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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79396 ***
+
+
+
+
+                 _Life Histories of North American
+                Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds,
+                         and Their Allies_
+
+                                _by_
+
+                      _Arthur Cleveland Bent_
+
+                           _in two parts_
+
+                              _PART I_
+
+                     _DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC._
+
+                             _NEW YORK_
+
+
+
+
+This Dover edition, first published in 1964, is an unabridged
+and unaltered republication of the work first published in 1940
+by the United States Government Printing Office, as Smithsonian
+Institution United States National Museum _Bulletin 176_.
+
+
+         _Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64–14301_
+
+            Manufactured in the United States of America
+
+                      Dover Publications, Inc.
+                          180 Varick Street
+                         New York 14, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+                           ADVERTISEMENT
+
+
+The scientific publications of the National Museum include two
+series, known, respectively, as _Proceedings_ and _Bulletin_.
+
+The _Proceedings_ series, begun in 1878, is intended primarily
+as a medium for the publication of original papers, based on the
+collections of the National Museum, that set forth newly acquired
+facts in biology, anthropology, and geology, with descriptions of
+new forms and revisions of limited groups. Copies of each paper,
+in pamphlet form, are distributed as published to libraries and
+scientific organizations and to specialists and others interested
+in the different subjects. The dates at which these separate papers
+are published are recorded in the table of contents of each of the
+volumes.
+
+The series of _Bulletins_, the first of which was issued in
+1875, contains separate publications comprising monographs of
+large zoological groups and other general systematic treatises
+(occasionally in several volumes), faunal works, reports of
+expeditions, catalogs of type specimens, special collections, and
+other material of similar nature. The majority of the volumes
+are octavo in size, but a quarto size has been adopted in a few
+instances in which large plates were regarded as indispensable.
+In the _Bulletin_ series appear volumes under the heading
+_Contributions from the United States National Herbarium_, in
+octavo form, published by the National Museum since 1902, which
+contain papers relating to the botanical collections of the Museum.
+
+The present work forms No. 176 of the _Bulletin_ series.
+
+                                   ALEXANDER WETMORE,
+                     _Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution_.
+
+WASHINGTON, D. C., _May 3, 1940_.
+
+
+
+                              CONTENTS
+
+                                                                Page
+    Order PSITTACIFORMES                                           1
+      Family Psittacidae: Parrots and parakeets                    1
+        Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis: Carolina parakeet    1
+          Habits                                                   1
+          Distribution                                            10
+        Conuropsis carolinensis ludovicianus: Louisiana parakeet  11
+          Habits                                                  11
+        Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha: Thick-billed parrot           14
+          Habits                                                  14
+          Distribution                                            18
+    Order CUCULIFORMES                                            19
+      Family Cuculidae: Cuckoos, roadrunners, and anis            19
+        Crotophaga ani: Smooth-billed ani                         19
+          Habits                                                  19
+          Distribution                                            25
+        Crotophaga sulcirostris sulcirostris: Groove-billed ani   26
+          Habits                                                  26
+          Distribution                                            34
+        Crotophaga sulcirostris pallidula: San Lucas ani          35
+          Habits                                                  35
+        Geococcyx californianus: Roadrunner                       36
+          Habits                                                  36
+          Distribution                                            50
+        Coccyzus minor maynardi: Maynard’s cuckoo                 51
+          Habits                                                  51
+          Distribution                                            53
+        Coccyzus americanus americanus: Yellow-billed cuckoo      54
+          Habits                                                  54
+          Distribution                                            64
+        Coccyzus americanus occidentalis: California cuckoo       67
+          Habits                                                  67
+        Coccyzus erythropthalmus: Black-billed cuckoo             70
+          Habits                                                  70
+          Distribution                                            81
+        Cuculus optatus optatus: Himalayan cuckoo                 84
+          Habits                                                  84
+          Distribution                                            90
+        Cuculus canorus bakeri: Khasia Hills cuckoo               91
+          Habits                                                  91
+          Distribution                                           105
+    Order TROGONIFORMES                                          106
+      Family Trogonidae: Trogons                                 106
+        Trogon ambiguus ambiguus: Coppery-tailed trogon          106
+          Habits                                                 106
+          Distribution                                           110
+    Order CORACIIFORMES                                          111
+      Family Alcedinidae: Kingfishers                            111
+        Megaceryle alcyon alcyon: Eastern belted kingfisher      111
+          Habits                                                 111
+          Distribution                                           126
+        Megaceryle alcyon caurina: Western belted kingfisher     129
+          Habits                                                 129
+        Megaceryle torquata torquata: Ringed kingfisher          130
+          Habits                                                 130
+          Distribution                                           139
+        Chloroceryle americana septentrionalis: Texas kingfisher 140
+          Habits                                                 140
+          Distribution                                           146
+    Order CAPRIMULGIFORMES                                       147
+      Family Caprimulgidae: Goatsuckers                          147
+        Antrostomus carolinensis: Chuck-will’s-widow             147
+          Habits                                                 147
+          Distribution                                           161
+        Antrostomus vociferus vociferus: Eastern whippoorwill    163
+          Habits                                                 163
+          Distribution                                           181
+        Antrostomus vociferus arizonae: Stephens’s whippoorwill  183
+          Habits                                                 183
+        Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nuttalli: Nuttall’s poorwill     187
+          Habits                                                 187
+          Distribution                                           193
+        Phalaenoptilus nuttalli californicus: Dusky poorwill     194
+          Habits                                                 194
+        Phalaenoptilus nuttalli hueyi: Desert poorwill           197
+          Habits                                                 197
+        Phalaenoptilus nuttalli dickeyi: San Ignatio poorwill    198
+          Habits                                                 198
+        Nyctidromus albicollis merrilli: Merrill’s pauraque      199
+          Habits                                                 199
+          Distribution                                           205
+        Chordeiles minor minor: Eastern nighthawk                206
+          Habits                                                 206
+          Distribution                                           231
+        Chordeiles minor henryi: Western nighthawk               235
+          Habits                                                 235
+        Chordeiles minor chapmani: Florida nighthawk             237
+          Habits                                                 237
+        Chordeiles minor sennetti: Sennett’s nighthawk           239
+          Habits                                                 239
+        Chordeiles minor hesperis: Pacific nighthawk             240
+          Habits                                                 240
+        Chordeiles minor howelli: Howell’s nighthawk             242
+          Habits                                                 242
+        Chordeiles minor aserriensis: Cherrie’s nighthawk        243
+          Habits                                                 243
+  Plates                                                         245
+
+
+
+
+                            INTRODUCTION
+
+
+This is the thirteenth in a series of bulletins of the United States
+National Museum on the life histories of North American birds.
+Previous numbers have been issued as follows:
+
+  107. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, August 1, 1919.
+
+  113. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, August 27, 1921.
+
+  121. Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and their
+       Allies, October 19, 1922.
+
+  126. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), May 25, 1923.
+
+  130. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), June 27, 1925.
+
+  135. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, March 11, 1927.
+
+  142. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 1), December 31,
+       1927.
+
+  146. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 2), March 24,
+       1929.
+
+  162. Life Histories of North American Gallinaceous Birds, May 25, 1932.
+
+  167. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 1), May 3,
+       1937.
+
+  170. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 2), August 8,
+       1938.
+
+  174. Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers, May 23, 1939.
+
+The same general plan has been followed, as explained in previous
+bulletins, and the same sources of information have been
+utilized. The nomenclature of the 1931 check-list of the American
+Ornithologists’ Union has been followed.
+
+An attempt has been made to give as full a life history as
+possible of the best-known subspecies of each species and to avoid
+duplication by writing briefly of the others, giving only the
+characters of the subspecies, its range, and any habits peculiar to
+it. In many cases certain habits, probably common to the species as
+a whole have been recorded for only one subspecies; such habits are
+mentioned under the subspecies on which the observations were made.
+The distribution gives the range of the species as a whole, with
+only rough outlines of the ranges of the subspecies, which in many
+cases cannot be accurately defined.
+
+The egg dates are the condensed results from a mass of records
+taken from the data in a large number of the best collections in
+the country, as well as from contributed field notes and from a
+few published sources. They indicate the dates on which eggs have
+been found in various parts of the country, showing the earliest
+and latest dates and the limits between which half the dates fall,
+indicating the height of the season.
+
+The plumages are described in only enough detail to enable the
+reader to trace the sequence of molts and plumages from birth to
+maturity and to recognize the birds in the different stages and at
+the different seasons.
+
+No attempt has been made to describe fully the adult plumages;
+this has been well done already in the many manuals. The names of
+colors, when in quotation marks, are taken from Ridgway’s Color
+Standards and Nomenclature (1912). In the measurements of eggs the
+four extremes are printed in boldface type.
+
+Many who have contributed material for previous volumes have
+continued to cooperate. Receipt of material from over 450
+contributors has been acknowledged previously. In addition to
+these, our thanks are due to the following new contributors: E. C.
+Aldrich, Mrs. H. P. Bracelin, Maurice Brooks, Mildred Campbell,
+R. T. Congdon, Murl Deusing, S. S. Dickey, H. E. Edgerton, W. G.
+F. Harris, L. B. Howsley, Charles Macnamara, R. F. Mason, Jr., R.
+T. Moore, A. R. Phillips, A. J. Pinckney, O. P. Silliman, A. F.
+Skutch, Emily Smith, W. P. Steinbeck, R. R. Talmadge, H. O. Todd,
+Jr., B. P. Tyler, L. O. Williams, G. R. Wilson, and H. B. Wood.
+As the demand for these bulletins is greater than the supply, the
+names of those who have not contributed to the work during the
+previous ten years may be dropped from the author’s mailing list.
+
+Dr. Winsor M. Tyler rendered valuable assistance in reading and
+indexing, for these groups, a large part of the literature on North
+American birds, and contributed three complete life histories.
+E. C. Stuart Baker and Alexander F. Skutch each contributed two
+complete life histories; and Dr. Alfred O. Gross, the Rev. F. C.
+R. Jourdain, Alexander Sprunt, Jr., Dr. George M. Sutton, and
+Robert S. Woods contributed one each. Our thanks are also due F.
+Seymour Hersey for figuring egg measurements. Egg measurements
+were furnished, especially for this volume, by Dean Amadon, A. M.
+Bailey, American Museum of Natural History, Griffing Bancroft, R.
+M. Barnes, I. McT. Cowan, H. G. Deignan, C. E. Doe, J. H. Gillin,
+W. C. Hanna, R. C. Harlow, R. T. Moore, R. T. Orr, P. B. Philipp,
+M. S. Ray, J. H. Riley, G. H. Stuart, 3d, and Miss M. W. Wythe.
+
+Through the courtesy of the Bureau of Biological Survey, the
+services of Frederick C. Lincoln were again obtained to compile the
+distribution paragraphs. With the matchless files of the Survey at
+his disposal, his many hours of careful work have produced results
+far more satisfactory than could have been attained by the author,
+who claims no credit and assumes no responsibility for this part of
+the work.
+
+The manuscript for this bulletin was completed in March 1939.
+Contributions received since then will be acknowledged later. Only
+information of great importance could be added. The reader is
+reminded again that this is a cooperative work; if he fails to find
+in these volumes anything that he knows about the birds, he can
+blame himself for not having sent the information to--
+
+                                                    THE AUTHOR.
+
+
+
+
+      _Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers,
+                  Hummingbirds, and Their Allies_
+
+
+
+
+       LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN CUCKOOS, GOATSUCKERS,
+                  HUMMINGBIRDS, AND THEIR ALLIES.
+
+ ORDERS PSITTACIFORMES, CUCULIFORMES, TROGONIFORMES, CORACIIFORMES,
+               CAPRIMULGIFORMES, AND MICROPODIIFORMES
+
+                      By ARTHUR CLEVELAND BENT
+                          _Taunton, Mass._
+
+
+
+
+                        Order PSITTACIFORMES
+
+             Family PSITTACIDAE: Parrots and Parakeets
+
+          CONUROPSIS CAROLINENSIS CAROLINENSIS (Linnaeus)
+
+                         CAROLINA PARAKEET
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Many of the glories of North American bird life have gone, never
+to return. The spread of civilization, the selfish greed of human
+interests, and the lust to kill have wiped out some of the most
+spectacular and beautiful features in our formerly abundant bird
+life. The countless millions of passenger pigeons that formerly
+darkened the sky in their seasonal migrations are gone forever.
+And the great flocks of gorgeous parakeets that formerly roamed
+over nearly all the eastern part of our country will be seen
+no more. This was the only representative of the parrot family
+that lived and bred within the United States; it gave a touch of
+tropical character to our avifauna and a vivid tinge of color to
+the landscape; its loss is much to be regretted. Never again may be
+seen the glorious sights witnessed by Wilson, Audubon, and other
+early writers, as great flocks of these gorgeous birds wheeled
+through the air, in close formation, their long tails streaming out
+in straight flight or spreading as they turned, and their brilliant
+colors, red, yellow, bright green, and soft blue, gleaming in the
+sunlight. As Wilson (1832) says: “They came screaming through the
+woods in the morning, about an hour after sunrise, to drink the
+salt water, of which they, as well as the pigeons, are remarkably
+fond. When they alighted on the ground, it appeared at a distance
+as if covered with a carpet of richest green, orange, and yellow:
+they afterwards settled, in one body, on a neighbouring tree, which
+stood detached from any other, covering almost every twig of it,
+and the sun, shining strongly on their gay and glossy plumage,
+produced a very beautiful and splendid appearance.”
+
+_Conuropsis carolinensis_, as a species, covered a wide range
+in eastern North America, from the vicinity of the Great Lakes
+southward to Florida and the Gulf States, and from Colorado
+(rarely) to the Atlantic coast. For a full account, given in
+detail, of the former range of the species and its gradual
+disappearance, the reader is referred to a comprehensive article
+on the subject by Edwin M. Hasbrouck (1891). As the species has
+been divided into two subspecies since this was written, we shall
+consider here only the former distribution of the eastern race,
+_Conuropsis c. carolinensis_. The oldest and northernmost records,
+of what was probably this race, appeared in Bartram’s Fragments
+(1799) in the following words:
+
+     The two first of these birds were seen in the neighbourhood
+     of Philadelphia, between thirty and forty years ago. The
+     Psittacus, most probably the Psittacus pertinax, Illinois
+     Parrot, or the Psittacus carolinensis, Carolina Parrot,
+     has been occasionally observed in Shareman’s Valley, on
+     Shareman’s Creek, a branch of the river Susquehanna, within
+     twenty miles of the town of Carlisle. This last fact seems
+     to contradict the observation of Mr. William Bartram, who
+     says, “The parakeets (Psittacus carolinensis) never reach
+     so far north as Pennsylvania, which to me is unaccountable,
+     considering they are a bird of such singular rapid flight,
+     they could easily perform the journey in ten or twelve
+     hours from North-Carolina, where they are very numerous,
+     and we abound with all the fruits which they delight in.”
+     * * * I may add, that a very large flight of parakeets,
+     which came from the westward, was seen a few years ago,
+     about twenty-five miles to the north-west of Albany, in
+     the State of New-York.
+
+     The arrival of these birds in the depth of winter (January,
+     1780) was, indeed, a very remarkable circumstance. The more
+     ignorant Dutch settlers were exceedingly alarmed. They
+     imagined, in dreadful consternation, that it portended
+     nothing less calamitous than the destruction of the world.
+
+DeKay (1844) places this New York record as occurring in 1795.
+The only record we have for New Jersey is one recently published
+by Warren F. Eaton (1936); Albert E. Hedden (1841–1915) told his
+son and nephew “of the occurrence of this species in East Orange,
+Essex County, New Jersey, when he was a boy. They placed the time
+between 1850 and 1860, and both recall exactly the same story.
+The Paroquets occurred probably twice at least in hot weather (I
+suspect September) and were considered very destructive to the
+small household apple orchards, maintained by the family at that
+time. The birds occurred in flocks and tore the apple fruit apart,
+extracting the seeds.” There seems to be no record for Delaware,
+but in Audubon’s time they were found as far north as the boundary
+line between Virginia and Maryland, where a flock was seen and
+specimens were shot as recently as September 1865 (Smith and
+Palmer, 1888). They apparently were common in the Carolinas up to
+1850, or perhaps 1860, but must have disappeared from there soon
+after that. For Georgia, there seem to be no records since 1849. In
+Florida, the species made its last stand; parakeets were evidently
+common throughout the State up to the 1860’s, but during the next
+20 years all observers reported them as becoming rarer and more
+restricted in range. In the early 1890’s it was still common in
+certain remote localities in Florida. Arthur H. Howell (1932) has
+this to say about the last records of this vanishing bird:
+
+     E. J. Brown reported the birds plentiful in March, 1896,
+     near Campbell, Osceola County. Dr. E. A. Mearns took 6
+     specimens on Padget Creek, Brevard County, April 18,
+     1901. Apparently the last stronghold was in the vicinity
+     of Taylor Creek, on the northeastern side of Okeechobee
+     Lake. Here on February 29, 1896, Robert Ridgway collected
+     13 specimens, and in April, 1904, Frank M. Chapman saw
+     two flocks aggregating 13 birds (1912, p. 318). W. W.
+     Worthington hunted along both sides of Taylor Creek on
+     March 26, 1907, without seeing any Paroquets. * * * Capt.
+     F. W. Sams, an old resident of Florida, told Dr. Amos W.
+     Butler that he saw a flock of 8 or 10 Paroquets in 1909
+     at Cabbage Slough, on the west side of Turnbull Hammock,
+     about 12 or 15 miles southwest of New Smyrna. E. Stewart
+     Hyer, of Orlando, reports seeing one bird at Istokpoga
+     Lake on February 16, 1910. A late and apparently authentic
+     record is published by Chapman (Bird Lore, 1915, p. 453)
+     on the authority of W. J. F. McCormick, who claims to have
+     seen about a dozen birds in March and April, 1915. Henry
+     Redding, who knows the birds well, reported a flock of
+     about 30 seen on Fort Drum Creek in February, 1920.
+
+The causes that led to the extermination of the parakeet are not
+hard to find. It was a bad actor, regarded by fruit growers and
+agriculturists as a destructive pest, doing extensive damage to
+their crops. Consequently it was slaughtered in enormous numbers on
+every opportunity. It was more or less hunted as a game bird, for
+it was abundant and its flesh was said to be very palatable. It was
+shot in enormous numbers for mere sport, or for practice. Hundreds
+were captured by professional bird catchers and sent north, as cage
+birds or pets, and many were killed for their plumage. Furthermore,
+it has always retreated before the spread of civilization and
+seemed incapable of surviving in settled regions, probably for the
+reasons mentioned above.
+
+W. E. D. Scott (1889) says that “they were wantonly mischievous and
+cut hundreds of young _green oranges_, peaches, and the like, from
+the trees almost as soon as the fruit was formed.” Many were shot
+by farmers in their cornfields, where the birds had formed the bad
+habit of feeding on the tender corn on the ears, thus destroying,
+or injuring, a large part of the crop.
+
+According to Audubon (1842) they ate or destroyed almost every kind
+of fruit indiscriminately and on this account were always unwelcome
+visitors “to the planter, the farmer, or the gardener.” He says:
+
+     The stacks of grain put up in the field are resorted to
+     by flocks of these birds, which frequently cover them so
+     entirely, that they present to the eye the same effect as
+     if a brilliantly coloured carpet had been thrown over them.
+     They cling around the whole stack, pull out the straws,
+     and destroy twice as much of the grain as would suffice to
+     satisfy their hunger. They assail the pear and apple-trees,
+     when the fruit is yet very small and far from being ripe,
+     and this merely for the sake of the seeds. As on the stalks
+     of corn, they alight on the apple-trees of our orchards,
+     or the pear-trees in the gardens, in great numbers; and,
+     as if through mere mischief, pluck off the fruits, open
+     them up to the core, and, disappointed at the sight of the
+     seeds, which are yet soft and of a milky consistence, drop
+     the apple or pear, and pluck another, passing from branch
+     to branch, until the trees which were before so promising,
+     are left completely stripped. * * * They visit the
+     mulberries, pecan-nuts, grapes, and even the seeds of the
+     dog-wood, before they are ripe, and on all commit similar
+     depredations. * * *
+
+     Do not imagine, reader, that all these outrages are borne
+     without severe retaliation on the part of the planters.
+     So far from this, the Parakeets are destroyed in great
+     numbers, for whilst busily engaged in plucking off the
+     fruits or tearing the grain from the stacks, the husbandman
+     approaches them with perfect ease, and commits great
+     slaughter among them. All the survivors rise, shriek,
+     fly around about for a few minutes, and again alight on
+     the very place of most imminent danger. The gun is kept
+     at work; eight or ten, or even twenty, are killed at
+     every discharge. The living birds, as if conscious of
+     the death of their companions, sweep over their bodies,
+     screaming as loud as ever, but still return to the stack
+     to be shot at, until so few remain alive, that the farmer
+     does not consider it worth his while to spend more of his
+     ammunition. I have seen several hundreds destroyed in this
+     manner in the course of a few hours.
+
+This fatal habit of hovering over their fallen companions
+has helped, more than any one thing, to bring about their
+extermination. Their social disposition has been their undoing.
+C. J. Maynard (1896) says of this trait: “This is not a mere liking
+for company, as they are actually fond of one another, for, if one
+out of a flock be wounded, the survivors attracted by its screams,
+will return to hover over it and, even if constantly shot at, will
+not leave as long as their distressed friend calls for assistance;
+in fact, I have seen every individual in a flock killed one after
+the other, and the last bird betrayed as much anxiety for the fate
+of its prostrate friends which were strewed upon the ground, as it
+did when the first fell.”
+
+_Nesting._--Nothing very definite seems to be known about the
+nesting habits of the Carolina parakeet. No competent ornithologist
+has ever seen a nest. Even Wilson and Audubon, who lived in the
+days when these birds were so abundant, never saw a nest; and all
+they wrote about it was based on hearsay. Most observers seemed to
+agree that the parakeets nested in hollow trees, but some of the
+accounts were rather fantastic. For example, Wilson (1832) wrote:
+“One man assured me that he cut down a large beech tree, which was
+hollow, and in which he found the broken fragments of upwards of
+twenty parakeets’ eggs, which were of a greenish yellow colour.
+The nests, though destroyed in their texture by the falling of the
+tree, appeared, he said, to be formed of small twigs glued to each
+other, and to the side of the tree, in the manner of the Chimney
+Swallow.” Audubon (1842) says: “Their nest, or the place in which
+they deposit their eggs, is simply the bottom of such cavities in
+trees as those to which they usually retire at night. Many females
+deposit their eggs together.”
+
+Maynard (1896) was told by some cedar hunters that a large number
+of parakeets nested in a hollow in a huge cypress tree in the
+depths of a great cypress swamp. He offered them a good sum to
+procure the eggs, which they attempted to do; but, on opening the
+tree, about which they saw a large number of the parakeets, they
+were disappointed to find only young birds. H. B. Bailey (1883)
+had in his collection a set of two eggs, which he felt sure were
+eggs of the Carolina parakeet. “The eggs, which were taken April
+26, 1855, were deposited in a hollow tree, on the chips at bottom.
+One of them was sent to Mr. Ridgway who has kindly compared it
+with identified eggs, and who confirms the identification.” There
+was an apparently authentic set in the John Lewis Childs (1906b)
+collection, taken in the wild, of which he writes:
+
+     The set consists of three eggs which were taken on April 2,
+     1896, by Dr. H. H. Pendry. They were found In a cavity of a
+     sycamore tree forty feet up on the outskirts of the Great
+     Swamp near the head of the Caloosahatchee River and west of
+     Lake Okechobee, De Soto County, Florida. Dr. Pendry was not
+     sure of the identity of these eggs, as he saw no Paroquets
+     at the nest, but they were in the swamp and he had
+     frequently seen and taken young birds In the same locality.
+     * * * The eggs were sent to us for identification, and
+     there seems to be not the slightest doubt but that they are
+     genuine. They measure as follows: 1.35 × 1.06–1.26 × 1.06,
+     1.25 × 1.05 [34.3 by 27.1, 32.1 by 27.1, and 31.8 by 26.8
+     millimeters].
+
+William Brewster (1889) published the following account, which
+seemed to him “to rest on evidence sufficiently good to warrant its
+publication.” He questioned everybody he met about the nesting of
+the parakeet and was told by two professional hunters of alligators
+and plume birds that they had “seen Parrakeets’ nests, which they
+described as flimsy structures built of twigs and placed on the
+branches of cypress trees.” He goes on to say:
+
+     This account was so widely at variance with what has been
+     previously recorded regarding the manner of nesting of
+     this species that I considered it, at the time, as a mere
+     fabrication, but afterwards it was unexpectedly and most
+     strongly corroborated by Judge E. L. Long of Tallahassee.
+     The latter gentleman, who, by the way, has a very good
+     general knowledge of the birds of our Northern States,
+     assured me that he had examined many nests of the Parrakeet
+     built precisely as above described. Formerly, when the
+     birds were abundant in the surrounding region, he used to
+     find them breeding in large colonies in the cypress swamps.
