WHIP-POOR-WILL. 
175 
The female is about an inch less in length and in extent ; 
the bill, mustaches, nostrils, &c. as in the male. She differs 
in being much lighter on the upper parts, seeming as if 
powdered with grains of meal ; and, instead of the white on 
the three lateral tail-feathers, has them tipt for about three 
quarters of an inch with a cream colour ; the bar across the 
throat is also of a brownish ochre ; the cheeks and region of 
the eyes are brighter brownish orange, which passes also to 
the neck, and is sprinkled with black and specks of white; 
the streak over the eye is also lighter. 
The young was altogether covered with fine down, of a 
pale brown colour ; the shafts, or rather sheaths, of the quills, 
bluish ; the point of the bill, just perceptible. 
Twenty species of this singular genus are now known to 
naturalists ; of these one only belongs to Europe, one to 
Africa, one to New Holland, two to India, and fifteen to 
America. 
The present species, though it approaches nearer in its 
plumage to that of Europe than any other of the tribe, differs 
from it in being entirely without the large spot of white on 
the wing ; and in being considerably less. Its voice, and 
particular call, are also entirely different. 
Farther to illustrate the history of this bird, the following 
notes are added, made at the time of dissection : — Body, when 
stript of the skin, less than that of the Wood Thrush ; breast- 
bone, one inch in length ; second stomach, strongly muscular, 
filled with fragments of pismires and grasshoppers ; skin of 
the bird, loose, wrinkly, and scarcely attached to the flesh ; 
flesh, also loose, extremely tender ; bones, thin and slender ; 
sinews and muscles of the wing, feeble ; distance between the 
tips of both mandibles, when expanded, full two inches, length 
of the opening, one inch and a half, breadth, one inch and a 
quarter ; tongue, very short, attached to the skin of the mouth, 
its internal parts, or os hyoides , pass up the hind head, and 
reach to the front, like those of the Woodpecker ; which 
enable the bird to revert the lower part of the mouth in the 
