NIGHTHAWKS, ETC.: STEPHENS WHIP-POOR-WILL 339 
Additional Literature.—Brewster, William, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 
Harvard College, LXVI, 378-384, 1925.— Ray, M. S., Condor, XVI, 65-67, 1914.— 
Taverner, P. A., and B. H. Swales, Auk, XXVIII, 329-334, 1911. 
GOATSUCKERS, etc.: Order Caprimulgiformes 
WHIP-POOR-WILLS, NIGHTHAWKS, POOR-WILLS, etc.: Family Capri- 
mulgidae 
The goatsuckers are highly specialized for catching aerial insects, 
their heads serving as fly traps, being broad and flattened, with no 
appreciable neck, the horny part of the bill minute, the gape enormous, 
beset with long bristles that prevent the escape of the insects. Their 
wings are long and pointed, and as they are more or less nocturnal, 
they resemble the owls in having large eyes and ears, and soft, lax 
plumage which gives them noiseless flight. Their legs are short, and 
their feet, used only in crouching on a branch or the ground, are very 
small. As they have no nest-building tools, their eggs are laid on the 
ground. 
WHIP-POOR-WILLS AND POOR-WILLS: Subfamily Caprimulginae 
STEPHENS WHIP-POOR-WILL: Antrostomus vociferus arizonae Brewster 
Description. — Length: 9.6-10.2 inches, wing 6.3-6.6, tail 4-5.4, longer rictal 
bristles about 1.4-1. 8 . Adult male: Throat blackish , bordered by tawny band; rest of 
underparts mixed tawny and black; upperparts mottled grayish or brownish, streaked, 
spotted, and barred with blackish; three outer tail feathers while for less than terminal 
third; wings much marked with reddish brown. Adult female: Similar, but outer tail 
feathers tipped with buffy or pale clay-color. Young male: Similar to adult male but 
top of head spotted instead of streaked with black, throat band indistinct, wing 
coverts and scapulars broadly barred with dusky, and irregularly marked with black; 
underparts barred with dusky on a brownish buffy ground. Young female: Similar 
to young male but outer tail feathers tipped with brownish buff instead of white. 
Range. —Mountains of southern Arizona, New Mexico, and southwestern Texas 
south to Jalisco and Durango. 
State Records. —From its winter home in Mexico, the Stephens Whip-poor-will 
comes north into southwestern New Mexico and is a rare breeder at Fort Bayard, 
6,000 feet (Wilson), Chloride, 6,000 feet (Ligon), and up the Mimbres to at least 
6,500 feet (Bailey). It was taken July 5-13, 1892, in the San Luis Mountains 
(Mearns), and one was heard at 6,800 feet in the Animas Mountains in early August, 
1908 (Goldman). It was taken May 21, 1892, on the Hachita Grande Mountains 
(Mearns); was heard May 18, 1913, in Monument Pass, Black Range, 8,000 feet; and 
was common June 7, ten miles to the westward at 7,200 feet. [A male was taken 
June 8, 1920, at the north end of the Black Range, ten miles northwest of Chloride at 
7,300 feet, and one was taken, August 14, 1920, 35 miles northwest of Pinos Altos on 
Turkey Creek at about 7,000 feet (Ligon).] 
Since it was found August 21, 1901, at 7,800 feet in the Guadalupe Mountains of 
Texas just south of the New Mexico line, it probably also occurs in these mountains 
on the New Mexico side. There is no reason for believing that the species ever 
winters in New Mexico, but it probably returns to the State in late April or early 
May. [A remarkably early date for its appearance has been recorded by A. P. 
