours, but 
the breast predominantly dark; the flanks and abdomen finally barred with silver and 
predominantly light, the bars dying away on the breast. A triangular white patch occupies 
the throat. Tail rounded, under 3-50 inches, and the three outer feathers tipped with 
white thumbmarks. 
Distinctions. Much like a small, short-tailed Whip-poor-will, but far removed from 
that species in range. Likely to be confused only with the Nighthawk, the only other 
Goatsucker that is found in the same locality with it. Differs from that species in being 
smaller, having a shorter, round tail with outer feathers white tipped. The white throat 
patch does not reach the base of the bill, and there is no white spot in the outspread wing. 
The mouth is furnished with bristles, as in Figure 242. 
Field Marks. A woody-brown bird that is occasionally flushed just in front of the 
feet from the shade of a sage-brush or rock on the bare mountain benches, flops away over 
the open, and then drops suddenly. More often heard at night than seen by day. Its 
note, a soft, hollow-sounding, three-syllabled whistle resembling “Coofc — Wid-ow, many 
times repeated. Sometimes the first word is omitted, and when very close to an agitated 
bird, a number of little clucks may be heard as it sails noiselessly about the intruder. 
Nesting. Eggs deposited on the bare ground. 
Distribution. Central and western North America. In Canada, only in the valleys 
of southern interior British Columbia. 
SUBSPECIES. Of the three subspecies recognized in the Cheek-list only one, the 
Northern Poor-will PhalaenoptUus nuttaUi nuttaUi, is accredited to Canada. 
This soft, moth-like, nocturnal frequenter of the lower mountain 
benches and sage-covered flats of the warm, arid valleys, is the western 
representative of the eastern Whip-poor-will. Though it is a bird of the 
open rather than the forest, it is similar to the Whip-poor-will in general 
appearance and habit. The day is spent dozing in the sultry shade of 
some small bush or stone with its great eyes half shut, its mottled and 
frosted plumage blending into the background. In the cool of the evening 
it wakens, and all through the night, between sallies after insects, it reiterates 
its soft, far-carrying plaint from the small eminence of log, stump, or stone. 
The notes are much like those of the Whip-poor-will, but shorter. They 
are soothing and rich with mystery and probably to the majority of hearers 
their author remains unseen and unknown. An imitation of its call is not 
difficult, and will bring it close, and it can be lured for long distances 