+     Several of these colonies contained at least a thousand
+     birds each. They nested invariably in small cypress trees,
+     the favorite position being on a fork near the end of a
+     slender horizontal branch. Every fork would be occupied,
+     and he has seen as many as forty or fifty nests in one
+     small tree. Their nests closely resembled those of the
+     Carolina Dove, being similarly composed of cypress twigs
+     put together so loosely that the eggs were often visible
+     from the ground beneath. The twigs of the cypress seemed
+     to be preferred to those of any other kind of tree. The
+     height at which the nests were placed varied from five or
+     six feet to twenty or thirty feet. Mr. Long described the
+     eggs as being of a greenish white color, unspotted. He did
+     not remember the maximum number which he had found in one
+     set, but thought it was at least four or five. He had often
+     taken young birds from the nests to rear or to give to his
+     friends.
+
+Several times parakeets have been known to breed in captivity
+or attempt to do so. Robert Ridgway brought several birds from
+Florida that laid at least 13 eggs in captivity; most of the eggs
+now in American collections are the product of these birds. Dr.
+William C. Herman writes to me that parakeets bred successfully
+in the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, where some were kept for
+20 or more years; the last one died in September 1914. “Some of
+these birds bred in captivity. Dozens of young birds were raised,
+especially when others recently captured were added.” Dr. Nowotny
+(1898) purchased a pair of Carolina parakeets in Vienna and tried
+to breed them in captivity. The female laid in all ten eggs; the
+first five were put in a breeding box, but never hatched, as they
+were “picked and sucked,” presumably by the birds. Two more eggs
+were placed under a hen but were destroyed through carelessness.
+The other three were placed in the breeding box and incubated by
+the parakeets; three young were hatched, but they did not live to
+maturity.
+
+_Eggs._--It is not definitely known how many eggs were laid by the
+Carolina parakeet in a normal set, but indications point to two and
+three as being the commonest numbers. Bendire (1895) says, of the
+eggs laid by Mr. Ridgway’s birds in captivity:
+
+     None of these eggs can be called round; they vary from
+     ovate to short ovate, and are rather pointed. They are
+     white, with the faintest yellowish tint, ivory-like and
+     quite glossy; the shell is rather thick, close grained, and
+     deeply pitted, not unlike the eggs of the African Ostrich
+     (_Struthio camelus_), but of course not as noticeable.
+     Holding the eggs in a strong light, the inside appears to
+     be pale yellow. * * *
+
+     The deep pitting is noticeable in every specimen, and there
+     can be no possible doubt about the identity of these eggs.
+     * * * There is no difficulty whatever in distinguishing
+     these eggs from those of the Burrowing Owl or the
+     Kingfisher, both of which are occasionally substituted for
+     them.
+
+Mr. Childs (1905) figures the three eggs sent to him by Mr. Ridgway
+and describes them as “color pure white with ivory gloss surpassing
+that of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.” One of Mr. Ridgway’s eggs,
+in the John E. Thayer collection, I should describe as ovate in
+shape and dull white in color, with a very slight gloss. The
+measurements of 24 eggs average 34.23 by 27.80 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =37= by 38, 33 by =30.2=,
+=32.1= by 27.1, and 34.4 by =25.8= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--We do not know much about the development and care of the
+young in the wild state, but in captivity the birds seem to be very
+careless or indifferent in the care and feeding of the young. Dr.
+Nowotny’s eggs were hatched, after continuous incubation, in about
+19 or 20 days, but the young all eventually died from neglect.
+
+Mr. Ridgway wrote to Mr. Childs (1905), under date of November 13,
+1902: “My female Parakeet laid only six eggs the past summer and I
+shall never get any more, as the bird is now dead. The first she
+laid is the one I sent you. The remaining five hatched, but I have
+only two young ones left, a rat having carried off one, another was
+starved by the parents when half grown, and the third I gave to a
+friend who had time and disposition to take care of it in order to
+save it from starving.”
+
+_Plumages._--I have never seen the downy young or nestling plumages
+and doubt if there are any such in collections. Audubon (1840) says
+that “the young are at first covered with soft down, such as is
+seen on young Owls. During the first season, the whole plumage is
+green; but towards autumn a frontlet of carmine appears. Two years,
+however, are passed before the male or female are in full plumage.”
+His plate shows a bird with a wholly green head.
+
+Dr. Nowotny’s (1898) young birds, when between five and six weeks
+old, “had already attained green wings and tail; the older one
+also had red feathers above the bill and on the under parts.
+* * * The oldest young one had already attained many dense strong
+red feathers above the bill at the age of eight weeks”. This does
+not agree with Audubon’s account, or with C. J. Maynard’s (1896)
+who says, of the young of the year: “Head and neck, wholly green,
+and the tail is short.” He says, of the nestling: “One of my
+collectors, who found the young in the nest, informs me that they
+are covered with a grayish down.” I have never seen a young bird
+with a wholly green head; those that I have seen, some nine in
+number, were in first winter plumage, and were collected between
+October 7 and April 3, indicating that this plumage is worn all
+through the first winter. These are much like adults, but with
+no yellow on the head, thighs, or anal region, and only greenish
+yellow on the edge of the wing; the forehead and front of the crown
+up to the front edges of the eyes are “flame scarlet” or “cadmium
+orange,” shading off to dull brownish orange on the lores and to
+dull brown on the cheeks. Specimens taken in February show yellow
+feathers coming in on the head, and progressive changes toward
+maturity continue all through the spring months until, by summer,
+the yellow head is fully acquired. Audubon (1840) says that the
+young bird requires two years to attain its full plumage, and
+Maynard (1896) says that it is acquired during the third year, but
+the material examined does not indicate this.
+
+Adults have a complete molt in fall, from September to November.
+Dr. Frank M. Chapman’s (1890) captive bird began to molt in
+September, “and by November had acquired an entirely new plumage.”
+Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that they “commence to molt about
+October 5, and require at least six weeks to acquire their perfect
+plumage.”
+
+_Food._--Much has been said about the food of the Carolina parakeet
+in the earlier part of this account, as its feeding habits were
+so destructive in fruit orchards and grain fields that the birds
+were unmercifully slaughtered by the planters, thus hastening
+the extermination of the species. But before the lands were so
+extensively cultivated, the parakeets lived on their natural, wild
+food. C. J. Maynard (1896) writes:
+
+     I observed a large flock of Parokeets moving along the
+     ground. * * * At first, I could not make out what they
+     were doing but soon found that they were busily engaged in
+     eating cockspurs, the seeds of a species of grass which
+     grows very abundantly in old fields. They walked quite well
+     for birds having such short legs and, in pressing forward,
+     moved side by side in a long rank, looking exactly like
+     miniature soldiers. After a few moments, something startled
+     them and they arose, wheeled about, darting rapidly up and
+     down, precisely like pigeons, at the same time, uttering
+     loud cries; then settled quietly down again and resumed
+     their meal, as composedly as if nothing had occurred to
+     interrupt.
+
+     This is the only time that I ever chanced to see the
+     Parokeets feed on the ground but I have been informed by
+     the inhabitants of Florida, that they are very fond of
+     cockspurs and will frequently alight in the fields in order
+     to eat them. Early in winter, they visit the swamps, where
+     they feed upon the cypress balls. Then it is very difficult
+     to find them as they often remain for weeks in the
+     impenetrable fastnesses of the vast wooded tracts which, at
+     this season, are submerged in water. Later, about the first
+     of February, the Parokeets emerge from the swamps in small
+     flocks and enter the open woods to search for the seeds
+     of the pine cones which are then ripe. At this time, they
+     may be met with quite frequently but the best opportunity
+     to procure specimens occurs about the middle of February,
+     when they may be found in large companies, feeding upon the
+     green seeds of the maples and elms which grow along the
+     rivers.
+
+Dr. Chapman (1890) found these parakeets feeding on the prairies
+near the Sebastian River in Florida, of which he says:
+
+     About these “prairies” and at the borders of small streams
+     or low ground grew in abundance a species of thistle
+     (_Cirsium Lecontei_, T. & G.) the seeds of which, so far
+     as I could learn, constituted at this season [February]
+     the entire food of _Conurus_. Not a patch of thistles did
+     we find which had not been visited by them, the headless
+     stalks showing clearly where the thistles had been neatly
+     severed by the sharp chisel-like bill, while the ground
+     beneath favorite trees would be strewn with the scattered
+     down. * * *
+
+     Two days passed before I again met _Conurus_, and this time
+     to better advantage. It was a wet and drizzling morning
+     when we found a flock of six birds feeding on thistles at
+     the edge of a “prairie.” Perched on the leafless branches
+     of the tree before us, their brilliant green plumage showed
+     to the best advantage, as we approached through the pines
+     without difficulty. Several were skillfully dissecting the
+     thistles they held in their feet, biting out the milky
+     seed while the released fluffy down floated away beneath
+     them. There was a sound of suppressed conversation; half
+     articulate calls. * * *
+
+     There was an evident regularity in the habits of the birds
+     we afterwards observed--in all about fifty, in flocks
+     of from six to twenty. At an early hour they left their
+     roost in the hummock bordering the river and passed out
+     into the pines to feed, always, so far as I observed,
+     selecting thistle patches, and eating the seeds only when
+     in the milky stage. At about ten o’clock they returned to
+     the hummock and apparently to some favorite tree, here to
+     pass the rest of the morning and early afternoon, when
+     they again started out to feed, returning to the roost
+     just before sunset. A flock of these birds feeding among
+     the thistles is a most beautiful and animated sight;
+     one is almost persuaded not to disturb them. There is
+     constant movement as they fly from plant to plant, or when
+     securing thistles they fly with them in their bills to a
+     neighboring tree, there to dissect them at their leisure.
+     The loud rolling call was apparently uttered only when on
+     the wing, but when at rest, or feeding, there was a loud
+     conversational murmur of half articulate, querulous notes
+     and calls.
+
+Cottam and Knappen (1939) examined the stomach and crop of one
+bird, of which they say: “Except for two rabbit hairs, two bits of
+the bird’s own feathers, and two fragments of an indeterminable
+ant, which formed only traces, the entire content consisted of the
+remains of no fewer than thirty-two seeds of loblolly pine (_Pinus
+taeda_).”
+
+_Behavior._--Audubon (1842) writes:
+
+     The flight of the Parakeet is rapid, straight, and
+     continued through the forests, or over fields and rivers,
+     and is accompanied by inclinations of the body which
+     enable the observer to see alternately their upper and
+     under parts. They deviate from a direct course only when
+     impediments occur, such as the trunks of trees or houses,
+     in which case they glance aside in a very graceful manner,
+     merely as much as may be necessary. A general cry is kept
+     up by the party, and it is seldom that one of these birds
+     is on wing for ever so short a space without uttering its
+     cry. On reaching a spot which affords a supply of food,
+     instead of alighting at once, as many other birds do, the
+     Parakeets take a good survey of the neighborhood, passing
+     over it in circles of great extent, first above the trees,
+     and then gradually lowering until they almost touch the
+     ground, when suddenly re-ascending they all settle on the
+     tree that bears the fruit of which they are in quest, or
+     on one close to the field in which they expect to regale
+     themselves.
+
+     They are quite at ease on trees or any kind of plant,
+     moving sidewise, climbing or hanging in every imaginable
+     posture, assisting themselves very dexterously in all their
+     motions with their bills. They usually alight extremely
+     close together. I have seen branches of trees as completely
+     covered by them as they could possibly be. If approached
+     before they begin their plundering, they appear shy and
+     distrustful, and often at a single cry from one of them,
+     the whole take wing, and probably may not return to the
+     same place that day.
+
+Maynard (1896) says:
+
+     I have remarked that the Parokeets scream very loudly when
+     flying; so loudly, in fact, that their shrill cries can be
+     heard for miles. They come dashing along, moving in a most
+     eccentric manner; now near the ground, then high over the
+     tree tops, seeming about to alight a dozen times but still
+     without settling, each in the company endeavoring to excel
+     the other in producing the most discordant yells, when
+     they will all pitch, at once, into some tree and a sudden
+     silence ensues. So great had been the din but a second
+     before that the comparative stillness is quite bewildering,
+     then too, the large flock of highly colored birds, lately
+     so conspicuous, have disappeared completely. I well
+     remember my first experience of this nature; I stood, gun
+     in hand, watching the evolutions of a large company as it
+     wheeled about, awaiting an opportunity to shoot, when,
+     of a sudden, they all alighted in a large live-oak which
+     stood a few rods away. I cautiously approached the tree,
+     ready to slaughter half the flock at a single discharge,
+     if possible, when, what was my surprise upon going within
+     a suitable distance, not to perceive a bird. Neither could
+     I see so much as a feather of the desired game although I
+     walked around the tree several times and even went beneath
+     its branches to peer up between them. After spending some
+     time in these fruitless efforts, my patience became quite
+     exhausted and I threw a large oyster shell up into the
+     tree. This certainly produced an effect, not just what
+     I intended, however, for, in an instant, out darted the
+     entire body of screaming birds but on the opposite side of
+     the thick tree; thus I could only stand and watch them as
+     they disappeared in the neighboring swamp.
+
+Audubon (1842) says:
+
+     Their roosting-place is in hollow trees, and the holes
+     excavated by the larger species of Woodpeckers, as far as
+     these can be filled by them. At dusk, a flock of Parakeets
+     may be seen alighting against the trunk of a large sycamore
+     or any other tree, when a considerable excavation exists
+     within it. Immediately below the entrance the birds all
+     cling to the bark, and crawl into the hole to pass the
+     night. When such a hole does not prove sufficient to hold
+     the whole flock, those around the entrance hook themselves
+     on by their claws, and the tip of the upper mandible, and
+     look as if hanging by the bill. I have frequently seen them
+     in such positions by means of a glass, and am satisfied
+     that the bill is not the only support used in such cases.
+
+Dr. William C. Herman writes to me, of the parakeets in the
+Cincinnati Zoological Garden: “The parakeets were well adapted to
+being caged, some were in the zoo for 20 or more years. A hollow
+tree was provided for the birds for roosting. Here they hung for
+the night; that is, they used their beaks for holding to the
+interior of the tree trunk and so rested for the night.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southeastern United States; probably extinct.
+
+The range of the Carolina parakeet extended =north= to casually
+northeastern Colorado (Little Thompson River); eastern Nebraska
+(Omaha and Brownville); casually Iowa (Spirit Lake and Decatur
+County); casually southern Wisconsin (Lake Koskonong and Waukesha
+County); Ohio (Columbus and Summit County); and Pennsylvania
+(Juniata River and Shermans Valley). =East= to Pennsylvania
+(Shermans Valley); casually the District of Columbia (Washington);
+casually West Virginia (White Sulphur Springs); South Carolina
+(Pine Barrens and Edding Island); Georgia; and Florida (Oklawaha
+River, Wekiva River, and Micco); =south= to Florida (Micco, Lake
+Okeechobee, Tampa, Tarpon Springs, Old Town, and Tallahassee);
+southern Louisiana (Bayou Sara and St. Mary); and central Texas
+(Brownwood). =West= to central Texas (Brownwood); eastern Oklahoma
+(Caddo and Fort Gibson); and casually eastern Colorado (Fort Lyon,
+Denver, and the Little Thompson River).
+
+_Casual records._--Several of the records that figure in the range
+as above outlined can be considered as little more than casual
+occurrences, but this status must be accorded a flock reported 25
+miles northwest of Albany, N. Y., in January 1780, and to flocks
+observed “many years ago” at Buffalo and West Seneca, N. Y. There
+also is an indefinite record of this species in East Orange, Essex
+County, N. J., sometime between 1850 and 1860.
+
+Systematists now consider the species as separable into two
+geographic races, the true Carolina parakeet, _C. c. carolinensis_,
+being the eastern form that ranged west to Alabama, while the
+Louisiana parakeet, _C. c. ludovicianus_, ranged westward from
+Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio.
+
+_Egg dates._--Florida: 2 records, April 2 and 26.
+
+
+            CONUROPSIS CAROLINENSIS LUDOVICIANUS Gmelin
+
+                         LOUISIANA PARAKEET
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+In describing this pale race of _Conuropsis_, Outram Bangs (1913)
+says: “For many years it has been common knowledge among the
+older set of American ornithologists that the Carolina paroquet
+divided into two very distinct geographical races.” He says of its
+characters: “A much paler bird than _Conuropsis c. carolinensis_
+(Linn.); yellow portions of head and neck pale lemon yellow or
+picric yellow, instead of lemon yellow or lemon chrome; green
+of upper parts much paler and more bluish, verdigris green to
+variscite green on wing coverts and sides of neck; under parts
+dull green-yellow glossed with variscite green; bend of wing and
+feathers of tibia paler, purer yellow, less orange.” Mr. Ridgway
+(1916) adds: “Greater wing-coverts, proximal secondaries, and
+basal portion of outer webs of primaries more pronouncedly and
+more extensively yellowish, contrasting more strongly with the
+general green color; size averaging decidedly greater.” The latter
+author says of its former range: “Formerly inhabiting the entire
+Mississippi Valley (except open prairies and plains), from West
+Virginia to eastern Colorado, north to the southern shores of Late
+Erie and Lake Michigan, south to the Gulf coast.”
+
+This parakeet is now, doubtless, quite extinct throughout all this
+wide range. Though formerly abundant over most of this region, it
+had begun to disappear even in Audubon’s time, for he (1842) says:
+“Our Parakeets are very rapidly diminishing in number; and in
+some districts, where twenty-five years ago they were plentiful,
+scarcely any are now to be seen. At that period, they could be
+procured as far up the tributary waters of the Ohio as the Great
+Kenhawa, the Scioto, the heads of the Miami, the mouth of the
+Manimee at its junction with Lake Erie, on the Illinois River, and
+sometimes as far north-east as Lake Ontario. * * * At the present
+day, very few are to be found higher than Cincinnati, nor is it
+until you reach the mouth of the Ohio that Parakeets are met with
+in considerable numbers. I should think that along the Mississippi
+there is not now half the number that existed fifteen years ago.”
+
+Myron H. Swenk (1934), in a comprehensive paper on this parakeet
+of the interior, sums up its disappearance in the following words:
+“By 1840 they were practically gone in West Virginia and Ohio. They
+disappeared from Indiana about 1858 and from Illinois about 1861.
+The Colorado birds were gone by about 1862. In Kansas they were
+gone by about 1867, and during the years 1875–1880 they disappeared
+from Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Their
+last stand was made in Missouri and along the Arkansas River and
+its tributaries in Arkansas and central Oklahoma, but by 1890 they
+were practically gone in these localities also. * * * The very
+last records of living Interior Carolina Paroquets are of lone
+individuals shot at Atchison, Kansas, in 1904, and seen at Notch,
+Stone County, Missouri, in 1905 (_vide_ Widmann, * * * 1907).”
+
+Since that time there have been at least two sight records
+reported. Harry Harris (1919) says that “in some unaccountable
+manner a lone bird strayed into the Courtney bottoms in 1912
+and was observed by Bush for several weeks before it finally
+disappeared.” Dr. Daniel S. Gage has sent me a letter from Prof.
+Elliot R. Downing, of the University of Chicago, reporting that
+he saw a Carolina parakeet in the sand-dune region on the shore
+of Lake Michigan, not far from Chicago, on June 11, 1912. His
+letter states that he saw the parakeet “on a Juneberry tree, a
+small one, on the margin of an interdunal pond. I remember the
+observation very clearly. I was within 20 feet of the bird and had
+a chance to observe it with my bird glasses for 10 or 15 minutes.
+I am therefore quite confident that there was no error in the
+observation.”
+
+Both of these records might well be based on escaped cage birds, as
+there were a number in captivity at that time, and the wild birds
+had long since disappeared.
+
+Wilson (1832) suggests certain reasons why the inland parakeet
+enjoyed a wider and more northern distribution than its relative on
+the Atlantic coast. He writes:
+
+     The preference, however, which this bird gives to the
+     western countries, lying in the same parallel of latitude
+     with those eastward of the Alleghany mountains, which it
+     rarely or never visits, is worthy of remark; and has been
+     adduced, by different writers, as a proof of the superior
+     mildness of climate in the former to that of the latter.
+     But there are other reasons for this partiality equally
+     powerful, though hitherto overlooked; namely, certain
+     peculiar features of country to which these birds are
+     particularly and strongly attached; these are, low, rich,
+     alluvial bottoms, along the borders of creeks, covered
+     with a gigantic growth of sycamore trees, or button-wood;
+     deep, and almost inpenetrable swamps, where the vast and
+     tower-cypress lifts its still more majestic head; and those
+     singular salines, or, as they are usually called, _licks_,
+     so generally interspersed over that country, and which are
+     regularly and eagerly visited by the Paroquets. A still
+     greater inducement is the superior abundance of their
+     favorite fruits. That food which the paroquet prefers to
+     all others is the seeds of the cockle bur, a plant rarely
+     found in the lower parts of Pennsylvania or New York; but
+     which unfortunately grows in too great abundance along the
+     shores of the Ohio and Mississippi.
+
+_Nesting._--We have no more positive information on the nesting
+habits of this parakeet than we have of the eastern race, beyond
+the following statement by Col. N. S. Goss (1891): “Their nests are
+usually placed in holes or hollow cavities of trees. In the spring
+of 1858, a small flock reared their young in a large hollow limb
+of a giant sycamore tree, on the banks of the Neosho River, near
+Neosho Falls, Kansas. I have never been able to procure their eggs.”
+
+_Eggs._--What few eggs of this race are in existence are
+indistinguishable from those of the Carolina parakeet. The
+measurements of the only four eggs that I have been able to locate
+are =36= by 27, 35 by =27.5=, =35= by =26.5=, and 36 by 26.5
+millimeters.
+
+_Food._--Prof. Myron H. Swenk (1934) says of the food of this
+parakeet:
+
+     The food of the Interior Carolina Paroquet, though all
+     vegetable, was highly varied, and they seemed to delight
+     in the fruits of spiny or thorny plants. One of the most
+     relished foods was the seeds of the cocklebur (_Xanthium
+     canadense_), and they fed also on the seeds of the sand-bur
+     grass (_Cenchrus tribuloides_) and of the various species
+     of thistles (_Cirsium_). In the fall they ate the seeds of
+     the honey locust (_Gleditsia triacanthos_) and the tender
+     buds and fruit of the osage orange (_Maclura pomifera_).
+     In the spring they ate the buds of the red maple (_Acer
+     rubrum_) and birch (_Betula spp._). During the summer
+     they ate much fruit, especially mulberries, wild grapes,
+     hackberries and pawpaws, and, after the planting of
+     cultivated apple orchards, were likely to visit them and
+     peck out the apple seeds in the fall, sometimes doing
+     injury in this way. Corn in the milk was also sometimes
+     injured, but not extensively. Other favorite items of food
+     were the seed balls of the sycamore and beech and pecan
+     nuts. In the South cypress seeds were much eaten.
+
+Dr. Amos W. Butler (1892), quoting from W. B. Seward, thus
+describes the parakeet’s method of eating the cocklebur seeds: “In
+eating, the bird picked up a burr with its beak, this was then
+delivered to one foot raised to receive it. Then one end of the
+burr was cut off with the sharp-ended under beak, the burr being
+held with the foot and the under side of the upper beak while two
+small kernels were extracted with the assistance of the tongue and
+the husk was thrown away.”
+
+Dr. Butler, elsewhere (1898), adds to the items of food mentioned
+above cherries, persimmons, black-gum berries, haws, and acorns.
+
+_Voice._--Mr. Swenk (1934) says: “The common call notes consisted
+of a loud, shrill series of rapidly uttered, discordant cries,
+given incessantly when the birds were in flight, resembling
+_qui-qui, qui, qui, qui, qui-i-i-i_, with a rising inflection on
+each i and the last cry drawn out. Another call resembled the
+shrill cry of a goose and was frequently uttered for minutes at a
+time. When at rest they had a low, conversational chatter.”
+
+_Winter._--The Carolina parakeet was evidently a very hardy bird, a
+remarkable quality, quite unique among parrots. Wilson (1832) saw
+them “in the month of February, along the banks of the Ohio, in a
+snow storm, flying about like pigeons, and in full cry.” Dr. Butler
+(1898) was furnished the following note by Prof. John Collett:
+
+     In 1842, Return Richmond, of Lodi (Parke County), Ind.,
+     cut down, in the cold weather of winter, a sycamore tree
+     some four feet in diameter. In its hollow trunk he found
+     hundreds of Parakeets in a quiescent or semi-torpid
+     condition. The weather was too cold for the birds to fly
+     or even to make any exertion to escape. Mr. Richmond cut
+     off with his saw a section of the hollow trunk some five
+     feet long, cut out a doorway one foot by two in size,
+     nailed it over a wire screen of his fanning mill, rolled
+     this cumbersome cage into the house and placed in it a
+     dozen of the birds. They soon began to enjoy the feed of
+     fruit, huckleberries and nuts he gave them, and he had the
+     pleasure of settling absolutely the disputed question of
+     how they slept. At night they never rested on a perch, but
+     suspended themselves by their beaks, and with their feet on
+     the side of their cage. This was repeated night after night
+     during their captivity.
+
+
+               RHYNCHOPSITTA PACHYRHYNCHA (Swainson)
+
+                        THICK-BILLED PARROT
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This fine, large parrot is a Mexican species that claims a place
+on our list as an irregular visitor across our southwestern border
+in southern Arizona and New Mexico. Charles T. Vorhies (1934) has
+published an account of all the Arizona records that he was able
+to find, which probably tells the whole story. R. D. Lusk (1900)
+reported that a flock of nine or ten of these parrots came into
+the Chiricahua Mountains, just north of the Mexican border, about
+the middle of June 1900. He collected two specimens, and some
+polecutters killed several others. “They appeared to come up the
+large cañon, at the head of which I was encamped, to about midway
+of the mountain’s height, where the oaks begin to give way to pine,
+and there they tarried.”
