Nesting of the Whip-poor- Will. 
BY WM. L. KELLS, ONTARIO, CANADA. 
rne attern °on of May 19th, 1886, nr 
a nd myself took a nest-hunting ramble ii 
Wild woods to the north-west of Listowel 
wmd had been very high in the earlier pa 
the day, and it was not until after 2, n 
hat we concluded to start for the forest; 
fter about an we found ourselves 
pioaching the region of our destination, 
” h ’ hard ~wood timbered land, some dish 
on the west of Wild Wood. For some time 
'LOGIST. 
113 
Thp f l6d t0 1,0 discovery worthy of note. 
fhe trees were putting forth the emerald foli- 
a ge of summer; the woodland birds were in 
u song and on every side their appearance 
sT/htTnS f aVe a Chaim t0 ^e senses of 
sight and sound. 
Approaching a place where the underwood 
was low and thick, we heard the delightful 
song notes of the Wood Thrush (. Hylocichla 
fr om its deep shade, and on pie! 
trating this its nest was soon discovered, placed 
hi the fork of a small maple, with the female 
bi d f a ‘ ed thereon. This contained four e-gs 
which showed that incubation had been several 
, ys in progress. Soon the notes of a Rose- 
breasted Grosbeak fell upon my ear, and I di- 
rected my son to look for its nest. In a few 
moments he called out that he had found it 
b0,n f t0 the s Pot, however, I found that it was 
not the nest of a Grosbeak that he had discov- 
ered but that of a Hermit Thrush, ( Hylocichla 
umlascvpaUasi). This was placed on some 
dry sticks near the ground, but among low 
ushes, where it was pretty well hid by the 
newly formed leaves, and though its set of 
eggs was but three, I found that they had been 
several days incubated. A few yards from this 
the nest of the Grosbeak was discovered in a 
small underwood, about eight feet from the 
giound, and containing four beautiful e»'»'s 
Having secured these, 1 directed my son to Jii- 
cle around the western edge of the thicket, 
hile I took the other side, intending to meet 
c/relTn e m° Uthern lnargin - We had nearly 
clod the thicket and were but a few rods dis- 
tant from each other, when I was startled by 
the glimpse of a Whip-poor-will (Caprirnulgus 
vociferus), rising almost at my feet, and after a 
shoit, fluttering flight it alighted on an old loo- 
near where my son was. On being again 
flushed she disappeared into the thick under- 
woo . I gave a shout of exultation, for on 
gazing at the spot where the bird arose I dis- 
covered two beautiful eggs; the first of this 
I r C ' e l that 1 had ever s<?en in a state of nature. 
-t here had been no attempt at nest making on 
he part of the bird; the eggs were laid on a 
few dry leaves that lay flat on the earth, as 
they had fallen from the trees the autumn be- 
fore and had been pressed down by the winter's 
snow. Hear by were several small underwood, 
whose green leaves cast an agreeable shade ov- 
er the nesting spot, while high overhead the 
branches and foliage of some monarch of the 
wood swayed and fluttered in the breeze. 
. lb f se e £& s are about one and a quarter of an 
inch in length, by eighty-eight hundreths of an 
IVr 
