176 Birds Every Child Should Know 
whole body, for, like his cousin, the nighthawk, 
and his more distant relatives, the humming- 
bird and the swift, his feet are too small and 
weak for much perching. You never see him 
standing erect on a twig with his toes clasped 
around it, but always squatting when at rest. 
A narrow white band across his throat makes 
his depressed head look as if it had been sepa- 
rated from his body — a queer effect that may 
remind you of the Cheshire Cat in “Alice in 
Wonderland. ’ ’ The whip-poor-will’s three outer 
tail feathers have white ends which help to 
distinguish him from the nighthawk. He has 
a funny little short beak, but his large mouth 
stretches from ear to ear, and when he flies 
low above the fields after sunset, this trap is 
kept open, like the swift’s and the swallow’s, 
to catch any night-flying insects — ^mosquitoes, 
June bugs, gnats, katydids and little moths — 
that cross his path. Long, stiffened bristles 
at the ends of his mouth prevent the escape 
of a victim past the gaping trap. On the wing 
the bird is exceedingly swift and graceful. Some 
children mistake him for a bat or a night- 
hawk. 
Relying upon the protective covering of her 
soft plumage, the mother whip-poor-will builds 
no nest, but lays a pair of mottled eggs directly 
on the ground in the dark woods where a carpet 
of dead leaves and decayed wood makes con- 