+
+Austin Paul Smith (1907) reported “an immense flock of this
+species, * * * observed by miners at Bonita Park, near Cochise head
+in the Chiricahua Mountains, during the month of August, 1904. * * *
+This flock was estimated at from 700 to 1,000, by those who observed
+the birds. Among these were a number of young birds, easily
+distinguished by plumage and small size.”
+
+The next occurrence of these parrots, and probably the last
+definite record, was in the winter of 1917–18, of which Percy Hands
+wrote to Professor Vorhies as follows: “The Mexican Thick-billed
+Parrots were first noticed on my ranch in lower Pinery Canyon in
+mid-September. About 250--counted over 200--in one flock. They have
+been on my ranch at irregular intervals since then up to March
+27. They roosted here seven times during late October and early
+November. The longest period they were away was about three weeks
+before they appeared March 27. There were about 70, rough count, at
+that appearance.”
+
+The thick-billed parrot may have occurred elsewhere in Arizona, but
+Professor Vorhies was unable to find any definite records for any
+locality outside of the Chiricahuas. The New Mexico records are
+both hearsay, sight records. Mrs. Bailey (1928) reports: “In 1919,
+Dr. Alexander Wetmore was told by R. Winkler that in recent years
+his son had at times seen parrots on Animas Mountain, above Deer
+Creek. * * * A confirmatory record was given Aldo Leopold by Forest
+Ranger Don S. Sullivan, who said that in 1917 some large Parrots
+were seen near the Elvey Ranch. * * * on the Animas Division of the
+Coronado Forest near the Mexican boundary.”
+
+The main range of the thick-billed parrot is in the mountains
+bordering the Mexican tableland. Dr. W. H. Bergtold (1906) writes:
+
+     This bird is increasingly common from Chuichupa southward,
+     and was especially an everyday sight during the trip, in
+     1904, to the mountains west of Parral. * * * In the higher
+     mountains west of Parral, a region varying in altitude from
+     4,000 to 10,000 feet, the Thick-billed Parrot is far more
+     common than northward in the country west of Cases Grandes;
+     in fact it is the characteristic bird of these high places,
+     as much so as is the Magpie part of the local color of
+     our Western Plains. * * * In whatever section we saw
+     them, these parrots were most abundant in the pines. They
+     frequented the tops of dead pines, and were, a good part of
+     the time, going in and out of abandoned woodpecker nests,
+     nests which we took to be those of the Imperial Woodpecker
+     (_Campephilus imperialis_), for this splendid woodpecker is
+     relatively common in the same neighborhood, and is the only
+     woodpecker which excavates such a large hole.
+
+_Nesting._--Practically all we know about the nesting habits of
+the thick-billed parrot is contained in the report of Col. John E.
+Thayer (1906) on some ten nests of this species examined by Wilmot
+W. Brown, Jr., in 1905, in the mountains near Colonia Pachaco
+and Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua, Mexico. The breeding grounds were
+at altitudes varying from 6,500 to 7,500 feet, and all the nests
+were in the tall pines, characteristic of the region. The parrots
+occupied the old nests of the imperial woodpecker, which had been
+excavated at heights ranging from 50 to 80 feet above ground; one
+nest was in a living longleaf pine, but all the others were in
+dead, dry, or rotten pines. The entrance to the hole was usually
+circular and 6 or 7 inches in diameter; the holes varied in depth
+from 18 to 24 inches, and the inner cavity measured from 8 to 10
+inches in diameter. No nesting material had been brought in, the
+eggs having been laid on the bare wood dust left by woodpeckers.
+One nest, found on August 20, contained two big young ones and one
+fresh egg; another found on August 28, held two young ones. All the
+other nests, found between August 11 and 25, contained one or two
+eggs. Mr. Brown wrote to Colonel Thayer (1906) that the first tree
+he climbed was “located on a flat-topped mountain at an altitude
+of 7,500 feet above the sea. * * * The tree was about one hundred
+feet high and was thirty-six inches in diameter at the base and was
+so dry that the bark had all peeled off. It was very difficult to
+climb, not to mention the danger.” The nest was 80 feet from the
+ground.
+
+_Eggs._--I have examined the eggs referred to above, which,
+with the entire Thayer collection, are now in the Museum of
+Comparative Zoology, in Cambridge. They vary in shape from ovate to
+rounded-ovate, are pure white in color, and are decidedly glossy;
+the shell is hard and thick. The measurements of 20 eggs average
+39.49 by 30.63 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
+measure =42= by 31. 39.2 by =32=, =37.6= by 30.6, and 38.2 by =29=
+millimeters.
+
+_Plumages._--Aside from the alcoholic specimens in the Thayer
+collection, which are unsuitable for description, I have seen no
+nestlings of this species. The immature bird is similar to the
+adult, but the red of the forehead is more restricted, and the red
+is lacking on the bend of the wing and on the lower thighs. Nothing
+seems to be known about the length of time that the immature
+plumage is worn, or about subsequent molts and plumages.
+
+_Food._--The birds observed by R. D. Lusk (1900) “were very busily
+engaged with the pine cones, and investigation of their stomachs
+showed nothing but a plentiful quantity of very immature pinones
+wrested from their cavities in the hearts of the hard, green
+cones by their powerful beaks. The beaks, at their bases, as well
+as nearly the entire under parts of the birds, were more or less
+begummed with the resin of the cones.” The birds reported by Austin
+Paul Smith (1907) were first noticed when “feeding on pinyon nuts.
+Some of the birds were on the ground, searching for the fallen
+nuts.” During their sojourn in Arizona, these parrots have been
+reported as feeding on pinyon nuts and acorns, after they had
+exhausted the supply of pine cones.
+
+The stomachs of two birds examined by Cottam and Knappen (1939)
+contained 136 and 284 or more seeds of the Chihuahua pine (_Pinus
+chihuahuana_). “The pine seeds were in all stages from entire seeds
+to a pulverized mast-like débris.”
+
+_Behavior._--All observers seem to agree that the thick-billed
+parrot is very tame and unsuspicious, probably owing to its
+unfamiliarity with man.
+
+William Beebe (1905) says: “It is either a very stupid bird or
+controlled by its curiosity, for the flocks followed us everywhere.”
+
+Dr. Bergtold (1906) writes:
+
+     It was a great surprise to see how different is a wild
+     parrot from a tame one; one must need get an idea from the
+     latter that a parrot is a slow, lumbering climber, able to
+     use its wings perhaps, yet little given to prolonged and
+     vigorous flight. On the contrary, this Thick-billed Parrot
+     flew across deep barrancas, from mountain to mountain, as
+     swift and strong on wing as a duck, going often in large
+     flocks, which were noticeably divided in pairs, each couple
+     flying one above another as closely as beating wings
+     allowed. Its loud squawk resounded overhead, across the
+     barrancas, and in the pines all day long, from dawn till
+     dusk; and many and many a time a flock could be heard long
+     before it was in sight. The birds were not at all shy, as
+     one could walk up under a tree and watch a pair climbing
+     in it without disturbing them in the least. Here they
+     seemed natural, at least to one whose previous knowledge
+     of parrots came via the cage bird, for they climbed about
+     precisely as does the domesticated species, using bill and
+     feet in the familiar way; on the wing the birds seemed
+     anything but parrots.
+
+Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1935) obtained considerable information from
+reliable observers about the occurrence of this parrot in Arizona
+and its habits; regarding its movements and behavior, he writes:
+
+     According to all accounts Thick-billed Parrots gathered
+     at night to roost in flocks and then spread out in small
+     bands to feed during the day. In Pinery Canyon they roosted
+     somewhere on the upper mountain slopes during summer and
+     fall. Morning and evening they were seen in two large
+     flocks. As the weather became colder the roosting place was
+     changed to one at a lower altitude. In Rucker Canyon the
+     birds came at night to the mountain side above the site of
+     old Camp Rucker.
+
+     As there were a thousand or more here, their morning and
+     evening flights were quite impressive. In the Dragoon Range
+     the parrots roosted somewhere near the head of Cochise
+     Stronghold and made a morning flight that often carried
+     them directly out over the plains to the east.
+
+     In feeding, the large bands usually broke up into smaller
+     parties. In winter such flocks at times came down to perch
+     on broken sandstone ledges where they clambered about or
+     basked in the sun. In Backer Canyon toward evening flocks
+     often flew down to the river to drink before passing on to
+     their roost. In the Chiricahua Mountains during late fall
+     and winter the birds came down into the foothills to an
+     altitude of between 5000 and 5500 feet though earlier they
+     were confined to the higher basins.
+
+     The birds were noisy and their coming was heralded by
+     their loud calls that were said to be readily audible at
+     a distance of more than a mile. Like parrots elsewhere
+     they were said to show much fear of hawks (though it seems
+     strange that a bird with so powerful a bill and so muscular
+     a body should show such fear); when a red-tail or a hawk
+     of some other species appeared they rose in flocks and
+     circled in the air, doubling the volume of their ordinary
+     screeching calls.
+
+He was told by F. Hands that “as cold weather came during the fall
+some of the birds disappeared. Others remained during the entire
+winter, although at one time the ground was covered by six inches
+of snow for over two weeks and the birds were forced to seek their
+food on the ground where this covering had blown partly away.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico
+(casually) and the mountainous area adjacent to the tableland of
+Mexico.
+
+The range of the thick-billed parrot extends =north= to (casually)
+southeastern Arizona (probably near Mowry, Pinery Canyon, Cochise
+Head, and Paradise); (casually) southwestern New Mexico (Animas
+Mountain); eastern Chihuahua (Ciudad Chihuahua); and Veracruz
+(Perote). =East= to Veracruz (Perote and Jalapa). =South= to
+central Veracruz (Jalapa); Mexico (Popocatapetl); and southern
+Durango (Canyon Rio San Juan). =West= to Durango (Canyon Rio San
+Juan, Ciudad Durango, and Arroyo del Buey); western Chihuahua
+(Guadalupe y Calvo, Jesus Maria, and Colonia Garcia); and
+southeastern Arizona (Nogales and probably Mowry).
+
+While the range as outlined includes the entire region over which
+the species is known to occur, it has actually been found breeding
+only in the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Durango. At irregular
+intervals flocks that sometimes are of large size travel northward
+and invade the mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona. Such
+invasions took place in 1900, 1904, and 1917.
+
+_Egg dates._--Mexico: 10 records, May 10 to August 25; 7 records,
+August 11 to 25.
+
+
+
+
+                         Order CUCULIFORMES
+
+          Family CUCULIDAE: Cuckoos, Roadrunners, and Anis
+
+
+                      CROTOPHAGA ANI Linnaeus
+
+                         SMOOTH-BILLED ANI
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This curious member of the cuckoo family is a tropical species of
+rare, or perhaps only casual, occurrence within the limits of the
+United States; a few may occur more or less regularly in southern
+Florida or Louisiana, but to find it in abundance one must visit
+the West Indies or South America. It has a variety of local names,
+such as black ani, black witch, blackbird, savanna blackbird, and
+tickbird, the last from its habit of eating the ticks that infest
+cattle. Charles B. Taylor sent some interesting notes on this bird
+to W. E. D. Scott (1892); regarding its haunts in Jamaica, he says:
+
+     The Ani appears to be abundant in all parts of the island.
+     It is one of the commonest birds near Kingston; and in
+     most open and sparsely wooded lands, or in the vicinity
+     of cultivated clearings, little groups or companies may
+     nearly always be seen. Blackbirds are invariably present
+     wherever cattle are pastured. I cannot recollect an
+     instance in which I have noted a herd of cows at pasture
+     without a flock of these birds appearing in company with
+     them or in their immediate vicinity. This association is
+     doubtless chiefly for the purpose of feeding on the ticks
+     and other parasites on the animals, a good work largely
+     shared by the Grackles (_Quiscalus crassirostris_). It is
+     most interesting to watch a company of Blackbirds when thus
+     engaged. Many are perched on the backs of the cattle (two
+     or three sometimes on one cow), others are on the ground
+     hopping about fearlessly among the grazing herd, searching
+     for insects at the roots of the herbage or capturing those
+     disturbed by the feet of the cattle.
+
+_Nesting._--He says on this subject:
+
+     Their nesting habits are exceedingly curious and
+     interesting. Many individuals (possibly members of one
+     flock) work together in the construction of a large nest
+     in which all the females of the company lay their eggs.
+     The number of eggs deposited in different nests varies
+     greatly but is of course dependent on the number of birds
+     in a company. Six and eight eggs are commonly found. I once
+     took eleven, and in August last year I saw a clutch of
+     twenty-one that had been taken from a single nest! It is
+     probable that normally not more than two eggs are deposited
+     by each bird, but nothing definite can be said on this
+     point. The nest, which is usually placed high up in a tall
+     tree, very frequently in a clump of mistletoe on a “bastard
+     cedar”, is a large, loosely constructed mass of twigs,
+     entirely lined with dried leaves. But the most remarkable
+     circumstance in connection with the nesting of these birds
+     is the deposition of the eggs in _regular layers_ with
+     leaves between. This custom I had long heard of before an
+     opportunity offered for personal observation. In the first
+     nest I examined, the eggs were in two distinct layers,
+     separated by a deep bed of dry leaves; the bottom layer
+     consisted of four eggs and these, strange to say, were all
+     infertile. I believe this singular habit is practised in
+     all cases where a large number of birds resort to the same
+     nest.
+
+Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1927) writes:
+
+     Although this species often builds a communal nest, this
+     is not always the case. Near Cayey [Porto Rico], January
+     22, two anis were seen constructing a nest in a tree about
+     thirty feet above a small stream, the male sitting on a
+     limb above while the female was in the nest, as yet only
+     a loose mass of sticks and weeds. She moved and turned to
+     shape it to her body, with her long tail sticking nearly
+     straight up in the air. Near Bayamón, July 25, a single
+     bird slipped quietly from a bulky nest in a clump of
+     bamboos and only its mate appeared to join it. The nests
+     were all large and bulky and were located from six to
+     thirty feet above the ground. Bowdish reports a communal
+     nest found near Aguadilla, August 13, built eight feet from
+     the ground, in a thicket of bushes and trees. This nest
+     contained twenty eggs, placed in layers of four or five,
+     each layer being covered with dead leaves to separate it
+     from the next lot of eggs above. Eight of the eggs were
+     partly incubated and twelve were fresh.
+
+John G. Wells (1902) says: “A flat nest is first built and about
+6 or 7 eggs laid in it; then these are covered over and more eggs
+laid, and so on until four or five layers of nests have been
+constructed one over the other.
+
+“I have seen four of these birds sitting on the nest together.
+When the top layer of eggs is hatched, and the young fledged, it
+is scraped off and incubation goes on with each succeeding layer,
+until all the eggs are hatched.”
+
+_Eggs._--On account of its communal nesting habits, the number of
+eggs laid by each individual ani does not seem to be known; nor
+is anything known about the period of incubation. The number of
+eggs found in a nest varies greatly, from 4 or 5 up to 20 or more,
+depending on the number of females laying in the nest. I have in
+my collection a set of 18, there is a set of 19 in the Thayer
+collection, and sets of 20 and 21 are mentioned above.
+
+The eggs vary in shape from oval to elliptical-oval. Bendire
+(1895) says that the eggs “are glaucous-blue in color, and this is
+overlaid and hidden by a thin, chalky, white deposit; as incubation
+advances the eggs become more or less scratched and the blue
+underneath is then plainly visible in places, giving them a very
+peculiar appearance.” The underlying color of some of the eggs that
+I have seen is “pale Nile blue”; others have described them as
+green.
+
+The eggs are often very much nest stained. Mr. Taylor (Scott,
+1892) makes the following interesting observation regarding the
+scratches: “What seems very singular is that comparatively little
+of this chalky covering gets rubbed off the sides, where from the
+turning over of the eggs in the nest we should expect to see the
+greatest extent of denudation, whereas _one_ or _both ends_ are
+nearly always _wholly_ denuded. * * * So cleanly and evenly is it
+done, and to such an extent, that I feel confident it is the work
+of the birds themselves, their beaks alone being able to accomplish
+it. At the same time it is easy to see that the marks and scratches
+at the sides are the result of friction with the twigs and leaves
+of the nest.”
+
+The measurements of 63 eggs average 35.03 by 26.27 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =40.4= by 28, 36.5 by =30=,
+and =29.21= by =23.37= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--Alexander F. Skutch has sent me the following notes on
+the development of young smooth-billed anis, as observed by him on
+Barro Colorado Island, Panama: “The newly hatched ani is covered
+with black skin quite devoid of any trace of feathers. Its eyes are
+tightly closed. The development of this naked, helpless, little
+creature is amazingly rapid. By the second day the sheaths of the
+flight plumes have already begun to sprout. By the third day the
+eyes are open, and the sheaths of the contour feathers have begun
+to push out from the skin. The pinfeathers grow rapidly and become
+very long before they begin to release the true feathers which they
+enclose. When the young ani is 5 days old, the body feathers peep
+from the ends of their sheaths. At this age, the nestling could
+hang by one foot from my finger, and pull itself up by the use of
+its feet and bill, which was hooked over the support. When placed
+on the ground, it attempted to crawl away through the grass, and
+might have succeeded in escaping if I had not watched it carefully.
+Returned to the nest, it would not remain in the bowl, but climbed
+out to perch on the rim, where it uttered a little whine.
+
+“When I approached the nest on the following day, the 6-day-old
+youngster hopped out and began to climb through the thorny branches
+of the orange tree, but soon it lost its hold and fell to the
+ground. When I picked it up, it uttered a weak imitation of the
+parents’ usual call. The flight feathers, as well as the body
+feathers, were now pushing forth from their sheaths, and the latter
+were longer than on the preceding day. Much bare skin was, however,
+still visible between them. On the following morning the nest was
+empty; and I could not discover what had befallen the occupant.”
+
+_Plumages._--The youngest bird I have seen is about half grown
+and fully feathered. The contour plumage is soft and short, “bone
+brown” on the under parts and somewhat darker above; the wings and
+tail are glossy, purplish black, much like those of the adult; the
+bill is smaller and less specialized than that of the adult. On
+account of the extended breeding season, it is difficult to give
+any definite dates for the molts. I have seen a young male, taken
+March 7, that was just completing the molt of the wings and tail,
+but the body plumage was still juvenal; from this I infer that
+the juvenal plumage may be worn for the whole of the first year.
+Maynard (1896) took some birds that had just completed molting on
+March 8; also some that had just begun to molt on April 24. I have
+seen young birds molting into adult plumage in December.
+
+_Food._--P. H. Gosse (1847) says of the food of the ani in Jamaica:
+
+     The food of our Blackbird, though consisting mainly of
+     insects, is not confined to them. We usually find the
+     stomach distended with caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers,
+     beetles, and other insects, to such a degree that we
+     wonder how the mass could have been forced in. But I
+     have found these contents mixed up with, and stained by
+     the berries of the snake-withe; and in July I have found
+     the stomach crammed with the berries of the fiddle-wood,
+     (_Cytharaxylon_) which had stained the whole inner surface
+     a bright crimson. Flocks of these birds were at that time
+     feeding on the glowing clusters profusely ripe upon the
+     trees. Stationary insects are the staple food; to obtain
+     which, they hop about grassy places, and are often seen to
+     jump, or to run eagerly at their prey; on which occasions
+     the long tail, continuing the given motion after the body
+     has stopped, is thrown forward in an odd manner, sometimes
+     nearly turning the bird head over heels. * * *
+
+     One day I noticed a cow lying down, around which were four
+     or five Blackbirds, hopping on or off her neck, and eagerly
+     picking the insects from her body; which service seemed in
+     no wise unpleasing to her. I have also seen them leaping
+     up on cows when grazing; and, on another occasion, jumping
+     to and from a horse’s back; and my lad Sam has repeatedly
+     observed them clinging to a cow’s tail, and picking insects
+     from it, as far down as the terminal tuft. * * *
+
+     But stationary insects are not the only prey of the
+     Crotophaga; in December, I have seen little groups of
+     them engaged in the evenings, leaping up from the pasture
+     about a yard into the air, doubtless after flying insects,
+     which they seemed to catch. * * * I have seen one with a
+     dragon-fly in its beak, which it had just caught, but it
+     may have been while resting. At another time I saw that
+     a Blackbird had actually made prey of one of our little
+     nimble lizards (_Anolis_).
+
+Maynard (1896) says that “anis live largely on locusts, especially
+a large species, which is quite common on the Bahamas, and which
+has a peculiar, rather disagreeable odor, which is imparted to the
+birds.” W. E. Clyde Todd (1916) says that, on the Isle of Pines,
+“it is fond of following in the wake of brush-fires, picking up
+the roasted lizards, snails, and insects.” Dr. Wetmore (1916)
+reports that the stomachs of 41 birds from Puerto Rico contained
+91.3 percent animal matter, mostly harmful insects and arachnids,
+including mole crickets, other crickets, locusts, sugar-cane
+root-borers, leaf beetles, other beetles, squashbugs, other bugs,
+caterpillars, and spiders; the other 8.7 percent was vegetable
+matter, mostly seeds and fruits of 7 species of wild plants. He
+also says elsewhere (1927): “On May 20 near Yauco three anis were
+seen in a tree in which several mazambiques had nests. The anis
+were very near these nests, and the blackbirds, together with a
+pair of gray kingbirds, were much excited, but appeared to be
+unable to drive out the intruders. It was certain that the anis
+were bent on robbing the nests, and one was shot in the act of
+gulping down something which was later found to be an egg. No other
+instances of this evil habit were observed.”
+
+_Behavior._--Gosse (1847) writes:
+
+     Though its usual mode of progression on the ground is
+     by hopping, or rather bounding, the feet being lifted
+     together, the Blackbird is seen occasionally to _run_ in
+     a headlong manner for a short distance, moving the feet
+     alternately. He is fond of sitting in the morning sun
+     on a low tree with the wings expanded; remaining there
+     perfectly still for a considerable time. In the heat of the
+     day, in July and August, many may be seen in the lowland
+     plains, sitting on the fences and logwood hedges with the
+     beaks wide open, as if gasping for air; they then forget
+     their usual loquacity and wariness. Often two or three
+     will sit in the centre of a thick bush, overhung with a
+     matted drapery of convolvolus, whence they utter their
+     singular cry in a calling tone, as if they were playing at
+     hide-and-seek, and requiring their fellows to come and find
+     them.
+
+Several observers have noted that anis roost at night huddled close
+together on a branch, like domestic fowls, and that they often
+bunch together in this way during a rain. Dr. Wetmore (1927) writes:
+
+     These strange birds are found in flocks that contain from
+     half a dozen to twenty or more individuals, ranging mainly
+     in pasture-lands, but going also into the cane-fields and
+     orange groves to feed. In pastures they remain near the
+     cattle, keeping ahead of them with long hops, in order to
+     get the insects that the cattle scare up. Any intruder is
+     greeted with a querulous call, and the whole flock flies in
+     a straggling line across the fields to perch in a bush or
+     low tree, where they crowd together and peer out curiously,
+     their long tails and arched beaks giving them an odd
+     appearance. In the early morning, when the grass is wet,
+     they frequently sit in the sun with the wings extended in
+     order to dry them or to absorb heat. The wings are small
+     for the size of the bird, and the flight, accomplished
+     by a series of steady wing beats alternating with short
+     sails, is not strong. In a heavy wind the birds are almost
+     helpless, and they seldom rise high from the ground at any
+     time. When on the wing, the back appears concave from the
+     fact that the head and tail are held on a higher level.
+
+C. J. Maynard (1896) says:
+
+     In flight they most nearly resemble a Canada or Florida
+     Jay, alternately flopping and sailing, moving in a straight
+     forward flight from tree to tree with great rapidity,
+     uttering their mournful notes as they quickly disappear in
+     the distance. * * *
+
+     A careful study of the Anis convinced me of the fact that a
+     number of females are led by two or three males, and these
+     males take great care of their charges. They utter cries of
+     alarm when they perceive an intruder, and drive the females
+     before them into a place of safety. I have even seen males
+     fly against females or young birds which did not attempt to
+     escape soon enough, and knock them off the limb on which
+     they sat and then accompany them to a distant thicket.
+
+     I am inclined to think that the Ani is polygamous and this
+     habit of the males taking care of a number of females would
+     appear to confirm this idea.
+
+Mr. Taylor (Scott, 1892) gives a somewhat different impression,
+thus:
+
+     The Blackbirds at their best have a very lean and shabby
+     appearance, and are slow and awkward in their movements.
+     I have watched an individual make several ineffectual
+     attempts to alight on the frond of a cocoanut palm; but
+     even among the branches of other trees their actions
+     appear awkward. Their flight is slow and gliding, somewhat
+     labored, and of little duration, the birds often appearing
+     to fall short of the point originally aimed at. Yet they
+     will chase the large yellow butterflies, and I was shown
+     a large green locust that one of these birds was seen to
+     capture in flight and afterwards drop. In the progress of
+     a flock from place to place they do not usually fly all
+     together, but move away in straggling groups or couples.
+     One or more individuals first start off with their wailing
+     call, followed soon after by two or three; after a little
+     delay then two more go; another pause, then one, then
+     three, and so on. If a tree has very dense foliage they
+     alight (with much awkward scrambling) on the tops or
+     extremities of the highest branches, where they may gain a
+     clear and uninterrupted view, and this is usually the case
+     when they are traversing very open country.
+
+_Voice._--The note of the ani has been called a wailing or a
+whining whistle; it has been said to resemble the notes of the
+wood duck. Dr. Wetmore (1927) says: “The ordinary call-notes are
+a low _kur-r-rk_ and a querulous _quee ick, quee ick_, varied by
+low chuckling notes. When the birds are at all wild, they serve to
+alarm the entire country, as they begin to call on the slightest
+provocation.” It has also been expressed as _que-yuch, que-yuch,
+que-yuch_ by Gosse (1847) and similarly by others.
+
+_Field marks._--The ani is such a peculiar and unique bird that it
+could hardly be mistaken for anything else. It is the only long,
+slender, black bird, with a long tail, short wings, and a huge
+bill, that is to be found within its range, so far as I know. Its
+shape and its manner of flight are quite different from those of
+the grackles; its concave back in flight, referred to above, is
+distinctive. Gosse (1847) says: “The appearance of the bird in its
+sliding flights is unusual; the body is slender, the head large,
+and the beak enormous; and as in flying it assumes a perfectly
+straight form, with the long tail in the same line, without
+flapping the wings, it takes the aspect, on a side view, rather of
+a fish than of a bird.”
+
+Where our two small species of anis come together in Panama, they
+are likely to be confused, but the voices of the two are quite
+distinct; the call of the groove-billed is softer and higher in
+pitch, while that of the smooth-billed is more raucous and whining.
+The grooves in the bill of the former are not easily seen, except
+under favorable circumstances, but the culmen of the bill in the
+smooth-billed is much higher and sharper than in the groove-billed.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--South America and the West Indies; casual in winter
+in eastern Central America and casual or accidental in Florida,
+Louisiana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
+
+The normal range of the smooth-billed ani extends =north= to
+western Cuba (Los Indios and Nueva Gerona); the Bahama Islands
+(Little Abaco and Nassau); Haiti (Jacmel); the Dominican Republic
+(Sesua and Ciudad Trujillo); Puerto Rico (Aguidillo and Rio
+Piedras); and the Virgin Islands (Cuelebra, Vieques, and St.
+Croix). =East= to the Virgin Islands (St. Croix); the Lesser
+Antilles (Grenada and Trinidad); British Guiana (Georgetown);
+Surinam (Paramaribo); and eastern Brazil (Ilha Mexiana, Maranhao,
+Bahia, Sapetiba, Canatgallo, Rio de Janeiro, and Iguape). =South=
+to southeastern Brazil (Iguape); and northern Argentina (Posadas,
+the Chaco District, and San Jose). =West= to northwestern Argentina
+(San Jose, Concepcion, and Salta); Peru (Huanuco and Iquitos);
+northwestern Colombia (the Cauca River Valley); Panama (Gatun,
+Perme, and Obaldia); Jamaica (Port Henderson, Spanish Town, Grand
+Cayman, and Little Cayman); and western Cuba (Los Indios).
+
+This species occurs in other parts of Central America only in
+winter, when it has been recorded from Costa Rica (Rio Coto);
+Nicaragua (Great and Little Corn Islands); Honduras (Ruatan
+Island); and Quintana Roo, Mexico (Cozumel Island).
+
+_Casual records._--The following are among the several records
+the species has for Florida: Flamingo, a specimen taken in June
+1916; Pass-a-Grille, a specimen collected on February 25, 1929;
+Dry Tortugas, three seen June 18 and 19, 1935; and Miami Beach, a
+small flock seen on February 24, 1937. Undated specimens also are
+available for Brevard County, Tortugas, Pepper Hammock near the
+head of the Banana River, and Charlotte Harbor.
+
+A specimen was collected on July 18, 1893, at Diamond, and several
+have been reported from the vicinity of Buras, St. Bernard Parish,
+La. A specimen was collected previous to 1866 at Edenton, N. C.,
+while individuals were reported from Piney Creek in the western
+part of that State on July 17, 1932, June 1, 1933, and June 25,
+1934. There also is an old record of the occurrence of this species
+on Pettys Island in the Delaware River, opposite Kensington, Pa.
+
+_Egg dates._--Bahamas: 2 records, June 14.
+
+Brazil: 3 records, October 1 to November 18.
+
+British Guiana: 3 records, January 14 to July 2.
+
+Cuba: 4 records, February 22 to August 20.
+
+Jamaica: 7 records, May 29 to July 30.
+
+Puerto Rico: 2 records, July 25 and August 13.
+
+
+           CROTOPHAGA SULCIROSTRIS SULCIROSTRIS Swainson
+
+                         GROOVE-BILLED ANI
+
+                            PLATES 1, 2
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This Central and South American species was added to our fauna by
+George B. Sennett (1879), who secured a fine male on May 19, 1878,
+near Lomita, Tex., while it was “flying about the low bushes in
+open chaparral. It was very shy, flying in and about the bushes,
+and was shot on the wing.” The only one I have ever seen did not
+seem at all shy. I was sitting down, quietly watching some Texas
+sparrows that were hopping around on the ground near me, in some
+thick brush bordering a resaca near Brownsville, Tex., when one of
+these curious birds appeared. It seemed more curious than shy, as
+it moved about slowly in the bushes, looking me over; it remained
+in my vicinity for some time and I could have shot it easily. It is
+said to show a preference for thick underbrush in the vicinity of
+water, or for lightly wooded swamps.
+
+In his proposed work on the birds of the Caribbean lowlands,
+Alexander F. Skutch devotes two long and very interesting chapters
+to the home life of the groove-billed ani. He has kindly placed
+at my disposal his unpublished manuscript and allowed me to quote
+freely from it. As to its haunts, he writes: “The variety of the
+habitat of the anis is enormous and their only restriction seems to
+be that they do not tolerate the forest and are never seen there.
+They are birds of open country but seem nearly indifferent to its
+type. In the inhabited districts of the humid coastal regions they
+are one of the most conspicuous species. Their favorite haunts are
+bushy pastures, orchards, the lighter second growth, and even lawns
+and clearings about the native huts. Marshland is as acceptable
+to them as a well-drained hillside, and they are numerous in such
+extensive stands of sawgrass as that surrounding the Toloa Lagoon
+in Honduras, although it is probable that they do not venture far
+from some outstanding hummock or ridge which supports a few low
+bushes in which they can roost and nest. In the semidesert regions
+of the interior, where their associates of the coast lands, if
+present at all, are as a rule rare and restricted to the moist
+thickets along the rivers, they are among the most numerous of
+birds, and live among scattered cacti and acacias as successfully
+as amid the rankest vegetation of the districts watered by 12 feet
+of rainfall in the year. In altitude they range upward to 5,000
+feet, but are not nearly so numerous in the elevated districts as
+in the lowlands.”
+
+_Nesting._--Dr. Charles W. Richmond, drawing on his experience with
+it near Bluefields, Nicaragua, sent some elaborate notes on the
+groove-billed ani to Major Bendire (1895), from which I quote as
+follows:
+
+     It appears to breed at various times during the year, as
+     I have found fresh eggs July 6, 1892, and young birds,
+     recently from the nest, November 29, the breeding season
+     spreading over seven months of the year at least, as it
+     begins nesting earlier than the date of taking my first
+     eggs. Nests are frequently built in the heart of a thick,
+     thorny orange or lemon tree, and this appears to be a
+     favorite situation. In this case the nest is from 4 to 7
+     feet from the ground, and, besides being difficult to get
+     at, is somewhat protected from invasion by the wasps which
+     almost invariably take up their abode in the same tree.
+     In going through a small lemon grove I found an old nest
+     of this species. In the cavity there were no eggs, but on
+     poking the nest to pieces six badly decayed eggs rolled out.
+
+     One nest containing three eggs in the proper place and two
+     others at the bottom, under the lining of green leaves, was
+     located in a bamboo about 12 feet from the ground. The eggs
+     were fresh, and more would probably have been deposited;
+     the leaves forming the lining were still green. The parent
+     birds were away at the time. Another nest was situated in
+     some vines which had over-run an old tree stub, and was
+     about 15 feet from the ground.
+
+     It may be that where numerous eggs are deposited in one
+     nest only those eggs that are deposited in the proper
+     place and directly influenced by the incubating bird are
+     hatched, while those placed among the sticks forming the
+     bulky exterior are left unhatched. It would be interesting
+     to watch the progress of a large nestful of eggs and note
+     results. The nests found by me were all composed of dead
+     black twigs, rather loosely put together, very bulky and
+     conspicuous structures, lined with green leaves, or, if old
+     nests, with leaves that had the appearance of having been
+     picked green.
+
+One of Dr. Richmond’s nests is described by Major Bendire (1895) as
+“a rather loose structure, about 10 inches in diameter and 4 inches
+in height. The inner cup measures 4 inches in diameter by 2½ inches
+in depth.”
+
+According to George K. Cherrie (1892) Señor Don Anastasio Alfaro
+says of the nests he collected in Costa Rica:
+
+     The structure is voluminous, composed chiefly of coarse
+     dead twigs, but presents one peculiarity not observed in
+     any other bird, namely the nest being lined with fresh
+     green leaves. My three specimens were all placed in low
+     trees, and neither was found at a greater height than three
+     meters. One had been built above an old nest of one of the
+     larger Tyrannidae.
+
+     It will not be without interest, I think, to insert my
+     observations relative to one of these nests. On the 20th
+     of May I noticed a Zopilotillo with a dry stick in its
+     bill, which was immediately carried to a point in the
+     hedge-row where it was deposited with three others. After
+     assuring myself that the bird was building its nest there,
+     I retired, with the intention of returning at a more
+     opportune moment. And when one week later I returned to
+     the same spot, what was my surprise to see not only the
+     nest completed and containing six eggs, but more than this:
+     in the thorns and leaves about it were scattered seven
+     more eggs! As a consequence, if that collection was not
+     the work of the Zopilotillos collectively, the poor owner
+     would have had to deposit three eggs daily! In the finding
+     of some of the eggs scattered in the leaves was revealed
+     one of the architect’s peculiarities. A hole had been left
+     in the centre of the nest and only recently filled with
+     leaves whose fresh green color testified that they had been
+     cut and placed there later than the others forming the
+     carpeting to the bottom of this common incubator.
+
+Alden H. Miller (1932) writes of his experience with the nesting
+habits of the groove-billed ani in El Salvador:
+
+     Several nests were watched from the time there was one
+     egg until there were nine, or in one case eleven, eggs.
+     The eggs were deposited regularly at one day intervals
+     and there was no certain indication in any of the sets,
+     of two females contributing to the same nest as has been
+     claimed by other observers. My findings, however, do not
+     prove conclusively that community nests may not exist, at
+     least occasionally. Incubation is uniform within a set
+     and, correspondingly, birds were found to be incubating
+     regularly only after the sets were completed. In the set
+     of thirteen the eggs were resting in three layers in the
+     necessarily ample cup of the nest.
+
+     Nest sites were from two feet to twenty-five feet above
+     ground in almost any kind of bush or tree. Usually they
+     were located between six and twelve feet above ground in
+     thorny tangles or close twiggery. One nest was found,
+     however, in an open crotch of a fan of a royal palm. Adult
+     birds are not much in evidence around nests which are being
+     built or around sets of incomplete eggs. When flushed from
+     sets of complete eggs, they may approach within five feet
+     of the intruder and utter their feeble, squeaking notes of
+     protest.
+
+A. J. van Rossem (1938) found several nests, on July 29, 1925,
+“in the mimosa scrub in the marsh along the north shore of Lake
+Olomega,” in El Salvador. “These nests were all in similar
+situations, that is, they were rather conspicuously placed in
+mimosa bushes and more than six feet above the mud or water.”
+
+Mr. Skutch devoted considerable time to studying the communal
+nesting habits of the groove-billed ani. He found them to be among
+the latest birds to breed, remaining together in small flocks from
+February to May while the other birds of the region were raising
+their broods. During June he watched the construction of a communal
+nest, on which three pairs worked in perfect harmony, operating in
+pairs and not as a unit. One of the pair remained on the nest while
+its mate brought in the material. There was not the least jealousy
+between the pairs, and “two or more pairs often perched quietly
+in the same bush. Each pair preferred to work alone at the nest,
+and if a second pair flew into the nesting tree, the first often
+quietly withdrew. This was not always their conduct, and sometimes
+one of the second pair (probably the female) took a place on the
+nest beside one of the first pair, while their two mates perched
+near by, or else brought them sticks.
+
+“The normal set of eggs for each female is three, or more commonly
+four. Nests belonging to a single pair generally contain this
+number, and the nests belonging to two pairs, which I encountered,
+contained a maximum of eight. Once I found a nest with 12 eggs,
+which covered the bottom two layers deep, and six birds were
+interested in them. * * * Of ten nests which I found in Honduras
+and Guatemala and was able to watch for an adequate period, four
+were the property of single pairs, five of two pairs together, and
+one belonged to three pairs in common.”
+
+All the birds of both sexes took turns in incubating the eggs,
+but their shifts on the nest had no regular order and no fixed
+duration. “Just as the parents cooperate in incubating the eggs,
+they all join in the care of the nestlings. I have watched
+three nests, each belonging to two pairs, during the time they
+contained young. Two of them, I made quite sure, were attended
+by four adults, but at the other I could not convince myself
+that there were more than three attendants. Possibly some
+calamity had befallen the fourth bird, or possibly also I failed
+to recognize it, since the anis at this nest were unmarked and
+indistinguishable.”
+
+_Eggs._--The groove-billed ani lays 4 to 13 eggs, the smaller
+numbers being apparently commoner. The eggs vary in shape from oval
+to elliptical-oval, or rarely to elliptical-ovate or rounded-ovate.
+The ground color, when visible, varies from “glaucous-blue” to
+“Nile blue” or “pale Nile blue”; when first laid, the ground
+color is completely covered with a thin layer of dull white,
+chalky deposit, which eventually becomes somewhat discolored; as
+incubation progresses this chalky covering becomes more or less
+scratched, by contact with the twigs in the nest or by the action
+of the bird’s feet in turning the eggs, or in relining the nest,
+so that ultimately much or nearly all of the blue ground color is
+visible; even then the shell is not glossy. The measurements of 51
+eggs average 30.93 by 24.06 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
+extremes measure =35= by 25, 32 by =26=, and =27.68= by =21.84=
+millimeters.
+
+_Young._--Mr. Skutch determined, by close observation of marked
+birds and by noting which individual of a marked pair laid the
+eggs, that both sexes share in the duties of incubation. They were
+very impatient sitters, constantly changing about; 30 minutes was
+the longest time that he saw one incubate, during the early stages,
+and they sometimes left the nest unguarded for 10 or 20 minutes,
+while they enjoyed each other’s company; during the last two days
+of incubation they lengthened their periods on the eggs to from 30
+minutes to an hour. He describes the hatching process in detail:
+
+“Fourteen days after the last egg had been laid, I held one in my
+hand while the birdling worked its way out of it. When I first
+took it up there was a gap in the larger end, which extended about
+a third of the way around the circumference. The little bird’s
+short, thick bill was in this gap, and so pressed out of position
+that the lower mandible overshot the upper, only a temporary
+condition. At intervals the struggling prisoner drew its bill
+farther into the egg, then suddenly pushed it outward, bringing
+the keeled upper edge, armed with a rather insignificant egg-tooth
+or ‘pip,’ against the edge of the shell at one end of the hole,
+and breaking off a small fragment at the outward thrust. In its
+squirmings the bird, impelling itself in some manner I could not
+determine, rotated imperceptibly slowly in the shell, in such a
+way that the head, turned under one wing, moved backward and the
+upper edge of the bill was constantly brought to bear upon a fresh
+portion of the shell, which was chipped off at the next outward
+thrust. Occasionally the struggling birdling emitted a weak cry.
+Thus bit by bit the ragged-margined aperture was lengthened until
+it extended about two-thirds of the way around the egg, when the
+struggles of the bird succeeded in cracking the remainder, and the
+large end of the shell fell off as a cap. Then the naked creature
+wormed its way out into my palm, where it lay exhausted by its
+continued effort.”
+
+In another nest the last egg to be laid hatched in 13 days. The
+young, when first hatched, “were blind, black-skinned, and without
+any trace of feathers.” When the nestlings were 6 days old they
+were “both bristling with long pinfeathers. The plumes of the one
+that was the older by a few hours were already beginning to peep
+through the tips of these pinfeathers.” Later in the day, the
+feathers had burst their sheaths with amazing rapidity, and the
+young bird “was already well covered. The back and belly, save for
+a naked line down the middle of the latter, bore a soft, downy
+black plumage. Broad ends of the flight feathers of both wings and
+tail now showed.”
+
+From this time on, the young birds became more lively and left
+the nest when approached, climbing about among the branches or
+down onto the ground to hide in the grass. They were brooded by
+one of the parents until they were a week old, returning to the
+nest at night. But “the following two nights they remained in the
+nesting tree but did not return to the nest to sleep. They could
+not yet fly and had entered a half scansorial, half terrestrial
+stage of existence. When they were 10 days old I tried to catch
+them for a photograph, but they hopped from limb to limb with such
+agility that, protected as they were by the sharp thorns, I was
+unable to secure them. When they were 10 days old they could make
+short flights from branch to branch of the same bush. Their bills
+were smooth, without any grooves, and their cheeks were bare of
+feathers.”
+
+All through his account Mr. Skutch emphasizes the affection that is
+shown by all the members of the ani family for one another. While
+he was watching the second nest of the pair on which the above
+observations were made, something very unusual, if not entirely
+unique, happened. One of the young from the previous brood, now
+nearly fully grown, “was the constant companion of his parents
+during the period in which they were busy with their second brood.”
+He frequently perched on the rim of the nest while one of his
+parents was incubating, and twice he was seen to offer food to the
+parent on the nest. After the young had hatched, “the youngster
+fed the nestlings regularly, but not so often as his parents.”
+During four hours and a quarter, he saw the male, always the more
+attentive parent, bring food to the nestlings 29 times, the female
+14, and the young assistant 8 times. “The young bird not only fed
+the nestlings but was ardent in protecting them, flying up close to
+me and uttering an angry _grrr-rr-rr_ whenever I came near them. In
+the absence of the parents he attempted to defend them alone.”
+
+_Plumages._--The young nestling and the development of its first
+plumage are described above. In this juvenal plumage the contour
+feathers are short and soft, “bone brown” below and darker above;
+the wings and tail are much like those of the adult; the bill is
+less specialized and not grooved.
+
+Van Rossem (1938) says:
+
+     The postjuvenal plumage, attained by a complete body and
+     tail and a partial wing molt, is not different from that
+     of the adults except that the rectrices are noticeably
+     narrower. An irregular molt of the primaries takes place
+     at this time, although some of the juvenal quills (though
+     their number and location varies) are held over till the
+     following spring. In March and April of the next year
+     there is a partial body, tail, and wing molt in which an
+     irregular number of rectrices are renewed and such juvenile
+     remiges as have been held over from the previous fall are
+     replaced by new ones. The adult plumage with wide rectrices
+     follows in the second fall, that is, at the first annual
+     molt. The time of the annual molt extends from the middle
+     of July to the first of October, the younger (one-year-old)
+     birds molting earlier than the older ones. The spring
+     molt of the adults includes some of the rectrices and
+     secondaries.
+
+_Food._--Mr. Skutch writes (MS.): “The food of the anis consists
+largely of insects, which they secure both from the ground and
+among the foliage of bushes, and to a smaller extent of fruit and
+berries. Often they hunt grasshoppers and other creatures among the
+long grass or tall weeds, where they are completely hidden from
+view except when occasionally they leap a foot or so above the
+herbage to snatch up an insect which has tried to escape by flight.
+Perhaps their favorite method of foraging is beside a grazing cow
+or mule. Several together remain close to the head of the beast,
+moving along by awkward hops as it moves and just managing to
+escape its jaws and forefeet, ever on the alert to snatch up the
+insects frightened from their retreat in the grass by the passage
+of the herbivore. It is frequently stated in books, and affirmed
+by the residents of the countries where the anis live, that they
+alight upon cattle and pluck ticks and other vermin from their
+skin--hence the name _garrapatero_ (tick-eater) given them in Costa
+Rica.
+
+“While this is doubtless true in certain parts of the ani’s range,
+I have watched them in the neighborhood of cattle from Panama to
+Guatemala and only once in three years have I seen an ani alight
+on a cow. Since the ani associates so much with cattle without
+alighting upon them, and the giant cowbird, another black bird of
+approximately the same size, does frequently perch upon them and
+relieve them of their vermin, it seems likely that the ani may be
+often credited with the acts of the cowbird, especially since the
+latter is shier and less known. I have occasionally questioned one
+who informed me that the ani plucks ticks from the grazing animals,
+only to find that he was unaware of the existence of the giant
+cowbird. At a little distance such a person might easily suppose
+that the birds upon the animal’s back were the same as those about
+its feet, and since his closer approach would leave only the
+latter, the illusion would probably persist.”
+
+He has also seen a group of anis excitedly following a battalion of
+army ants, probably not to feed on such fiery morsels as the ants,
+but to pick up “the cockroaches, spiders, and other small creatures
+driven from their retreat among the dead leaves by the relentless
+hordes.” Again he says: “After the first heavy rain of the season
+has sent the winged brood of the termites forth from their nests in
+countless millions, one can watch the anis everywhere feeding like
+flycatchers, making ungraceful darts, not exceeding a few feet,
+from low twigs and fences; but the insects are so numerous on these
+occasions that they can catch many without quitting their perches.”
+
+Major Bendire (1895) quotes Dr. Richmond as saying: “The food
+of those examined by me on banana plantations consisted almost
+entirely of small grasshoppers, the stomachs being much distended
+with these insects. From the fresh earth found on the bill and feet
+of these birds, I should judge they also feed on the ground.”
+
+Prof. A. L. Herrara, of the City of Mexico, wrote to Bendire that
+“it is a social bird, being usually found in small companies of
+from six to fifteen individuals, absolutely monogamous, sedentary,
+and of semidomesticated habits, frequenting the haciendas and the
+fields and pastures in their vicinity, and as it is considered
+very useful because of its habit of destroying large numbers
+of parasites infesting the cattle, it is not molested by the
+inhabitants, and becomes very tame. It extracts the _Ixodes_
+and other _Acaridans_ with remarkable skill, without causing
+ulcerations which might result from the proboscis or sucker
+remaining in the fibres of the skin, and it must be regarded as one
+of the most useful birds of Mexico, especially in warm regions, so
+abounding in parasites of all kinds.”
+
+_Behavior._--Dr. Richmond (Bendire, 1895) says:
+
+     At Mr. Haymond’s plantation, on the Escondido River,
+     above Bluefields, this species was unusually plentiful,
+     owing, no doubt, to a large number of cattle kept there.
+     The birds follow these animals as they meander over the
+     pastures, hopping along on each side of an animal, catching
+     grasshoppers and other insects which the cow disturbs as
+     it moves along. Frequently the cow moves too rapidly and
+     the birds lag behind, when they make short flights to the
+     front again, passing over one another after the manner of
+     the Grackles when feeding in a field. Only half a dozen
+     birds or so follow a cow usually, and not many congregate
+     in a flock, except when roosting. On this plantation, where
+     the species is more abundant than usual, the birds appear
+     to roost in numbers. An orange tree near the house was a
+     favorite place where thirty or forty birds came to pass the
+     night, flying in from the surrounding pasture about dusk,
+     and after a few short flights from one tree to another,
+     passed into the roost one or two at a time, hopping about
+     as if seeking a favorable perch, uttering their peculiar
+     note meanwhile. Out of this roost I shot seventeen birds
+     one evening, and the males greatly predominated; there
+     were only five females in the lot. The note of this
+     species reminds one somewhat of the Flicker, _Colaptes
+     auratus_, but may be better represented by the combination
+     “plee-co,” rapidly repeated, with the accent usually on
+     the first syllable, but sometimes on the last. I have
+     frequently found one of the small flocks resting on a bush
+     or bamboo along the water’s edge, perfectly silent, until
+     my near approach started them off, one or two at a time,
+     scolding as they went. Their flight is even, slow, as short
+     as possible, and consists of a few flaps of the wings,
+     followed by a short sail, then a few more flaps, etc.
+
+Mr. Skutch writes (MS.): “Their flight is as perfectly
+characteristic of the birds as any other of their peculiar habits.
+A long journey, say anything much in excess of a hundred yards,
+is seldom made by a continuous flight, but the bird advances with
+frequent pauses in conveniently situated trees and bushes. As he
+alights on one of the lower branches, the momentum of the long tail
+carries it forward above the head with an abrupt jerk. Recovering
+his balance, he remains here for some moments, looking around with
+caution and calling in his high-pitched voice. Then, satisfied
+that the path ahead is clear, with a _tuc tuc tuc, pihuy pihuy
+pihuy_, he launches himself upon the next stage of his journey. A
+few rapid beats of his short wings serve to impart the requisite
+momentum, and he sets them for a long glide. In this manner he can
+cover surprisingly long distances, on a slightly descending course,
+without further muscular effort. If his ultimate destination is a
+certain perch in a tree or bush, he will often arrest his flight on
+another considerably below it. By a few queer, rapid, sideways hops
+along the branch, and some bounds, or better bounces, from limb to
+limb, he gains the desired position where, as likely as not, he
+spreads his wings to the morning sun.”
+
+Mr. van Rossem (1938) says: “They feed side by side with never
+a sign of friction or argument over the choicer insects, and at
+night roost in low trees or bushes, pressed shoulder to shoulder
+to the limit of available space. We not infrequently found them
+thus when hunting at night. During the time just preceding nesting
+it was noticeable that they were inclined to roost two and two
+instead of in a long line. In some cases the pair was sitting in
+close contact, even though there might be plenty of room to perch
+comfortably.”
+
+_Voice._--Dr. Richmond’s impression of the note of the
+groove-billed ani is mentioned above. Señor Alfaro says, in his
+notes given Mr. Cherrie (1892), that, in Costa Rica, it is “known
+as ‘Tijo, tijo’ (tée-ho) in imitation of its peculiar notes
+which seem to repeat the word _tijo_ over and over again.” Dr.
+Chapman (1896) says: “Its note is a prolonged _chee-wyyah_, easily
+distinguishable from the single whining whistle of _C. ani_.” Mr.
+van Rossem (1938) says: “The ordinary or ‘conversational’ notes
+are a series of very liquid and what can best be described as
+‘contented’ bubblings and cluckings. The louder, often repeated
+‘chee-múy-o-chee-múy-o’ is the alarm note.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Baja California,
+south to northern South America.
+
+The range of the groove-billed ani extends =north= to southern Baja
+California (San Pedro and Santiago); southern Sinaloa (Mazatlan);
+southern Texas (Lomita and Corpus Christi); and Yucatan (Progreso
+and Chichen-Itza). =East= to Yucatan (Chichen-Itza); British
+Honduras (Cayo); Honduras (La Ceiba); Colombia (Santa Marta); and
+Venezuela (Altagracia, Curaçao, and Caicara). =South= to Venezuela
+(Caicara); and Peru (Chachapoyas and Lima). =West= to Peru (Lima
+and Cutervo); Ecuador (Tumbez); Costa Rica (San Jose and La Palma);
+El Salvador (Sonsonate); western Guatemala (Lake Amatitlan);
+southwestern Chiapas (Tapachula); Nayarit (San Blas); and southern
+Baja California (San Jose del Cabo and San Pedro).
+
+The birds found in the cape district of Baja California have been
+separated subspecifically and are known as the San Lucas ani, _C.
+s. pallidula_.
+
+_Casual records._--In Louisiana a specimen was collected near
+New Orleans about 1890; another was taken at Ostrica during the
+winter of 1919; a third was obtained without date of collection
+near Houma; a fourth was taken at Cottonport on December 11, 1932;
+while a fifth was collected on Grand Isle on April 23, 1935. A
+specimen was taken at Huachucas, Ariz., 10 miles from the Mexican
+border, in May 1888, and it was noted at a point 20 miles north of
+Tucson on August 21, 1932. About November 1, 1904, a specimen was
+taken near Emporia, Kans., and on October 12, 1913, one was killed
+on an island about 9 miles north of Red Wing, Minn. A specimen
+was obtained at Jupiter Inlet, Fla., during the first week in
+January 1891, and there is also a somewhat indefinite record of
+its occurrence in the early part of January in the vicinity of
+Kingston, Jamaica.
+
+_Egg dates._--Central America: 4 records, May 27 to July 29.
+
+Baja California: 6 records, April 1 to September 3.
+
+Mexico: 40 records, March 20 to August 14; 20 records, May 16 to
+June 30, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Texas: 7 records, March 17 to July 15.
+
+
+         CROTOPHAGA SULCIROSTRIS PALLIDULA Bangs and Penard
+
+                           SAN LUCAS ANI
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The groove-billed ani of the Cape region of Lower California,
+Mexico, was described and given the above name by Bangs and Penard
+(1921), based on a series of 18 specimens from San José del Cabo.
+It is said to be--
+
+     similar to _Crotophaga sulcirostris sulcirostris_ Swainson
+     of Mexico, and of about the same size, but much paler
+     and with less purplish iridescence; the U-shaped iridescent
+     markings of the back and breast paler and duller greenish,
+     not so brilliant; the dull purplish bronze of the head
+     and neck of true _sulcirostris_ replaced by paler, more
+     grayish bronze; the lustreless parts of the body-feathers
+     grayish brownish black instead of dull black. * * *
+
+     Eighteen adults of this new form, laid out beside a series
+     of nearly double that number from various points in Mexico
+     and Central America, are strikingly different; the pale,
+     dull colors of the Lower California bird cannot be matched
+     by any specimen in our series of true _sulcirostris_. The
+     difference is noticeable at a glance but rather difficult
+     to describe. Brewster (1902), in his account of the birds
+     of the Cape Region of Lower California, states that the
+     Groove-billed Ani is not known to occur in central and
+     northern Lower California, and that the colonies which
+     have become established in the Cape region were probably
+     originated by birds which came from western Mexico. However
+     this may be, the isolated colony of Cape St. Lucas has
+     developed into a very distinct form, worthy of recognition.
+
+Griffing Bancroft writes to me, on August 6, 1937, that he is “as
+nearly satisfied as it is possible to be from negative evidence”
+that this form of the groove-billed ani is extinct.
+
+_Nesting._--Lyman Belding (1883) writes: “The 1st of April I
+discovered four of these birds in a marsh, in which was a rank
+growth of _tule_, flags, and reeds. Having shot one of them, and
+the others were not molested, they remained in the marsh until May
+15, or later. A nest found April 29 contained eight eggs. It was
+fastened to upright reeds, and was composed of coarse weed stalks
+and mesquite twigs, lined with green leaves. The female, while
+incubating, was very wary, slipping quietly away from the nest and
+returning to it very stealthily, below the tops of the reeds.”
+
+William Brewster (1902) says that the nest “taken by Mr. Frazar
+was in a willow about twenty feet above the ground. It is a
+flat-loose, but withal rather neat structure, formed outwardly of
+dead twigs and very substantially lined with cottonwood and willow
+leaves, which look as if they must have been dry when gathered.
+* * * This nest measures about six inches across the top, and the
+cavity is nearly an inch in depth. * * * Mr. Frazar met with the
+Groove-billed Ani only at San José del Cabo, where a flock of about
+thirty frequented some thick brush about pools of water near the
+mouth of the river.”
+
+_Eggs._--The eggs of this race are apparently just like those of
+the species elsewhere. The measurements of 9 eggs average 31.99
+by 24.00 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure
+=33.5= by 23, 31.8 by =24.9=, and 30.5 by =23= millimeters.
+
+
+                  GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNIANUS (Lesson)
+
+                             ROADRUNNER
+
+                             PLATES 3–6
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+                CONTRIBUTED BY GEORGE MIKSCH SUTTON
+
+Most ornithologists are to some extent acquainted with the
+roadrunner. They have read about him. They have heard strange
+stories about him. Perhaps, driving along some road in the
+Southwestern United States, they have even seen him. But he who
+really knows the roadrunner has risen morning after morning with
+the desert sun; thrilled at the brilliance of the desert stars;
+seen day turned to sudden night by the dust-storm; pulled cactus
+spines from his shins. He who knows the roadrunner, he who has
+measured the breadth and the depth of this unique bird personality,
+has lived with him--not for an hour or so, not for a day, but week
+after week after week.
+
+First impressions almost invariably give us an inadequate concept
+of this strange bird. We hear him scuttle through dry leaves ahead
+of us, catch a glimpse of him as he slips back of a rock, know from
+the flight of a grasshopper that he has gone a certain way, and
+that is all. Or, coming upon him suddenly, we surprise him into
+flight; note his short, rounded wings, long tail, and coarsely
+streaked plumage; watch him sail down the arroyo; and marvel that
+with the shutting of his wings and reckless plunge into the thicket
+he is so instantly lost to view.
+
+Sometimes, traveling in a motorcar, we come upon him perched on
+a fence post or telegraph pole close to the highway. Now we have
+opportunity to observe how slim he is, how long his legs, how
+noticeable his crest. But as we pass he leaps to the ground, swings
+off through the cactus clumps, and is gone. Once more only a
+glimpse! Once more only the retreat of a timid desert creature that
+appears to be half bird, half reptile.
+
+But lie in wait for the roadrunner! Watch him race across the sand,
+full speed, after a lizard. Watch him put out a wing, change his
+course, throw up his tail, change his course again, plunge headlong
+into a clump of cactus, and emerge, whacking his limp victim on the
+ground. Watch him jerk a slender snake from the grass, fling it
+into the air, grasp it by the head or neck, pummel it with his hard
+mandibles, and gulp it head first. Watch him stalk a grasshopper,
+slipping quietly forward, making a sudden rush with wings and tail
+fully spread, frightening the doomed insect into flight, then
+leaping 3 or 4 feet in air to snatch it flycatcherwise in his long
+bill. Watch the roadrunner for an hour at his daily business of
+catching food and you will deem him among the most amazing of all
+the desert’s amazing creatures. Snake-killer indeed! Chaparral
+cock! Not by sitting quietly on fence posts, not by slipping
+shyly from the path, has the roadrunner earned for himself these
+bloodstirring names!
+
+So odd, so even _funny_ a creature is the roadrunner that it is
+natural to caricature him a bit in describing him. This J. L.
+Sloanaker (1913) has done when he writes:
+
+     Of all the birds on our list the Roadrunner is doubtless
+     the most unique; indeed, he is _queer_, and would certainly
+     take first prize in the freak class at the Arizona state
+     fair. He is about two feet in length, with a tail as long
+     as his body, color above brown streaked with black, bare
+     spaces around eyes blue and orange, feathers of head and
+     neck bristle-tipped, eyelids lashed, * * * his whole
+     plumage coarse and harsh. Could you imagine such a looking
+     creature? Try and think of a long striped snake on two
+     legs, a feather duster on his head and another trailing
+     behind; or a tall, slim tramp in a swallow-tailed coat, a
+     black and blue eye, and a head of hair standing straight on
+     end! There you are!
+
+Elliott Coues (1903) describes roadrunners as “singular
+birds--cuckoos compounded of a chicken and a Magpie.” Mrs. Bailey
+(1902) considers them among the “most original and entertaining of
+western birds.” Other writers call them “odd,” “anomalous,” and
+“unique.” They are.
+
+Throughout much of his range the roadrunner is known as the
+chaparral cock, or merely the chaparral. He also is called lizard
+bird, ground cuckoo, cock of the desert, and, as we have stated
+above, snake killer. The Mexicans call him the _paisano_ or the
+_correo del camino_. The first of these names means _compatriot_
+or _fellow countryman_; according to some writers it expresses
+affectionate regard, and is to be freely translated “little
+friend.” The latter is almost the equivalent of our name roadrunner.
+
+That the roadrunner has at times been known as the _churca_ we
+learn from an interesting note by Elliott Coues (1900) who quotes
+from an anonymous Franciscan priest the following description,
+published in 1790: “The _Churca_ is a kind of pheasant which has a
+long bill, dark plumage, a handsome tail and _four feet_. It has
+these latter facing outward in such fashion that when it runs it
+leaves the track of two feet going forward and two going backward.”
+
+Coues himself calls attention to the fact that the word “toes”
+must replace the word “feet” in the above paragraph if the
+description is to fit the roadrunner. The error may well have
+been the translator’s. At any rate, anyone who has observed a
+roadrunner’s tracks in the sand knows how faithfully these record
+the zygodactylism of the bird’s foot.
+
+Many a fanciful tale is told of the roadrunner. According to the
+best known of these, the bird builds a fence of cactus spines
+about a sleeping rattler, letting the doomed reptile buffet itself
+to weariness until finally, in desperation, it is impaled on the
+spines or bites itself to death! According to other stories (some
+of which probably have a grain of truth in them), the bird will
+deliberately race the swiftest horse across the plains!
+
+The speed of the roadrunner _is_ remarkable. Not when he is
+flying--a flying roadrunner is as much out of his element as a
+swimming chicken--but when he is afoot. A. W. Anthony (1892) tells
+us of a pair of birds that apparently enjoyed being chased by a
+hound that could never catch them. He says:
+
+     At Hatchita [New Mexico] a pair came regularly to one of
+     the mines for water, a small pool having been formed near
+     the shaft, from the pumps. The visit was made at nearly the
+     same hour each forenoon, and was eagerly looked forward to
+     by a foxhound owned by one of the workmen. The dog never
+     failed to give chase as soon as the birds were sighted, and
+     the race was as much enjoyed by the birds as by the dog;
+     they seemed to have no difficulty whatever in keeping well
+     out of danger without taking wing, and usually found time
+     during the chase to stop at the water hole and get their
+     daily drink, after which they quickly disappeared.
+
+H. C. Bryant (1916) quotes from Heermann that the roadrunner “may,
+however, be overtaken when followed on horseback over the vast open
+plains,” and Heermann is known to have seen “one captured by a
+couple of dogs.”
+
+Richard Hunt (1920), who was able to check with a speedometer the
+actual speed of a roadrunner encountered “en route from Soledad
+to the Galiban Range” in California, writes: “At the top speed to
+which we provoked our victim, the famous runner was moving at the
+tremendous rate of 10 miles an hour on a practically level piece of
+road.”
+
+H. H. Sheldon (1922a), who also checked the roadrunner’s running
+speed with a speedometer, writes of the incident: “The car gained
+on the bird until about five yards separated us, and I saw it
+was running at its utmost speed. I instructed my friend, who was
+driving, not to press him further, and for fully three hundred
+yards the bird ran from the big monster in pursuit, the while
+the speedometer registered exactly fifteen miles per hour. When
+finally we approached very closely, the bird gave up and flew into
+a palm, where I plainly saw it, beak agape and apparently very much
+fatigued from the unusual exertion.”
+
+There is no doubt in my own mind that a fully adult roadrunner,
+can, for short distances, run faster than 15 miles an hour.
+Athletic directors tell us that an average man (not an athlete) can
+run 9 yards a second, or about 18 miles an hour. I know I can run
+as fast as the average man, and I know I have failed many a time to
+gain on a roadrunner that happened to appear on the road a short
+distance ahead of me. I distinctly recall catching two _young_
+roadrunners (with tails 7 or 8 inches long) in a little gully near
+Fort Worth, Tex., in about the year 1913. I had quite a chase and
+might never have caught them had they not been forced to run up a
+steep embankment.
+
+_Spring._--We have seen the roadrunner sneak off through the
+weeds--a frightened bird. We have seen him capture lizards,
+snakes, scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas--a veritable monster.
+But not until we have heard him sing do we know the finer side
+(as Aldrovandus of old would say) of his nature. On fine spring
+mornings he sings as the sun rises, and he may continue his
+fervent if somewhat monotonous performance for an hour or more.
+His favorite songperch is the eastern rim of a mesa where, full in
+the fresh sunlight, he can see far and wide. If there is no mesa,
+he chooses a dead tree or a high cactus. Here, directing his bill
+downward until it almost touches his toes, he begins to coo. _Coo,
+coo, coo, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh_, he calls, pumping out the
+syllables in a hoarse, throaty voice, his head rising a little with
+each _coo_, until the bill points upward, the pitch of the song
+meanwhile dropping gradually lower. So he starts with head low and
+coo high, and ends vice versa. Cattlemen say that before he begins
+his song he “lays his beak on the rock.”
+
+The pumped-out series of coos we have just described doubtless is
+the roadrunner’s love song. Before giving it he may parade in a
+prominent place, strutting with head held stiff and high, and wings
+and tail drooping. On May 2, 1914, I witnessed what I believe were
+certain courtship antics of the male before the female not far from
+Fort Worth, Tex. According to the published account (Sutton, 1922)
+of this performance, the bird’s “wings were spread, and he may have
+been preening and taking a sun bath, but circumstances * * * led
+me to think otherwise. Now and then he bowed, and affected a close
+examination of his feet, only to raise his head again, drop his
+wings, lift them again and spread his tail. * * * Before I knew it
+[I] was discovered * * * and then, without wings spread, leaped
+from the dead branch to the next lower one, whence on outstretched
+wings he sailed to the ground. I rushed up to where he had been,
+and was surprised to see two birds scuttling * * * off through the
+vines.”
+
+_Nesting._--The nest, which usually is situated in a low tree,
+thicket, or clump of cactus 3 or 4 to 15 feet from the ground, is
+a rather compact, though not deeply cupped affair, about a foot
+in diameter and 6 to 8 inches high, with foundation of sticks and
+lining of leaves, grass, feathers, mesquite pods, snakeskin, roots,
+and dry flakes of cattle and horse manure. It is sometimes well
+hidden, sometimes not. In the Black Mesa country of the far western
+Oklahoma Panhandle John Semple and I found several nests in small
+cedar trees that grew on the mesa sides. Here the nests were well
+hidden, and since cedar trees were numerous our usual method of
+locating nests was watching the parent birds.
+
+Rarely the nest is built on the ground. Such a nest, containing six
+eggs, was found by W. W. Brown in Sonora, Mexico, on May 15, 1905.
+This nest is preserved in the John E. Thayer collection.
+
+A. C. Bent writes me of a nest found by F. C. Willard in Cochise
+County, Ariz., on April 23, 1916, “7 feet from the ground on a
+packrat’s nest in a dense thicket of hawthorn.” This nest was
+“merely a few leaves, etc., in a slight hollow in the rubbish of
+the rat’s nest.” While Mr. Bent was hunting ravens’ nests among
+the abandoned oil derricks in the Kettleman Hills, Calif., his
+companion, J. R. Pemberton, told him that roadrunners sometimes
+built their nests in the lower parts of the derricks, using the
+sticks dropped by the ravens. Griffing Bancroft (1930) describes a
+nest with complete set of two eggs found in Lower California in the
+heart of a date palm * * * so well concealed that it could not be
+seen until much of the foliage had been cut away.
+
+_Eggs._--Roadrunner nests contain, as a rule, three to five or six
+eggs. Occasionally two eggs comprise a complete set; and sets with
+as many as 12 eggs have been recorded. Where large numbers of eggs
+are found in one nest it is supposed that more than one female
+has deposited them. Coues (1903) describes the eggs as “ovate or
+elliptical, white in ground color with an overlying chalky film
+which may take a slight yellowish tint, ranging in length from
+1.45 to 1.75, averaging 1.55 x 1.20. They are laid at considerable
+intervals; incubation begins as soon as a few are deposited, and
+is believed to last 18 days for each egg. The development of the
+chicks is rapid; perfectly fresh eggs and newly-hatched young may
+be found together; and by the time the last young are breaking the
+shell the others may be graded up to half the size of the adult.”
+
+[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The measurements of 55 eggs average 39.2 by 30.1
+millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =44= by 30,
+41 by =32=, and =34= by =27.5= millimeters.]
+
+William L. and Irene Finley (1915) describe a typical nest in
+which there were “one fresh egg, one egg just ready to hatch, two
+featherless, greasy, black young, and two young ones about grown
+and ready to leave home.” These authors were in a position to
+watch this nest almost continuously for several days. They did not
+observe more than one female parent. If, then, the several eggs
+were laid by more than one female, it may be supposed that the
+species is to some extent parasitic or promiscuous in this regard,
+as the yellow-billed and black-billed cuckoos also are thought to
+be.
+
+Frank L. Burns (1915) also gives the period of incubation as
+“18 days.” It is supposed that only the female incubates. That
+incubation sometimes begins with the laying of the first egg rather
+than “as soon as a few are deposited” (see above quotation from
+Coues) has been observed by M. French Gilman (1915), who tells us
+of a nest with four eggs in which “one hatched July 20, the others
+on the three succeeding days.” In cases of this sort it is natural
+to suppose that all eggs are laid by the same female.
+
+Eggs are usually laid in April and May. W. E. D. Scott (1886) tells
+us, however, of several nests found on the San Pedro slope of the
+Catalina Mountains in Arizona, the earliest of which, discovered
+March 17, 1885, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, contained two fresh
+eggs. That two broods of young are sometimes, if not frequently,
+reared in one season has been reported by numerous authors, though
+I believe it has not been proved beyond doubt that fresh eggs found
+in July are laid by females that have already succeeded in bringing
+out one brood.
+
+_Young._--Newly hatched young are odd, “featherless, greasy, black”
+creatures with a reptilian appearance. I had a good deal to do with
+young roadrunners in the vicinity of Fort Worth, Tex., as a boy, so
+I quote my own description here (1922):
+
+     The nestling bird, be it ever so young, has an unmistakable
+     cuckoo-like expression in its face, though its eyes, upon
+     which a good portion of the facial expression depends,
+     are quite different from those of the adult, being of a
+     deep dull brown with a bluish pupil. * * * The eyelashes
+     are small, in fact scarcely apparent. Its whole external
+     appearance is very sombre, and rather dirty-looking, as
+     though the creature had been bathed in some unrefined oil,
+     which had not been properly administered. The white hairs,
+     each of which marks a coming feather, all lie in rows and
+     look as if they had been rudely combed into place. The
+     rather large, pale blue-gray feet are strong in the toes,
+     but very weak at the heel, so that the birds cling to the
+     fingers or the twigs of their nest with some power, but are
+     quite unable to rise. Whenever there were very many young
+     birds in the nest they presented a peculiarly scrambled
+     appearance, due, I believe, to the constant disturbance at
+     feeding time more than to restlessness, for they usually
+     lie quite still. By May 1 [the birds were taken from the
+     nest on April 29] feathers were appearing rapidly on my
+     young birds, first on the top of the head, back, and
+     wings, and then on the belly, tail, and throat. Once the
+     blood-quills had started to burst, development was very
+     rapid. On May 4 the birds were quite well feathered, the
+     tails being one and one-half inches long, and they were
+     quite able to walk unsteadily. It is at this period, or a
+     little before, that the young leave the nest, though there
+     must be innumerable dangers for the rather weak-legged
+     creatures. Several times I have come across young birds
+     able to run well, but still in trees, which leads me to
+     believe that the young may, like young Green Herons, spend
+     a portion of their early active life climbing about from
+     branch to branch.
+
+During the spring and summer of 1914 I reared these two young
+roadrunners, feeding them uncounted hundreds of grasshoppers, cave
+crickets, tarantulas, centipedes, scorpions, lizards, snakes, mice,
+cotton rats, and small birds. They were the most entertaining pets
+I ever had. Eventually they learned to capture their own food.
+Concerning this period of their life I have published the following
+paragraphs (1936):
+
+     After three weeks they became sturdy enough to catch
+     part of their own food. With patient coaxing they were
+     taught to pick up grasshoppers tossed to them, and finally
+     to run after and capture crippled insects. Content at
+     first, perforce, with sluggish, wingless nymphs which
+     were abundant, they stole about through the weeds, wings
+     pressed neatly against their slender bodies, snapping up
+     the insects as fast as they could find them. Grasshoppers,
+     often still alive and kicking, they swallowed with a toss
+     of the head and a hollow gulp. Large green or gray cave
+     crickets, which live in piles of boards, or in damp,
+     shadowy places, were especially prized. When a yellow- or
+     coral-winged grasshopper rose noisily from the path, the
+     birds crouched in momentary fear, but soon began to mark
+     the return to earth of the clackety aeronaut and to steal
+     up behind clumps of grass, intent upon a killing.
+
+     Finally they learned to capture the biggest, noisiest, and
+     wariest grasshoppers on the prairies. They would watch a
+     coral-wing in his courtship flight and, running stealthily,
+     wait until the performer dropped to the ground. With a
+     bound over low weeds, a dart across the open, and a final
+     rush with outspread wings and tail, they would frighten
+     their prey into the air, leap nimbly after him, nab him
+     unerringly with their bills, and descend gracefully on
+     outspread wings to beat him to insensibility with a whack
+     or two on a stone.
+
+     Once they had learned to capture grasshoppers, their food
+     problem was largely solved and, since they showed no
+     inclination to run away, they were at liberty most of the
+     time. They ran about the yard, playing with each other, or
+     catching insects. In the heat of mid-day they sought the
+     shelter of broad, cool leaves, and sprawled in the sand.
+     Daily, often many times daily, I took them for a walk
+     across the prairie. Following me closely or running at
+     my side, they watched the big world with eyes far keener
+     than my own. Grasshoppers which I frightened from the
+     grass they captured in side expeditions. If I paused near
+     a flat stone, they urged me on with grunts, bit gently
+     at my hands, and raced back and forth in an ecstasy of
+     anticipation.
+
+     I entertained misgivings concerning these flat stones.
+     What savage creatures might not they conceal? Could young
+     Road-Runners manage swift-tailed scorpions, sharp-toothed
+     mice, or poisonous spiders? Under the first stone there
+     were scorpions. The Road-Runners hesitated an instant,
+     as if permitting an untried instinct to take possession
+     of their brains, then rushed forward, thrust out their
+     heads, and attacked the scorpions precisely at their tails.
+     Perhaps these venomous tails received more than the usual
+     number of benumbing blows, but the scorpions were swallowed
+     with gusto.
+
+     I had not supposed that a Road-Runner would capture and
+     devour a tarantula. One day, however, we paused at the
+     tunnel of one of these big, furred spiders. Somewhat in the
+     spirit of experimentation, and following the method known
+     to all Texas boys, I teased the black Arachnid from her
+     lair by twirling a wisp of grass in her face. She popped
+     out viciously and jumped a good ten inches to one side.
+     With a dash one bird was upon the monster before she had
+     opportunity to leap a second time. A toss of the bird’s
+     head and one of the eight legs was gone. Free again, the
+     spider leaped upon her captor. The other bird now entered
+     the combat, snatched up the spider, and flicked off another
+     leg. One by one the legs went down, and finally the two
+     birds pulled apart and gulped the sable torso.
+
+_Plumages._--The newly hatched roadrunner’s only plumage is coarse,
+long, white or whitish hairs. These do not by any means cover
+the dark-skinned body, but they apparently give the bird all the
+protection it needs. At this stage the light-colored egg tooth is
+noticeable, the feet are dark colored like the rest of the body,
+the mouth lining has a peculiarly blotched appearance, and the
+irides are dull brown.
+
+As blood quills replace the long white hairs, the egg tooth
+disappears, the legs and feet turn blue-gray, the skin about and
+back of the eye lightens, and the blotching of the mouth lining
+becomes less conspicuous. The sprouting feathers now bear at their
+tips the white hairs of babyhood. Some of these hairs cling to the
+plumage long after the bird leaves the nest.
+
+When young roadrunners begin to capture their own food they wear a
+plumage that is much like that of the adult. J. A. Allen (Scott,
+1886) describes this plumage thus: “The chief difference in color
+consists in the broad shaft stripes of the feathers of the neck and
+breast being less sharply defined in the young than in the adult,
+and in the brown edgings bordering the shaft stripes being paler.”
+
+At this stage the bare skin about the eye becomes pale blue,
+and the naked patch back of the eye light orange. Too, the eye
+itself changes, a light-colored ring, which contrasts sharply with
+the brown or gray-brown of the rest of the iris, forming about
+the pupil. As the bird becomes older the bare skin of the face
+brightens. Fully adult males, at the height of the nesting season,
+are fairly resplendent with their high, steel-blue crest, brilliant
+eye, and bright orange patch back of the eye.
+
+The plumage worn by the young bird after it loses its natal hairs
+is apparently the first winter plumage. Judging from such specimens
+as I have seen, the postnuptial molt is the only complete molt of
+the adult bird. Whether there is a partial prenuptial molt in young
+or adult birds I cannot say. The roadrunner’s life is so strenuous
+that he doubtless loses feathers frequently. Spring birds with
+half-grown tail feathers may therefore not be performing a molt in
+the usual sense of the word.
+
+_Food._--Lizards (including the armored horned “toad”), small
+snakes, scorpions, tarantulas and other spiders, centipedes and
+millipedes, mice, cotton rats, ground-inhabiting small birds and
+their eggs and young, young quail, insects of all sorts, various
+fruits and seeds, including pricklypears: all these are eaten
+by the roadrunner; and this considerable list but hints at the
+rapacity and digestive powers of the gaunt bird. One of the most
+thorough-going reports on the roadrunner’s food habits is that by
+Dr. Harold C. Bryant (1916). Informing us that animal food makes
+up slightly over 90 percent of the total food of the species in
+California, Dr. Bryant says:
+
+     Almost any animal, from the smaller rodents down to tiny
+     insects, appears to be relished by this bird. Although
+     the stomachs examined showed no large percentage of
+     vertebrates, other published records show that reptiles
+     sometimes form a large part, if not the entire diet. Even
+     these larger elements of food are usually swallowed whole
+     at one gulp. That the digestive apparatus is powerful is
+     evidenced by the fact that bone, hair, and feathers pass
+     through the digestive tract, and are not thrown back out
+     through the mouth in the form of pellets, as is the case
+     with some hawks and most owls.
+
+A diagram in Dr. Bryant’s paper makes it plain that grasshoppers
+and crickets form a considerable part (36.82 percent) of the
+roadrunner’s food in California. Beetles form 18.2 percent; and
+seeds and fruits, cutworms and caterpillars, bugs, ants, bees,
+wasps, scorpions, lizards, mammals, fly larvae, birds, and
+“miscellaneous” items go to make up the rest.
+
+Game officials are usually opposed to the roadrunner, for the bird
+is reputed to be an enemy of young quail. Regarding the bird’s
+reputation as a quail destroyer, W. L. McAtee (1931) tells us that
+“the Road-runner is persecuted almost throughout its range * * *
+as an alleged destroyer of Quail eggs, and state bounties are
+even paid for its destruction. Yet the Road-runner never has been
+known to be a special enemy of Quail,” and it doubtless “eats more
+scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas, those poisonous nuisances of
+the Southwest, than it does Quail eggs.”
+
+Aldo Leopold (1922) writes of shooting a roadrunner “with a
+light-colored object in his bill.” Examining the spot where the
+bird had fallen he “found a dead [quail] chick, still limber and
+warm but unmutilated * * * still in the downy stage, with ⅛-inch
+pin feathers on the wing--smaller than a domestic chick when
+hatched.”
+
+S. S. Visher (1910) writing of birds found by him in Pima County,
+Ariz., tells us that roadrunners “have been seen leaving the nest
+of Gambel’s Quails carrying an egg in their beak.”
+
+That the roadrunner will occasionally capture birds as large as a
+mockingbird is apparent from several published accounts including
+that by Robert S. Woods (1927a) who tells us of “an immature but
+full-grown mockingbird” captured though not actually killed by a
+roadrunner near Azusa, Calif.; and that by Dr. W. K. Fisher (1904)
+who reports that a roadrunner was seen to “remove from a nest a
+young mockingbird and devour it” in Mission Valley, near San Diego,
+Calif.
+
+In a letter to A. C. Bent, Mr. Woods (who is quoted above) speaks
+of a short article written by the late Rev. St. John O’Sullivan,
+of San Juan Capistrano Mission, “describing a roadrunner’s method
+of killing a swift by lying in wait in a creek-bed near Palm
+Springs and suddenly springing into the air to knock down one of
+the birds which passed within its reach.” This capturing swifts in
+air seems perfectly plausible to me, for I recall seeing my captive
+roadrunners capturing English sparrows in much the same manner.
+Walking about with a noncommittal air that was comically suggestive
+of the chickens that fed nearby, they gradually grew nearer to
+a sparrow, then with a dash to one side and a tremendous leap
+snatched the fleeing victim from the air.
+
+A. W. Anthony (1896) tells us of suddenly coming upon a roadrunner
+that had just finished despatching a wood rat (_Neotoma_). “The
+bird reluctantly withdrew as I came upon the scene,” he writes,
+“leaving the rat, which I found to be quite dead.”
+
+My own captive birds caught and killed a cotton rat (_Sigmodon_)
+that lived in a stone wall near our house in Fort Worth, Tex. Two
+or three times a day this rat scurried across a gap in this wall,
+and the birds came to look upon him as a possible meal. At first
+his speed and considerable size kept the enemy at a safe distance,
+but their interest sharpened daily, and eventually they formed the
+habit of loitering near the runway. One day I heard a squeal of
+terror and ran up in time to see the bewildered animal running this
+way and that, trying to escape two lightning-quick demons who never
+really held him, but pinched him, tossed him, dealt him blows,
+buffeted him, made him weary with fighting for life. Over his limp
+form the roadrunners had an argument. He was heavy. No sooner would
+one bird start to swallow than the other would be tugging at the
+hind foot or tail, and down he would drop. I finally cut the rat in
+two.
+
+Carroll Dewilton Scott has contributed a note concerning
+roadrunners that catch half-grown “gophers” in his garden at
+Pacific Beach, Calif. Describing one of the birds he says:
+“Finally, after ridiculous gulpings and twistings of his neck
+he got the gopher down, balanced his tail, and ambled away from
+another conquest.”
+
+Mrs. Bailey (1928) tells us of two roadrunners observed at
+Carlsbad, N. Mex., that “snapped their bills and chased each other
+up into a cottonwood on the bank where there were caterpillar
+nests. To determine what they had been eating, one was shot and
+its gizzard was found to contain not only caterpillar skins but a
+number of large grasshoppers, a large black cricket, beetles, a
+centipede six inches long, and part of a garter snake a foot long.
+The rest of the snake was down in the crop and the barely swallowed
+end up near the bill.”
+
+Regarding the economic status of the roadrunner in California,
+Dr. Bryant (1916) says: “A preponderance of evidence favors the
+bird. The destruction of such unquestioned pests as grasshoppers,
+cutworms, caterpillars, and wireworms and of such rodents as mice
+is to be desired even if the amount of destruction be relatively
+small. The taking of this sort of food on wild land is evidence
+that this bird when feeding in cultivated fields is likely to be
+distinctly beneficial.”
+
+_Behavior._--Anyone who has observed the roadrunner closely knows
+what an entertaining creature it is. Its voracity keeps it on the
+alert for food. To capture a grasshopper one moment, a race-runner
+lizard the next, and a tarantula the next requires strength, speed,
+and prowess. If nymph grasshoppers are numerous, the bird has no
+trouble in obtaining a meal. But flying grasshoppers are difficult
+to overtake; lizards escape because of the brittleness of their
+tails; and tarantulas have burrows into which they can pop when
+danger threatens.
+
+Not often does one see a wild roadrunner capturing its food. I
+recall watching one a year or two ago, not far from Packsaddle
+Lake, a small, artificial body of water in western Oklahoma. I
+had climbed a sandy mound. Peering through the sagebrush, I saw
+a roadrunner under a bush not far away, busy feeding. He ran out
+into the sunlight now and then, but his attention was directed
+principally to grasshoppers that must have been feeding on the
+leaves. These he snatched, with nimble leaps upward, in the tip of
+his bill. To reach the insects that were in the midst of the bush,
+he scrambled noisily through the twigs, caught a few, then sprang
+back to the ground to catch those that had fallen or jumped out.
+
+W. E. Allen (1932) gives us a breezy description of the capture of
+a small bird by a roadrunner that had been running just ahead of
+him. He says:
+
+     Before we had gone as much as a hundred yards, however,
+     his [the roadrunner’s] pacing routine was broken by a
+     sudden dash from a slouchy pose and the development of a
+     brown streak across the road which ended in his emergence
+     on a bank beyond a parked automobile. Somewhere beneath
+     the car he had struck a full-fledged young bird (probably
+     a “California Linnet”) at full speed * * *. The victim
+     appeared to have been caught by the neck, which probably
+     accounts for the fact that it made no outcry. It must have
+     been badly stunned also by the stroke of the heavy beak
+     because it struggled only feebly.
+
+     After becoming satisfied that I was not disposed to
+     interfere, the captor moved on to a point about 10 feet
+     farther away. Here he hammered the hard ground two or three
+     times with the body of his victim, evidently destroying all
+     signs of life. Then he dropped it, grasped a wing near its
+     base, and with a skilful jerk stripped nearly every feather
+     from it * * *. After stripping the wing he spent three or
+     four minutes in picking at the birdling’s body with some
+     hammering and jerking mixed in. Apparently this was for the
+     purpose of getting rid of feathers. At any rate, they were
+     thrown around profusely, and the movements were different
+     from those a little later which seemed to be devoted to
+     mauling and crushing the body into a shapeless mass.
+
+     Finally this mass (which seemed to be about as large as the
+     roadrunner’s head) was picked up with a kind of tossing
+     motion which landed it in the back of his mouth. The
+     first effort at swallowing, consisting of tossings of the
+     head and spasmodic movements of the jaws and throat, only
+     resulted in getting the mass started into the throat. After
+     a short rest another series of these movements shifted it
+     along to a visible extent but it was not till the fourth
+     series was finished that the food appeared to have been
+     swallowed completely. After this was accomplished the
+     bird turned toward me and slouched into a curious pose of
+     indifference mixed with satisfaction.
+
+A roadrunner’s program is full enough with only himself to feed.
+But when he has a nestful of hungry young he must indeed wear
+himself ragged catching insects and lizards and snakes. These he
+brings from near and far, going and coming in such a way as to keep
+himself hidden. With what satisfaction must he start a foot-long
+garter snake on its way down the gullet of one of his offspring,
+knowing that one voice at least will be stilled so long as any of
+that snake remains to be swallowed!
+
+Many an interesting account has been written of the roadrunner’s
+foraging activities. A. Brazier Howell (1916) tells us of
+difficulties he had in retrieving small bird specimens before
+roadrunners stole them. He writes:
+
+     While I was out collecting, these abundant birds would
+     often be seen skulking about with eyes open for any
+     opportunity, and it was always necessary, in such cases,
+     to make a dash for a specimen after it was shot. On two
+     occasions a roadrunner darted in and grabbed a bird when
+     I had almost reached it, once hopping two feet in air to
+     nip a sparrow that had lodged in the branches of a bush.
+     At another time I was watching a small flock of sparrows
+     as they busily fed in the brush, when I noted a roadrunner
+     stealing up like a cat, taking advantage of every bit of
+     cover. When at the proper distance, it rushed out and
+     sprang into the air at the retreating sparrows.
+
+J. Eugene Law (1923) tells us of a roadrunner that tried to pull
+a dead golden-crowned sparrow through the ¾-inch-mesh wire of a
+sparrow trap. This writer states that he did not actually see the
+roadrunner kill the sparrow, though an autopsy showed “the entire
+brain area” to be “dark with blood infusion.”
+
+My pet roadrunners did not capture horned “frogs” unless other food
+was difficult to obtain. They killed and ate these well-armored
+reptiles, however. A horned lizard, confronted by its ancient foe,
+would flatten out, rise high on its legs, and sway back and forth
+as if about to leap or inflict a dangerous bite. But a roadrunner
+is not to be bluffed. Grasping his tough victim by the head or
+back he beat it against a convenient stone. Thirty or forty blows
+were needed to render it sufficiently quiescent for ingestion.
+If swallowed while yet alive it had to be coughed up for further
+battering.
+
+When not engaged in pursuing food a roadrunner may rest, seeking
+either a cool spot on the ground or the shadowy heart of a tree.
+In the morning it sometimes takes a sunbath. Henry W. Henshaw
+(1875) tells us that “it loves to meet the first rays of the rising
+sun, ascending for this purpose to the top of the mesquite trees,
+and, standing erect on the topmost branch, loosens its feathers,
+and appears to catch all the grateful warmth possible, remaining
+in this attitude for many minutes.” My captive roadrunners took
+sunbaths every day, spreading their wings and exposing the
+featherless tracts of their backs.
+
+The roadrunner has a streak of domesticity in his nature. Mrs.
+Bailey (1922) has given us a delightful account of a remarkably
+tame though uncaged bird that lived about camp. Concerning this
+bird (which was known as “Koo”), Mrs. Bailey says:
+
+     It was not his potential usefulness as a camp watchman
+     or killer of “varmints” but his ready friendliness and
+     attractive ways which attached us to our rare camp visitor.
+     If we were busy when he came he would call _koo, koo_, and
+     then wait for us to discover him. Sometimes we would look
+     hard before finding him and finally make him out standing
+     on the mesquite slope above us, his feathers puffed out
+     spreading the streaks on his chest till they and his
+     light underparts toned in perfectly with a background
+     of straw-colored ground and dry weed-stalks--completely
+     camouflaging him. It was astonishing to see how such a
+     large, marked bird could disappear in its background. And
+     what a contrast that round, bird-like form made to the
+     grotesque running figure we were familiar with--long neck,
+     slender body, and long tail, one straight line.
+
+J. K. Jensen (1923) tells us of a pair of roadrunners that fed
+“with the chickens on a ranch near Santa Fe,” that “came regularly
+for a ‘hand out’ and often went to roost in the poultry house.”
+This author does not specify what the “hand out” was. Needless to
+say, it hardly could have been corn or wheat.
+
+Frightened from the nest a roadrunner may scuttle off to remain
+hidden for some time. Again, it may stay close by, attempting to
+lure the intruder away. M. French Gilman (1915) describes a mother
+bird that was “very anxious about the eggs,” that “ran around
+close to me in a mammalian sort of way, flat on the ground, tail
+dragging, and head stretched out in front only about three inches
+from the soil. She did not look like a bird at all, and though
+making no fluttering demonstration, her antics were calculated to
+excite curiosity and distract attention from the nest.”
+
+J. R. Pemberton (1916) describing a “variation of the broken-wing
+stunt” by a roadrunner, writes:
+
+     As I was climbing near the nest the bird hopped to the
+     ground. Immediately it began to squirm, scramble, and drag
+     itself away across an open space and in full view. The bird
+     was simulating a broken leg instead of the conventional
+     broken wing! The bird held its wings closed throughout the
+     demonstration though frequently falling over on its side
+     in its enthusiasm. The whole performance was kept entirely
+     in my view, the bird gradually working away from the tree
+     until it was some 35 feet distant when it immediately ran
+     back to the base of the tree and repeated the whole show.
+     I had been so interested up to now that I had failed to
+     examine the nest which when looked into contained five
+     young probably a week old. When I got to the ground the
+     bird continued its stunt rather more frantically than
+     before and in order to encourage the bird I followed, and
+     was pleased to see it remain highly consistent until I was
+     decoyed to a point well outside the grove. Here the bird
+     suddenly ran away at full speed and in a direction still
+     away from the nest.
+
+_Voice._--We have already described the spring song of the
+roadrunner. Howard Lacey (1911) tells us that the bird “makes a
+loud chuckling crowing noise * * * and also a cooing noise that
+might easily be mistaken for the voice of some kind of dove; it
+also makes a sort of purring sound in its throat, _perrp, perrp,
+perrp_.”
+
+As for this “purring sound,” I am not at all sure that it is
+_vocal_. One of the roadrunner’s most characteristic alarm sounds
+is not a _cry_ at all; it is an incisive, clackety noise made by
+rolling the mandibles together rapidly and sharply. Even young
+birds just out of the nest can produce this sound, though the
+softness of the bill muffles the sharpness somewhat.
+
+Young birds in the nest make a buzzing sound when begging for
+food. Well do I remember a nestful of these “infant dragons” that
+I found in April 1914. Concerning these I have written (1936):
+“Accidentally I touched an upturned beak and four great mouths,
+wobbling uncertainly on scrawny necks, rose in unison. I jerked
+back my hand--the pink-blotched lining of those mouths had an
+almost poisonous appearance. From the depths of the small frames
+came a hoarse, many-toned buzzing which gave the impression that a
+colony of winged insects had been stirred to anger.”
+
+_Enemies._--There is little doubt in my mind that the roadrunner’s
+worst enemy is man. Man wants quail to shoot. Man sees a roadrunner
+chasing young quail or finds a young quail in a roadrunner’s
+stomach and lo, thumbs turn down, another name goes on the black
+list, and the roadrunner’s doom is sealed. In many a southwestern
+State there have been chaparral-cock drives and contests, bounty
+on roadrunners, newspaper stories and editorials defaming the
+bird. Too, there are those who _eat_ roadrunners, or who chase and
+shoot them for “sport.” In populated sections the roadrunner has
+a hard time. Where man appears the roadrunner all too frequently
+disappears.
+
+Certain predatory birds and mammals doubtless prey occasionally
+on the roadrunner, though adult birds usually are swift or wary
+enough to evade such enemies as coyotes and hawks. Crows and ravens
+doubtless eat some roadrunner eggs and young. Even the snakes
+themselves may take a hand in keeping the snake killer tribe from
+becoming too numerous. Remains of a roadrunner were found in the
+stomach of a red-tailed hawk collected by Dr. Josselyn Van Tyne
+in Brewster County, Tex., February 28, 1935 (Van Tyne and Sutton,
+1937).
+
+W. L. McAtee (1931) in his timely “Little Essay on Vermin” so
+justly states the case of roadrunner _versus_ mankind that his
+comments are of special significance here:
+
+     The Road-runner is persecuted almost throughout its range
+     * * * as an alleged destroyer of Quail eggs, and state
+     bounties are even paid for its destruction. Yet the
+     Road-runner never has been shown to be a special enemy of
+     Quail, and it cannot eat their eggs except during a brief
+     season. The Road-runner is as nearly omnivorous as any of
+     our birds, eating anything in its habitat that is readily
+     available and swallowable. No doubt it will eat Quail eggs,
+     but it is equally certain that not one meal in a thousand
+     of all the birds at all times consists of Quail eggs.
+
+     The Road-runner actually lives up to its repute of killing
+     rattlesnakes; without doubt, it eats more scorpions,
+     centipedes, and tarantulas * * * than it does Quail eggs,
+     and it is a voracious consumer of grasshoppers. It is a
+     unique bird, not only in our fauna but in that of the
+     world, has extremely interesting habits, and in its choice
+     of food in the long run undoubtedly does more good than
+     harm. Its persecution is all but baseless and is thoroughly
+     unjustified.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southwestern United States south to central Mexico.
+
+The range of the roadrunner extends =north= to north-central
+California (Navarro River, Owens River, and Death Valley); Colorado
+(Meeker, Cañon City, and Las Animas); and southern Kansas (probably
+Caldwell and Arkansas City). =East= to Kansas (Arkansas City);
+central Oklahoma (Norman); Texas (Fort Worth, Kerrville, and San
+Antonio); Tamaulipas (Matamoras, Soto La Marina, and Tampico); and
+Pueblo (San Salvador). =South= to Puebla (San Salvador); Mexico
+(Tenango); and Jalisco (Zapotlan). =West= to Jalisco (Zapotlan);
+Baja California (Cape San Lucas, San Cristobal Bay, and Rosario);
+and California (San Diego, Mentone, Santa Barbara, Sebastopol, and
+Navarro River).
+
+_Casual records._--The roadrunner is not known outside of its
+normal range, but a remarkable occurrence was the finding of a
+specimen at Marshall Pass, Colo., at an elevation of about 10,000
+feet, on October 12, 1907.
+
+_Egg dates._--Arizona: 20 records, April 5 to June 24; 10 records,
+April 20 to June 3, indicating the height of the season.
+
+California: 73 records, March 4 to July 16; 37 records, March 25 to
+May 2.
+
+Mexico: 5 records, April 16 to May 16.
+
+Texas: 57 records, March 18 to July 5; 29 records, May 3 to June 1.
+
+
+                  COCCYZUS MINOR MAYNARDI Ridgway
+
+                          MAYNARD’S CUCKOO
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The mangrove cuckoo (_Coccyzus minor minor_) long remained on
+the A. O. U. Check-list, including the third edition, based on
+Audubon’s record of a specimen taken on Key West and figured
+in his Birds of America. Ridgway (1916) examined this specimen
+and identified it as the Jamaican mangrove cuckoo (_C. minor
+nesiotes_). Now the 1931 Check-list makes the statement that all
+Florida records prove to be referable to _C. minor maynardi_, and
+excludes both of the above races from the list.
+
+The mangrove cuckoo, of which Maynard’s is a subspecies, is
+well named, for all races of the species seem to be confined
+almost exclusively to the mangroves. The only one I ever saw was
+encountered on our way to Alligator Lake through the mangrove
+forests near Cape Sable, Fla. Arthur H. Howell (1932) collected the
+only two he ever saw “in a black mangrove swamp near the mouth of
+Allens River, below Everglade.”
+
+_Nesting._--Audubon (1842) says: “The nest is slightly constructed
+of dry twigs, and is almost flat, nearly resembling that of the
+Yellow-billed Cuckoo.” Mr. Howell (1932) says that “a set of two
+fresh eggs (now in the Florida State Museum), which the female was
+beginning to incubate, was taken at Chokoloskee, June 4, 1903, from
+a nest 7 feet up in a red mangrove.”
+
+Oscar E. Baynard tells me that he took two sets of two eggs each,
+on May 25 and 26, 1912, in a dense stand of extra large mangroves
+in Pinellas County, Fla.
+
+_Eggs._--The eggs of Maynard’s cuckoo are practically
+indistinguishable from those of the yellow-billed cuckoo. The
+measurements of 20 eggs average 30.77 by 23.18 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =33.1= by 22.6, 31.4 by
+=24.3=, =27.9= by 22, and 30 by =21.6= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--Audubon (1842) says that this cuckoo “raises two broods
+in the season, and feeds its young on insects until they are able
+to go abroad.”
+
+_Plumages._--I have seen no nestlings of this species, but a fully
+grown juvenal, taken in the Bahamas on June 23, has the upper parts
+everywhere “buffy brown” to “wood brown,” including the crown,
+which in the adult is grayer than the back; there are narrow white
+tips on the secondaries, tertials, and all the wing coverts; there
+are still narrower white tips on the primaries, which soon wear
+away; the black space below and behind the eye, so conspicuous in
+the adult, is lacking; the central tail feathers are paler grayish
+brown terminally than in the adult, and the lateral tail feathers
+are pale “wood brown,” instead of black, with whitish, instead of
+pure white, tips, which are also less clearly defined than in the
+adult. I have seen young birds in this plumage in July, August, and
+September. The body plumage is probably molted during the fall,
+but the juvenal wings and tail are apparently retained until the
+following spring or summer; I have seen young birds molting wings
+and tail in February, June, and August, thus assuming a fully adult
+plumage.
+
+_Food._--The food of Maynard’s cuckoo consists mainly of
+caterpillars, spiders, moths, flies, grasshoppers, and other
+insects; probably a few small fruits and wild berries are eaten at
+times. Mr. Howell (1932) says: “The stomachs of two birds taken
+at Everglade, Florida, in March, were examined in the Biological
+Survey; the food in one consisted mainly of hairy caterpillars
+(Arctiidae), the stomach being well lined with caterpillar
+spines; the remains of 3 mantids (_Stagmomantis_) composed the
+remainder. The other stomach contained 4 long-horned grasshoppers,
+lepidopterous larvae, locustid eggs, mantids, and spiders.”
+
+_Behavior._--Maynard (1896) says of the habits of this cuckoo in
+the Bahamas:
+
+     They frequent thickets near fields, and often venture
+     into the open grounds to feed, but usually when taken by
+     surprise in such places, quickly retreat to the thickets,
+     into which they glide easily. Once within the cover of
+     the shrubbery, their movements are quite deliberate, but
+     when approached, they will jump from branch to branch, and
+     although not appearing to hasten, will manage to elude
+     their pursuer, and become quickly lost in the foliage.
+
+     The flight of this Cuckoo is rapid, the wings being moved
+     quickly, much more so than in the Black or Yellow Billed
+     Cuckoos. They generally move straight forward, without
+     doubling, and when they wish to alight, they do so suddenly
+     without any preliminary lessening of their speed, and as
+     soon as their feet touch the branch the tail is dropped
+     perpendicularly. As a rule, this Cuckoo is rather shy,
+     especially when in open fields, but I once came across one
+     near Mathewstown, Inagua, that was feeding in an old field,
+     that was very tame, allowing me to approach within ten
+     feet of it, as it deliberately searched for food among the
+     remains of partly decayed stubs of trees which stood in the
+     clearing.
+
+_Voice._--On this subject Maynard says:
+
+     All through the winter Maynard’s Cuckoo is rather silent,
+     but as spring approaches they begin to utter their singular
+     cries, and at times, more especially before rain, are quite
+     noisy. The notes may be represented by the syllables “ou,
+     ou, ou, ou, qua, qua, qua, coo, coo, coo.”
+
+     The “ous” are given very rapidly, with a decided
+     Cuckoo-like intonation.
+
+     The “quas” are harsher, more like the notes of the Bahama
+     tree frog, and are not hurriedly given. The last three
+     notes are more Cuckoo-like than any of the others. The
+     first four notes are often omitted, then the harshly and
+     gravely given “quas” begin the song and on occasions these
+     quaint sounds are not followed by any other notes, then it
+     is sometimes difficult to distinguish the notes uttered
+     from some of those uttered by the large Andros Island
+     Cuckoo, Saurothera andrea. This varied song is uttered in
+     the early morning with rather more energy than at any other
+     time in the day.
+
+_Field marks._--The Maynard’s cuckoo might easily be mistaken
+for a yellow-billed cuckoo, as it doubtless often has been, the
+tail markings being practically the same. But the underparts are
+decidedly washed with “pinkish buff” and “cinnamon-buff,” though
+these parts are not so deeply colored as in the mangrove cuckoo. If
+clearly seen at close range, the grayish crown and the black area
+behind and, narrowly, below the eye are good field marks.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Northeastern South America, Central America to central
+Mexico, the West Indies, and southern Florida.
+
+The range of the mangrove cuckoo extends =north= to Nayarit
+(Tres Marias Islands and San Blas); Tamaulipas (Alta Mira);
+Yucatan (Izamal, Temax, Chichen-Itza, Cozumel Island, and Mujeres
+Island); western Cuba (Isle of Pines); Florida (Anclote Keys and
+Cape Florida); the Bahama Islands (Berry, Eleuthera, and Watling
+Islands); the Dominican Republic (Monte Cristi, Sosua, and Seibo);
+Puerto Rico (Desecheo, Culebra, and Vieques Islands); and the
+Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda). =East= to
+the Virgin Islands (Virgin Gorda); the Leeward and Windward Islands
+(Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Santa Lucia, St.
+Vincent, and Grenada); and Trinidad. =South= to Trinidad; northern
+Venezuela (Aruba Island); Panama (Chiriqui); and Costa Rica (San
+Jose and Puntarenas). =West= to Costa Rico (Puntarenas, Pozo del
+Rio Grande, and Pigres); Nicaragua (Greytown and Chinandega);
+Honduras (Roatan Island and Puerto Caballo); El Salvador (La
+Libertad); western Guatemala (near Ocos); Oaxaca (Cacoprieto); and
+Nayarit (Tres Marias Islands).
+
+The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been
+separated into several subspecies, only one of which is found
+in North America. This race, known as Maynard’s cuckoo, _C. m.
+maynardi_, is found in the Bahamas, Cuba, and the southern part of
+Florida, including the Florida Keys.
+
+_Migration._--Apparently only Maynard’s cuckoo is migratory,
+and this only in the Florida part of its range. Early dates of
+arrival in Florida are: Gator Lake in Monroe County, March 22, and
+Punta Rossa, March 29. A late date of departure from Key West is
+September 19.
+
+_Egg dates._--Florida and the Keys: 13 records, May 17 to July 10.
+
+
+             COCCYZUS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (Linnaeus)
+
+                        YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO
+
+                            PLATES 6, 7
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The yellow-billed cuckoo, with its western subspecies, covers
+practically all the United States and some of southern Canada. It
+is mainly a bird of the Austral Zone, being much commoner in the
+Southern States than in the northern portions of its range. In New
+England it is not so common as the black-billed cuckoo, though in
+some seasons it seems to be a familiar bird. Originally it was
+probably a woodland bird, but, like many other species, it has
+learned to frequent the haunts of man, where it is not molested
+and where it finds an abundant food supply in our shade trees,
+orchards, and gardens. Its favorite haunts are still the woodland
+thickets, where the tree growth is not too heavy, brush-grown
+lanes, shady roadsides, dense thickets along small streams, and
+apple orchards in rural districts. In dense, heavy woods it is
+seldom seen.
+
+_Nesting._--Unlike the European cuckoo, both of our North American
+species usually build their own nests and rear their own young,
+though they are very poor nest builders and are often careless
+about laying in each other’s nests or the nests of other species.
+Major Bendire (1895) gives the following very good account of the
+nesting habits of the yellow-billed cuckoo:
+
+     The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is one of the poorest nest
+     builders known to me, and undoubtedly the slovenly manner
+     in which it constructs its nest causes the contents of many
+     to be accidentally destroyed, and this probably accounts to
+     some extent for the many apparent irregularities in their
+     nesting habits. The nests are shallow, frail platforms,
+     composed of small rootlets, sticks, or twigs, few of these
+     being over 4 or 5 inches in length, and among them a few
+     dry leaves and bits of mosses; rags, etc., are occasionally
+     mixed in, and the surface is lined with dry blossoms of
+     the horse-chestnut and other flowering plants, the male
+     aments or catkins of oaks, willows, etc., tufts of grasses,
+     pine and spruce needles, and mosses of different kinds.
+     These materials are loosely placed on the top of the little
+     platform, which is frequently so small that the extremities
+     of the bird project on both sides, and there is scarcely
+     any depression to keep the eggs from rolling out even in
+     only a moderate windstorm, unless one of the parents sits
+     on the nest, and it is therefore not a rare occurrence to
+     find broken eggs lying under the trees or bushes in which
+     the nests are placed. Some of these are so slightly built
+     that the eggs can be readily seen through the bottom. An
+     average nest measures about 5 inches in outer diameter by
+     1½ inches in depth. They are rarely placed over 20 feet
+     from the ground, generally from 4 to 8 feet upon horizontal
+     limbs of oak, beech, gum, dogwood, hawthorn, mulberry,
+     pine, cedar, fir, apple, orange, fig, and other trees.
+     Thick bushes particularly such as are overrun with wild
+     grape and other vines as well as hedgerows, especially
+     those of osage orange are most frequently selected for
+     nesting sites. The nests are ordinarily well concealed by
+     the overhanging and surrounding foliage and while usually
+     shy and timid at other times, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo is
+     generally courageous and bold in the defense of its chosen
+     home; the bird on the nest not unfrequently will raise its
+     feathers at right angles from the body and occasionally
+     even fly at the intruder.
+
+Of five Massachusetts nests, on which I have notes, the lowest was
+only 2 feet above the ground in some bushes, and the highest was
+12 feet up in a crotch near the top of an oak sapling in a swampy
+thicket near a brook. Owen Durfee mentions in his notes a nest 5
+feet up in a juniper on the edge of a swamp. The others were at low
+elevations in thickets along brooks.
+
+A. D. DuBois has sent me his notes on five Illinois nests; one of
+these was on the end of a branch of an apple tree, 8 feet from the
+ground, near a country schoolhouse; this nest contained 3 eggs of
+the cuckoo and a robin’s egg. Another was near the end of a branch
+in an osage-orange hedge, 10 feet up; still another was in an
+isolated clump of willows, between a field and a pasture, 6 feet
+from the ground.
+
+But cuckoos do not always nest in such low situations; there are
+several records of their nesting well up in elm trees. Grant
+Foreman (1924) tells of a pair that nested on his place in
+Muskogee, Okla., for one or two years, high up in an elm tree; he
+says: “The next year after nesting in this inaccessible place, they
+built their nest in a little elm tree in the parking, in a low
+limb overhanging the curb on an asphalt street where hundreds of
+automobiles were passing every day, and here in this exposed, noisy
+place they raised a brood of young. This year they built their nest
+in a little hackberry tree in the parking along the side of my lot;
+but here also the nest was on a low limb overhanging the curb on
+a paved street, and the ice wagon stopped every morning directly
+under this nest, which was so low down that the driver might have
+put his hand in it.”
+
+George Finlay Simmons (1915) mentions a nest that he found near
+Houston, Tex., on the horizontal limb of a young pine near the
+edge of some woods. He says of it: “The nest was a slight platform
+about eleven feet up, through which I could see with ease; it
+was composed of small pine twigs, about an eighth of an inch in
+diameter and averaging six or eight inches long, and was much more
+concave than I had expected. This shallow saucer was neatly, though
+quite thinly lined with a few pine needles, a small quantity of
+Spanish moss and several tiny buds.”
+
+George B. Sennett (1879) says that in the Lower Rio Grande region
+of Texas “ebony trees near the ranch, mesquites among cactuses,
+thorny bushes in open chaparral, and open woodland, were favored
+breeding places.”
+
+Wright and Harper (1913) found a well-made nest in Okefinokee
+Swamp, in a tupelo tree at the margin of the Suwannee. “It was
+placed in a cluster of mistletoe on a horizontal branch four feet
+above the water, and consisted of sticks interwoven with Spanish
+‘moss’ (_Tillandsia usneoides_).”
+
+Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1896) gives the measurements of four
+nests; the average height of the nests was 4 inches, and the
+greatest outside diameters averaged 7.63 by 6.25 inches.
+
+Both species of North American cuckoos often lay their eggs in
+each other’s nests. The eggs of the yellow-billed cuckoo have
+been found several times in nests of the robin and catbird. H. P.
+Attwater (1892) writes: “In 1884 I found a Dickcissel’s nest which
+contained five eggs and one Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s egg. The next
+year some boys brought me three Black-throated Sparrow’s eggs and
+one Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s, from the same field, which they said
+they found all together in one nest.” J. L. Davison (1887) says:
+“I also found a nest of _Merula migratoria_, taken possession of
+by _Coccyzus americanus_ before it was finished, which was filled
+nearly full of rootlets; and in this condition the Robin laid
+one egg and the Cuckoo laid two and commenced incubation, when a
+Mourning Dove (_Zenaidura macroura_) also occupied it and laid two
+eggs and commenced incubation with the Cuckoo. I found both birds
+on the nest at the same time, when I secured nest and eggs. The
+eggs of the Robin and Cuckoo were slightly incubated; those of the
+Mourning Dove were fresh.”
+
+Bendire (1895) adds the wood thrush, cedar waxwing, and cardinal
+to the list of birds that have been imposed upon, and says: “Such
+instances appear to be much rarer, however, than those in which
+they interlay with each other, and the majority of these may well
+be due to accident, their own nest having possibly been capsized,
+and necessity compelled the bird to deposit its egg elsewhere. Such
+instances do occur at times with species that can not possibly be
+charged with parasitic tendencies.”
+
+Marcia B. Clay (1929) thus describes the cuckoo’s method of
+gathering twigs for her nest:
+
+     Flying into an adjacent apple tree containing a
+     considerable quantity of dead material, the Cuckoo landed
+     on a limb, selected a dead twig, and grasping it in her
+     bill bent it back and forth until it snapped from the limb,
+     whereupon she flew with it to her nesting-site in the next
+     tree, arranged this twig and quickly returned for another.
+     As she tugged at a stubborn twig, her back was arched
+     and her long tail curved under or waved about. If a twig
+     resisted too well her attack, the bird desisted at once and
+     tried another. Always she worked rapidly with great energy,
+     attacking a twig as soon as she landed in the tree, never
+     carrying more than one twig at a time, holding it squarely
+     at right angles to her bill and flying rapidly with long
+     tail streaming.
+
+     The Cuckoo’s concentration in the work, coupled with her
+     indifference to observers, was remarkable. Not once did she
+     descend to the ground for material. Not once did she gather
+     material in the tree in which her nest was located. With
+     two exceptions the twigs were all gathered from the same
+     tree. Working thus off and on for an hour or two at a time,
+     the bird completed the nest. The third night the Cuckoo
+     was sitting on the nest at dusk, but after two days she
+     deserted.
+
+_Eggs._--The yellow-billed cuckoo lays ordinarily three or four
+eggs, sometimes only one and rarely five; as many as six, seven, or
+even eight eggs have been found in a nest, but these larger numbers
+may be the product of more than one female. The eggs vary in shape
+from elliptical-oval to oval, oftener nearer the former, and about
+equally rounded at both ends. The shell is smooth, but without
+gloss. Bendire (1895) says that the “color varies from a uniform
+Nile blue to pale greenish blue when fresh, fading out in time to
+a pale greenish yellow.” Eggs that I have examined in collections
+vary in color from “pale glaucous green” to “pale fluorite green.”
+The measurements of 53 eggs average 30.4 by 23 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =34.64= by 23.11, 33.53 by
+=25.40=, =27.43= by 22.86, and 29.21 by =20.83= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--The period of incubation is said to be about 14 days; it
+is shared to some extent by both sexes, but is probably performed
+mainly by the female. The eggs are sometimes laid on succeeding
+days, but oftener at more or less infrequent intervals; the young,
+therefore, frequently hatch at irregular intervals, and young of
+different ages are often found in the nest.
+
+Snyder and Logier (1931) say of a brood of young that they
+examined: “The young were quite active when disturbed. They
+scrambled about the bush, using the wings and bill for climbing.
+One young which was brought to our camp demonstrated a remarkable
+reptile-like behaviour. When it was placed on the table and one
+reached to pick it up, it erected its somewhat horny plumage and
+emitted a buzzing hiss like the sound of bees escaping from a
+tunnel in dry grass. This performance was certainly unbirdlike in
+all respects.”
+
+Francis H. Allen writes to me: “I found a young one in an open
+field on the ground. I was attracted to the spot by its loud
+rasping cry. It fluttered along when I approached, but it could
+not fly from that position, in rather long grass, though wings
+and tail were pretty well fledged. When I picked it up, it pecked
+at my finger angrily. It seemed as fierce as a young hawk, and
+its rasping cry was probably calculated to inspire terror in its
+enemies. I placed the bird on a bough of a Norway spruce, where it
+took a characteristic cuckoo attitude and seemed much more at home
+than on the ground.”
+
+Dr. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw has sent me some notes on the weights
+and development of young yellow-billed cuckoos. One “well-grown”
+young was weighed for three days in succession before it left the
+nest, at 6 a. m. each morning. It weighed 28.8 grams the first
+morning, 31 grams the second, and only 26 grams on the third,
+August 6. The interesting point is that the loss of weight came
+with the sudden development of the plumage, of which he says:
+“When I visited the nest on August 5, at 6 a. m., his feathers
+resembled the quills of a porcupine, long and bluish, stretched out
+over his wings and back. At 7 p. m., these quills had all opened
+and the bird had taken on the resemblance of an adult cuckoo.
+Correspondingly, the following morning, he had lost 5 grams in
+weight. He left the nest on August 6.”
+
+At another nest a young bird weighed 25 grams on August 25, 27.6
+on the 26th, 32.9 on the 27th, and only 28.9 grams on the 28th;
+this bird left the nest on August 29, with feathers unsheathed. He
+says that during the unsheathing process the young bird dressed
+its feathers continually; “the wings, the tail, the scapulars, the
+rump, and breast all shared alike, then with the feet he would work
+about the head and throat. When hungry he would pause and call a
+low _cuk-cuk-cuk-cur-r-r-r-rrr_. If the parent did not come soon,
+these calls increased in number. While feeding, his wings would
+vibrate rapidly, and after the parent left his call was more of
+contentment, a short _curr_, or a _cuk-currrrr_. When excreting, he
+simply backed up to the edge of the nest.”
+
+_Plumages._--Bendire (1895) says: “The young when first hatched are
+repulsive, black, and greasy-looking creatures, nearly naked, and
+the sprouting quills only add to their general ugliness.” This is
+a very good description, and the young birds do not improve much
+in appearance during the period of early growth. The body is well
+covered with the long, pointed feather sheaths until the young bird
+is more than half grown. But the sheaths burst, the juvenal plumage
+appears, and the young bird is well feathered before the time comes
+to leave the nest.
+
+Dr. A. H. Cordier (1923) describes this process very well as
+follows:
+
+     At the end of seven days the young Cuckoo resembled a
+     porcupine more than a bird. I now cut the limb holding
+     the nest and brought it to the ground. Within three feet
+     of it I then put up the umbrella tent that I might at
+     close range observe minutely the rapid transition of the
+     porcupine-looking object into a fully feathered, beautiful
+     Rain Crow. * * *
+
+     The first picture was made at nine o’clock. * * * This
+     shows the young by the unhatched egg; the horny, sheathed
+     feathers were fully two inches long, making the bird look
+     like a porcupine. About ten-thirty the sheaths began to
+     burst, and with each split a fully formed feather was
+     liberated. This process took place with such rapidity that
+     it reminded me of the commotion in a corn popper or a
+     rapidly blooming flower. All the while I was within three
+     feet of the bird, and could see every new feather, as it
+     blossomed, so to speak.
+
+     At three p. m., six hours after the first picture was
+     taken, I made another photograph, showing this same bird in
+     the full plumage of a Cuckoo, except the long tail.
+
+In this first plumage the young cuckoo looks very much like the
+adult, perhaps slightly paler above and with a slight wash of
+tawny or pale buff on the throat and breast; but the tail is quite
+different, lacking the conspicuous black and white markings so
+prominent on the sides of the adult tail; in the young bird the
+dark spaces in the tail are not black, but dark gray or lighter
+gray, variable in different individuals or in different feathers in
+the same individual; the light spaces are not so sharply defined as
+in the adult and are grayish white instead of pure white.
+
+The juvenal body plumage appears to be molted in fall, from August
+to October; but the juvenal wings and tail are worn through the
+first winter at least; I have not been able to detect this plumage
+in spring birds, so I suppose that a more or less complete molt
+occurs while the birds are in their winter homes, producing a
+practically adult plumage before they return in the spring. Adults
+have a complete molt between July and October, and possibly a more
+or less complete molt in spring before they arrive here, but winter
+specimens to show it are lacking.
+
+_Food._--Cuckoos are among the most useful of our birds, mainly
+because of their fondness for caterpillars, which are some of our
+most injurious insect pests and which constitute the principal food
+of these birds during their seasons of abundance. Edward H. Forbush
+(1907) writes:
+
+     The Cuckoos are of the greatest service to the farmer,
+     by reason of their well-known fondness for caterpillars,
+     particularly the hairy species. No caterpillars are safe
+     from the Cuckoo. It does not matter how hairy or spiny they
+     are, or how well they may be protected by webs. Often the
+     stomach of the Cuckoo will be found lined with a felted
+     mass of caterpillar hairs, and sometimes its intestines
+     are pierced by the spines of the noxious caterpillars that
+     it has swallowed. Wherever caterpillar outbreaks occur
+     we hear the calls of the Cuckoos. There they stay; there
+     they bring their newly fledged young; and the number
+     of caterpillars they eat is incredible. Professor Beal
+     states that two thousand, seven hundred and seventy-one
+     caterpillars were found in the stomachs of one hundred and
+     twenty-one Cuckoos--an average of more than twenty-one
+     each. Dr. Otto Lugger found several hundred small hairy
+     caterpillars in the stomach of a single bird. The
+     poisonous, spined caterpillars of the Io moth, the almost
+     equally disagreeable caterpillars of the brown-tail moth,
+     and the spiny elm caterpillar, are eaten with avidity.
+
+He says elsewhere (1927):
+
+     When, in time, the inside of the bird’s stomach becomes so
+     felted with a mass of hairs and spines that it obstructs
+     digestion, the bird can shed the entire stomach-lining,
+     meanwhile growing a new one. * * * Mr. Mosher, a competent
+     observer, watched a Yellow-billed Cuckoo eat 41 gypsy
+     caterpillars in fifteen minutes, and later he saw another
+     consume 47 forest tent caterpillars in six minutes. * * *
+     Dr. Amos W. Butler [1897] says that he has known these
+     Cuckoos to destroy every tent caterpillar in a badly
+     infested orchard and tear up all the nests in half a day.
+     This species frequently feeds on or near the ground, and
+     there gets an enormous number of locusts and other pests.
+     In summer and autumn it feeds to some extent on small wild
+     fruits, such as the raspberry, blackberry and wild grape.
+
+The fall webworm is a destructive pest on certain trees, but few
+birds will eat it. Dr. Sylvester D. Judd (1902) noted that, on
+a Maryland farm, “a pair of yellow-billed cuckoos continually
+extracted them from the webs. The destruction of this insect is
+an habitual practice with the cuckoo. In a single stomach of the
+species examined by Professor Beal there were 325 of the larvæ.”
+
+Henry C. Denslow writes to me that he fed many hairy caterpillars
+to a cuckoo that he had in captivity, and says: “Many of these this
+bird sheared the hairs from by slowly moving them from end to end
+through its beak by a side-shifting motion of the mandibles. The
+removed hairs collected in a little bunch and, at the end of the
+caterpillar, fell to the floor. Most of the hairs were thus shorn
+from these caterpillars. Other caterpillars were swallowed entire,
+as I gave them to him, hairs and all.”
+
+Walter B. Barrows (1912) says that this cuckoo feeds freely on
+elderberries and mulberries and that “large quantities of beetles
+and bugs also are consumed, and both species of cuckoo seem to be
+very fond of grasshoppers, eating especially such forms as frequent
+shrubbery and trees, among these the destructive tree crickets
+(_Oecanthus_). Ten specimens examined by Professor Aughey, in
+Nebraska, contained 416 locusts and grasshoppers, and 152 other
+insects.”
+
+Audubon (1842) writes: “In autumn they eat many grapes, and I have
+seen them supporting themselves by a momentary motion of their
+wings opposite a bunch, as if selecting the ripest, when they would
+seize it and return to a branch, repeating their visits in this
+manner until satiated.”
+
+In addition to those mentioned above, yellow-billed cuckoos
+have been known to eat many other insects, such as armyworms,
+ants, wasps, flies, and dragonflies. Several of the earlier
+ornithologists accused this cuckoo of eating the eggs of other
+small birds and produced some evidence of the bad habit, but some
+modern observers seem to think that they do very little, if any,
+nest robbing. C. J. Maynard (1896) writes:
+
+     This species in company with the former [black-billed
+     cuckoo] are the terror of other small birds during the
+     nesting season for they will constantly rob their nests.
+     I have frequently seen a Cuckoo enter a thicket in which
+     a Robin or a Cat Bird had built a home and in a moment
+     the air would resound with the shrill cries of distress
+     given by the parents, causing all the small birds in the
+     immediate vicinity to rush to the spot and as each joins
+     in the outcry, the noise produced is apparently enough to
+     frighten away a bolder bird than a Cuckoo.
+
+     But in spite of all this din, the glossy thief nearly
+     always succeeds in accomplishing his purpose and emerges
+     from the thicket, carrying an egg impaled on his beak.
+     He does not always escape unscathed, however, for he is
+     pursued by a motley crowd consisting of Robins, Cat Birds,
+     Thrushes, Warblers, etc. that follow him closely, harassing
+     him on all sides, and some of the more courageous will
+     even assault him with blows from their beaks so that he
+     frequently leaves some of his feathers floating in the
+     wind behind him. As the long and broad tail of the Cuckoo
+     is a prominent object and as it is also a portion of the
+     bird which its enemies can seize with comparative safety
+     to themselves, this member often suffers in these forays,
+     in so much, that by the middle of summer, it is quite
+     difficult to find a Cuckoo of either species which has a
+     full complement of tail feathers.
+
+On the other hand, Major Bendire (1895) says: “I am aware that
+this species has been accused of destroying the eggs and even of
+eating the young of smaller birds, but I am strongly inclined to
+believe that this accusation is unjust, and in my opinion requires
+more substantial confirmation. I have never yet had any reason
+to suspect their robbing smaller birds’ nests, and the very fact
+that they live in apparent harmony with such neighbors, who do not
+protest against their presence, as they are in the habit of doing
+should a Blue Jay, Grackle, or Crow come too close to their nests,
+seems to confirm this view.”
+
+But then he goes on to quote from a letter from William Brewster,
+who says: “While I have never seen either of our Cuckoos destroy
+the eggs of other birds, nevertheless I think they do it
+occasionally. One of my reasons for this belief is that many of our
+small birds, Warblers, Sparrows, etc., show great anxiety whenever
+the Cuckoos approach their nests, and they pursue and peck at them,
+when they take wing, behaving toward them, in fact, exactly as they
+do toward the Crows, Jays, and Grackles, which we know eat eggs
+whenever they can get a chance. My other reason is that one of my
+friends once shot a Cuckoo (_C. americanus_, I think it was) whose
+bill was smeared all over with the fresh yolk of an egg.”
+
+Yellow-billed cuckoos sometimes eat tree frogs and other small
+frogs, and, in the Southern States, an occasional small lizard.
+Marcia B. Clay (1929) relates the following incident: “For an hour
+a Cuckoo searched about the dead under limbs of a huge untrimmed
+apple tree, peering and gliding noiselessly around and around. At
+last, after long and patient search, it dashed to the ground and
+began to walk directly toward me through the scant grass and weeds,
+and only then did I see a frog trying to slip away unseen. The bird
+followed the frog a rod, pecking its victim and gloating softly
+_Cuk, Cuk_. Having vanquished its prey, the Cuckoo deftly gathered
+it into its bill and flew away, the frog’s legs sticking out stiff
+and straight together, exactly like the dead twigs which the Cuckoo
+carries to its nest.”
+
+_Behavior._--Mr. Forbush (1927) has described the quiet, retiring
+behavior of the yellow-billed cuckoo very well as follows:
+
+     The cuckoo is a graceful, elegant bird, calm and
+     unperturbed; it slips quietly and rather furtively through
+     its favorite tangles and flies easily from tree to tree in
+     the orchard, keeping for the most part under protection of
+     the leaves, which furnish excellent cover for its bronzy,
+     upper plumage, while the shadows of the foliage tend to
+     conceal the whiteness of its under parts. It has a way also
+     of keeping its back with its greenish satiny reflections
+     toward the intruder in its solitudes, and while holding
+     an attitude of readiness for flight it sits motionless,
+     and its plumage so blends with its leafy environment that
+     it does not ordinarily catch the eye. In the meantime it
+     turns its head and regards the disturber with a cool,
+     reserved, direct gaze, looking back over its shoulder,
+     apparently unafraid and giving no indication of nervousness
+     or even undue curiosity; but if the observer approaches too
+     closely, the elegant bird slips quietly away, vanishing
+     into some leafy, cool retreat where it may enjoy the
+     silence and solitude, dear to the woodland recluse.
+
+The flight of the cuckoo is rather swift, easy and graceful,
+exceedingly direct and horizontal, but turning frequently from
+side to side as it threads its way through the branches of the
+trees, giving occasional glimpses of its white under parts and the
+telltale black-and-white markings in its tail; it is stream-lined
+to perfection and glides noiselessly through the air with its long
+tail streaming out behind. It is very quiet in its movements in
+its shady retreats; it seldom perches in a conspicuous place but
+sits motionless for long periods in the dense foliage, watching, or
+moves about stealthily in search of its prey. It might easily be
+overlooked, were it not for its characteristic notes, which lead
+the observer to look for it.
+
+About its nest it is rather shy, while incubating on its eggs,
+slipping away cautiously when approached, but when there are young
+in the nest its behavior is quite different. It then becomes quite
+solicitous and will often remain on the nest until almost touched,
+and then perhaps throw itself down to the ground, fluttering
+and tumbling along, feigning lameness, after the manner of many
+ground-nesting birds, uttering loud, guttural cries of distress.
+
+_Voice._--We hear the voice of the cuckoo much oftener than we
+see the bird; the well-known sound comes to us, like a wandering
+voice, from the depths of some shady retreat, but we cannot see
+the hidden author. We can recognize it easily as the voice of
+a cuckoo, but it is not always so easy to identify the species
+by its notes, though some keen observers claim that they can do
+so. Certain songs are characteristic of each of the two species,
+but both have a great variety of notes and many notes that are
+much alike in both. The notes of the yellow-billed cuckoo may be
+a trifle harsher and a little louder, but they are not always
+recognizable. The characteristic note of the yellow-billed
+cuckoo is well described by Charles J. Spiker (1935) as follows:
+“What may be considered the song of this species is a series
+of rapid, wooden-sounding syllables resembling the following:
+_Kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-ceaow-ceaow-ceaow-ceaow_; the _kuks_ being
+given rapidly, the _ceaows_ more deliberately and with longer
+intervals.”
+
+Bendire (1895) writes:
+
+     One of their commonest notes is a low “noo-coo-coo-coo;”
+     another sounds more like “cow-cow-cow” or “kow-kow-kow,”
+     several times repeated; others resemble the syllables of
+     “ough, ough, ough,” slowly and softly uttered; some remind
+     me of the “kloop-kloop” of the Bittern; occasionally a note
+     something like the “kiuh-kiuh-kiuh” of the Flicker is also
+     uttered; a low sharp “tou-wity-whit” and “hweet hwee” is
+     also heard during the nesting season. Though ordinarily not
+     what might be called a social bird, I have sometimes during
+     the mating season seen as many as eight in the same tree,
+     and on such occasions they indulge in quite a number of
+     calls, and if the listener can only keep still long enough
+     he has an excellent opportunity to hear a regular Cuckoo
+     concert.
+
+Various other interpretations of the different notes have been
+given by other writers, but the above quotations cover fairly well
+the ordinary variations. The song, as given by Mr. Spiker above, is
+sometimes more prolonged by lengthening the series of _kuks_, with
+increasing speed of utterance and adding to the series of _ceaows_,
+with slowly decreasing speed. I believe that the black-billed
+cuckoo never gives this prolonged song, accelerated during the
+first half and retarded during the last half; its song is given
+in more even time, and is generally shorter. The song of the
+yellow-billed cuckoo is often heard during the night, and its notes
+are often uttered while flying.
+
+_Field marks._--A cuckoo may be easily recognized as a cuckoo by
+its size, shape, and color--a long, slender bird, longer than a
+robin, with a long tail, olive-brown above and white below; but the
+two species look very much alike unless the distinctive markings
+can be clearly seen. The yellow lower mandible of this species can
+be seen only at short range. But the rufous in the wing feathers is
+evident in flight, and the lateral tail feathers are conspicuously
+black, with large terminal white areas clearly defined. At very
+close range the yellow eyelids of this species may be seen.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Temperate North America, the Caribbean region, South and
+Central America; casual on Bermuda and accidental in western Europe.
+
+_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the yellow-billed
+cuckoo extends =north= to southern British Columbia (Kamloops);
+northeastern Oregon (Keenys Ferry); northern Utah (Salt Lake City);
+northern Colorado (Loveland, Greeley, and Fort Morgan); South
+Dakota (White River, Yankton, and Sioux Falls); Minnesota (Fosston
+and St. Paul); Wisconsin (Ladysmith, Waupaca, and New London);
+northern Michigan (Blaney and Sault Ste. Marie); southern Ontario
+(Listowel, Rosseau, and Ottawa); northern New York (Watertown
+and Plattsburg); and southern Maine (Auburn). From this point
+the breeding range extends southward along the Atlantic coast to
+Florida (New Smyrna and Kissimmee); the Bahama Islands (Inagua
+Island); probably the Dominican Republic (Dajabon); and the Virgin
+Islands (St. Croix). =South= to the Virgin Islands (St. Croix);
+Jamaica (Port Henderson); Coahuila (Sabinas River); southern Sonora
+(Guaymas); and southern Baja California (San Jose del Rancho).
+=West= to Baja California (San Jose del Rancho and Cerro Prieto);
+California (Wilmington, Watsonville, Santa Clara, and Redding);
+Oregon (Salem); Washington (Grays Harbor, Tacoma, and Seattle); and
+British Columbia (Victoria, Chilliwack, and Kamloops).
+
+The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been
+separated into two geographic races. The yellow-billed cuckoo (_C.
+a. americanus_) occupies the eastern part of the range west to
+South Dakota, Nebraska, eastern Colorado, and Oklahoma, while the
+California cuckoo (_C. a. occidentalis_) is found over the rest of
+the country to the Pacific coast.
+
+_Winter range._--The winter home of this species has not been
+accurately determined, but it extends =north= to northern Colombia
+(Santa Marta, Bonda, Medellin, and Antioquia); and Venezuela (San
+Cristobal, Altagracia, the Orinoco River region, and Nericagua). It
+has been found at this season =east= to southeastern Brazil (São
+Paulo); Uruguay (Rio Negro); and eastern Argentina (Buenos Aires
+and Lomas de Zamora). =South=, probably only casually to central
+Argentina (Lomas de Zamora and Saladillo). =West= to Argentina
+(Saladillo and La Riojo); Ecuador (Nono, Chimbo, Cumbaya, and
+Guapulo); and Colombia (Cienaga and Santa Marta).
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are:
+Florida--Melrose, March 12; Daytona Beach, April 9; Pensacola,
+April 13. Alabama--Autaugaville, April 16. Georgia--Savannah,
+March 24; Kirkwood, April 7. South Carolina--Charleston, April
+14. North Carolina--Raleigh, April 25; Weaverville, May 1.
+Virginia--Lawrenceville, April 23; New Market, April 26. District
+of Columbia--Washington, April 27. Pennsylvania--Philadelphia,
+April 20; Beaver, May 6; Renovo, May 11. New Jersey--Morristown,
+April 7; Elizabeth, May 9. New York--Shelter Island, May 2;
+Rhinebeck, May 3; Watertown, May 12. Connecticut--Hartford,
+May 9; Jewett City, May 10. Rhode Island--Providence, May
+11. Massachusetts--Boston, May 4; Beverly, May 15. New Hampshire--
+Milford, May 11. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, May 27. Maine--Lewiston,
+May 6; Fryeburg, May 19. Mississippi--Biloxi, April 6; Rodney,
+April 8; Oakvale, April 10. Arkansas--Helena, April 19; Delight,
+April 24. Tennessee--Chattanooga, April 10; Knoxville, April
+27. Kentucky--Eubank, April 22; Bowling Green, April 24.
+Missouri--St. Louis, April 28; Kansas City, April 30; Concordia,
+May 1. Illinois--Rantoul, May 2; Chicago, May 4; Olney, May 5.
+Indiana--Terre Haute, April 17; Fort Wayne, April 29; Waterloo, May
+4. Ohio--Oberlin, April 26; Columbus, April 29; Youngstown, May 7.
+Michigan--Detroit, May 4; Battle Creek, May 11. Ontario--London,
+May 8; Guelph, May 12. Iowa--Sioux City, April 30; Grinnell, May
+9. Wisconsin--Madison, May 10; Racine, May 10; La Crosse, May 12.
+Minnesota--Minneapolis, May 6; Winona, May 8. Texas--Fredericksburg,
+April 1; Kerrville, April 7; San Antonio, April 14. Oklahoma--
+Skiatook, April 20; Oklahoma City, May 3. Kansas--Ottawa,
+April 25; Onaga, April 28. Nebraska--Red Cloud, April 29; Lincoln,
+May 7. South Dakota--Vermillion, May 17. New Mexico--State
+College, May 25. Arizona--Phoenix, May 1; Tombstone, May 20.
+Colorado--Longmont, May 20; Denver, May 28. California--Petaluma,
+April 18; Pico, May 5; Berryessa, May 13. Oregon--Sauvies Island,
+April 24. Washington--Tacoma, May 3.
+
+_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: California--
+Murphys, September 1; Vineland, September 22. Colorado--Yuma,
+September 3; Clear Creek, September 8. Arizona--Tucson, September
+8. New Mexico--Mesilla Park, September 7; State College, September
+18. North Dakota--Grafton, September 4. South Dakota--Lennox,
+September 15; Yankton, September 24. Nebraska--Dunbar, September
+27; Lincoln, October 5. Kansas--Onaga, October 1. Oklahoma--Copan,
+September 23; Kenton, September 30. Texas--Bonham, September 25;
+Swan, September 28; Kerrville, October 19. Minnesota--Minneapolis,
+October 1; Hastings, October 20. Wisconsin--Madison, September 27;
+Racine, October 6. Iowa--Grinnell, October 22. Ontario--Galt, October
+2; London, October 11; Point Pelee, October 16. Michigan--Detroit,
+October 8. Ohio--Youngstown, October 12; Columbus, October 19;
+Oberlin, October 21. Indiana--Sedan, October 13. Illinois--Chicago,
+October 18; Rantoul, October 24. Missouri--Concordia, October 10.
+Kentucky--Lexington, October 10. Tennessee--Nashville, October 11.
+Arkansas--Delight, October 20. Mississippi--Biloxi, October 11.
+Maine--Fryeburg, September 1. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, September
+12. Massachusetts--Marthas Vineyard, September 24; Lanesborough,
+September 29; Hadley, October 18. Connecticut--Meriden, October 12;
+New Haven, October 16; Portland, October 17. New York--Rhinebeck,
+October 1; New York City, October 12. New Jersey--Morristown,
+October 9; Elizabeth, October 12. Pennsylvania--Beaver, September
+27; Philadelphia, October 17; Renovo, November 12. District of
+Columbia--Washington, October 13. Virginia--Lawrenceville, October
+12. North Carolina--Raleigh, October 17. South Carolina--Mount
+Pleasant, November 7. Georgia--Savannah, October 19. Florida--
+Pensacola, November 2.
+
+_Casual records._--While the yellow-billed cuckoo may be considered
+only as a casual visitor to Bermuda, an extraordinary invasion
+was recorded on October 9, 1849, when thousands of individuals
+suddenly appeared in all parts of the island; a few more have been
+subsequently reported. During the period from 1825 to 1921 it was
+recorded fully a dozen times from England, Scotland, Ireland,
+and Wales, all these occurrences being in fall and mostly during
+October. One was taken at Bois de Lessines, Belgium, in October
+1874, and one was collected at Turin, Italy, on October 28,
+1883. Two occurrences have been recorded from the southern part
+of France, but there is some question that they were correctly
+identified.
+
+_Egg dates._--Arizona: 13 records, June 28 to August 24; 7 records,
+July 19 to August 22.
+
+California: 55 records, May 15 to August 20; 28 records, June 17 to
+July 10, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Florida: 19 records, April 12 to August 25; 10 records, April 16 to
+May 16.
+
+Illinois: 39 records, May 20 to July 19; 20 records, June 4 to 26.
+
+New York: 23 records, May 24 to August 19; 12 records, June 4 to 11.
+
+Pennsylvania: 13 records, June 6 to July 29.
+
+Texas: 34 records, March 22 to June 30; 17 records, May 6 to June 5.
+
+
+              COCCYZUS AMERICANUS OCCIDENTALIS Ridgway
+
+                         CALIFORNIA CUCKOO
+
+                              PLATE 6
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This western race of our common yellow-billed cuckoo has been
+separated on very slight average characters, hardly worthy of
+recognition in nomenclature. I am inclined to agree with Harry S.
+Swarth (1929), who says:
+
+     Between the eastern and western races of the Yellow-billed
+     Cuckoo there is a slight average difference in size,
+     the western bird being the larger and with a somewhat
+     heavier bill. There is a rather wide range of variation
+     in specimens from any one locality, * * * and the largest
+     eastern birds do not fall far short of the maximum
+     measurements of western specimens. Birds from the Pacific
+     coast are the largest, those from central Arizona near the
+     type locality of _occidentalis_ (the Santa Rita Mountains)
+     are intermediate in size. The subspecies would have a
+     better claim to recognition if restricted to the Pacific
+     coast. * * * The subspecies is certainly as slightly
+     differentiated as any in our _Check-list_, and I feel that
+     no violence to the facts would result from suppression of
+     the name.
+
+The California cuckoo is nowhere abundant but seems to be generally
+distributed, in suitable localities, throughout its range from
+British Columbia to Lower California and other parts of Mexico.
+In southern California, its favorite haunts seem to be the willow
+thickets and groves along the beds of streams, or in willow-bottom
+sloughs, such as the famous Nigger Slough, which formerly existed
+near Los Angeles. Alfred C. Shelton (1911) describes a favorite
+haunt in Sonoma County, Calif., as follows: “In the locality of
+which I write, about five miles southeast of Sabastopol, this
+stream, known locally as the ‘Lagoon’, becomes, after some winter
+storm, a turbulent river, flooding acres upon acres of bottom
+land. In summer its course is marked by a chain of long, rather
+narrow ponds, many of which are deep. The banks, and much of the
+intervening space between these ponds, are covered with a thick
+growth of willow, small ash and scrub oak, while the whole is
+tangled together with an undergrowth of poison oak, wild blackberry
+and various creepers, forming, as it were, an impenetrable jungle,
+hanging far out over the water.”
+
+_Spring._--Mr. Shelton (1911) has this to say about the spring
+movements of the California cuckoo:
+
+     Of all migratory birds breeding in this vicinity, the
+     Cuckoo is the last to arrive in the spring, usually
+     appearing during the latter part of May or the first week
+     of June. Upon its arrival, this bird keeps to the higher
+     land, among the oaks and other timber, for a period of
+     two or three weeks before retiring to the willow bottoms
+     to breed. During this period it is wild and shy and
+     difficult to approach. Most active in the early morning,
+     its characteristic note, a loud, clear “kow-kow-kow,” may
+     be heard coming from some tree or group of trees, and
+     perchance an answering “kow-kow-kow,” may come from another
+     tree, some distance away. * * *
+
+     After the birds retire to the willow bottoms to breed,
+     their entire attitude changes. When watched and studied in
+     the seclusion of their brush grown haunts, while engrossed
+     with the cares of their domestic duties, the Cuckoos
+     cease to be the wild, shy birds of the upland timber. The
+     familiar “kow-kow-kow” is now forsaken for another note,
+     a low guttural note, “kuk-kuk-kuk,” always uttered by a
+     brooding bird and is the most common call of the cuckoo
+     during the breeding season.
+
+_Courtship._--J. H. Bowles (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) writes: “While
+standing in an open woodland listening to a pair of Cuckoos calling
+to each other, I saw the male suddenly fly past with a large green
+worm in his bill. He flew directly to the female, who was perched
+in a tree a few yards distant, and for a moment or two they sat
+motionless a few inches apart looking at each other. The male
+then hovered lightly over his mate and, settling gently upon her
+shoulders, gracefully bent over and placed the worm in her bill. It
+was a pretty and daintily performed piece of love-making.”
+
+_Nesting._--The nesting habits of the California cuckoo are much
+like those of its eastern relative. In California its favorite
+nesting sites are in willow thickets in the river bottoms, or in
+such swampy lowlands as those referred to above. D. E. Brown writes
+to me that it is a rare bird in western Washington, and says: “It
+is found mostly in willow swamps, on the shores of fresh-water
+lakes, and along streams where the underbrush is thick. I have
+seldom seen it very far away from fresh water and never in real
+thick woods. It is a late arrival and does not begin nest building
+until about the fourth of July. I have found about a dozen occupied
+nests and only one of these was earlier than the above date; this
+one was on June 19. All these nests were in willow or wild-rose
+bushes, except one which was in a spirea bush. All nests were 2 to
+8 feet from the ground, or water when built in swamps. The nest is
+a very frail, small affair composed of twigs loosely put together
+and lined with finer twigs and sometimes a few leaves. Most of the
+nests that I have seen have been so very flat and small that they
+would be exceedingly hard to find if the birds were not on them.”
+
+A nest in the Thayer collection, taken near Kirkland, Wash., on
+July 7, 1909, was found in an open space in a fir forest in low
+ground, which was dotted with a second growth of fir and some
+_Osmaronia_ and _Spiraea_; it was placed on a branch of a fir on
+the exposed side of the tree, 9 feet from the ground; it was made
+of old fir twigs and lined with fresh fir twigs. I have heard of
+other Washington nests in fir trees.
+
+Major Bendire (1895) says:
+
+     The nests here [Arizona] were placed in willow or mesquite
+     thickets, from 10 to 15 feet from the ground, and they were
+     usually fairly well concealed by the surrounding foliage.
+     * * * If the California Cuckoo showed the same parasitic
+     habit of occasionally depositing one or more of its eggs in
+     the nests of other birds, as its eastern relatives are now
+     and then known to do, I believe that I should have observed
+     the fact in southern Arizona. Here I found eight of their
+     nests with eggs, and fully five hundred nests of smaller
+     birds, which nested in similar localities among the willow
+     thickets and mesquite bushes, overrun with vines, in the
+     creek bottoms, but not a single instance of parasitism came
+     under my observation.
+
+Wilson C. Hanna (1937) has published an interesting paper on the
+nesting habits of the California cuckoo in the San Bernardino
+Valley, Calif., with a photograph of a nest containing the unusual
+number of seven eggs; he writes:
+
+     I have rather complete notes on twenty-four nests that
+     I have examined in the field, six along Warm Creek and
+     eighteen along the Santa Ana River, and with two exceptions
+     all were in willow trees. In one case the nest was 11 feet
+     up in an alder tree next to the trunk, and in the other
+     case 30 feet up in a cottonwood tree on top of a bare limb
+     partly supported by a few twigs and therefore conspicuous.
+     The last mentioned nest was ten feet higher than any
+     other nest I have seen. Six of the nests in willows were
+     either partly supported by or covered with wild grape
+     vines, another nest was well concealed in the center of
+     live mistletoe, while still another was well hidden in
+     poison oak that was growing over the dead willow tree. A
+     few nests were placed next to the trunks of trees, but by
+     far the most common location was well out on a horizontal
+     or leaning limb. The average height above ground or water
+     was less than thirteen feet and two were only four feet
+     up. A good supply of rope and a ladder were necessary for
+     examining some of the nests without disturbing them or the
+     surroundings.
+
+     Nests were always loose structures, of coarse twigs for a
+     foundation, sometimes with a little superimposed grape-vine
+     bark, cottonwood bark, or rootlets. In some cases there was
+     no other lining and eggs could be seen through the bottom
+     of the nest; but usually there were fresh or old leaves,
+     bark strips, or willow cotton. In only one nest was there a
+     feather in the lining. Often the nests were much longer in
+     one dimension than the other, in one case four inches wide
+     and twelve inches long.
+
+_Eggs._--The California cuckoo lays usually three or four eggs,
+occasionally only two. These are indistinguishable from those of
+the eastern yellow-billed cuckoo and average only slightly larger.
+The measurements of 43 eggs average 31.1 by 23.1 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =35.5= by 23.5, 33.5 by
+=25=, and =27.5= by =21= millimeters.
+
+_Food._--Bendire (1895) says that in a brood that he watched, the
+young were fed “always with a large black cricket (_Anabus simplex_
+or _purpuratus_) * * *. They picked most of these repulsive-looking
+creatures from grass stalks and low shrubs on which they were
+feeding, and although there were numbers of them to be found all
+around, as well as in camp, they generally went off some little
+distance to get them.”
+
+Mr. Swarth (1929) says that a female, collected in Arizona,
+“contained in its stomach two green caterpillars and a lizard 100
+millimeters long, the latter swallowed entire and rolled into a
+coil. This seems a startling diet for a tree-dwelling cuckoo,
+but there is at least one other instance reported, also from the
+vicinity of Tucson, of a lizard being taken by one of these birds.”
+
+
+                 COCCYZUS ERYTHROPTHALMUS (Wilson)
+
+                        BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO
+
+                            PLATES 8–11
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The black-billed cuckoo is not so widely distributed as the
+yellow-billed, being confined in the breeding season to practically
+the northern half of the United States and southern Canada east
+of the Rocky Mountains. Within this range it seems to be commoner
+northward and rarer southward than the other species, ranging
+farther north and not so far south.
+
+In appearance and habits our two cuckoos are very much alike,
+and their haunts are similar; both are often found together, or
+in similar places, though the black-billed is rather more of a
+woodland bird and rather more retiring than the yellow-billed.
+William Brewster (1906) says that in the Cambridge region it is
+“more given to haunting extensive tracts of dry upland woods and
+to nesting in wild apple trees, Virginia junipers and barberry
+bushes in remote rocky pastures such as those which lie scattered
+along the crest and sides of the high ridge between Arlington and
+Waverley.”
+
+_Courtship._--William Brewster (1937a) writes: “On July 15, 1908,
+I witnessed the coition of two Black-billed Cuckoos in woods near
+Bethel, Maine. It took place on a branch only three or four feet
+above the ground. Although performed listlessly and intermittently,
+it was singularly protracted, for the two birds remained together
+at least four or five minutes, and did not finally separate until
+disturbed by my approach, when the male flew away and presently
+sang once. The female stayed quietly on her perch until I got near
+enough to see that she was a fully adult bird.”
+
+_Nesting._--Most of the New England nests on which I have data were
+placed at low elevations, 2 to 4 feet above ground, in various
+small trees, bushes, or thickets. My first nest was the highest, 10
+feet up, in the top of a leaning black birch in a strip of swampy
+woods and brushy thickets along a small brook. Another was 8 feet
+from the ground in a dense thicket of shrubbery and blackberry
+vines. Three nests were in small white pines, 3 to 4 feet up, in
+rather open spaces overgrown with various shrubs and small trees
+near the edges of the woods; the nests were placed on horizontal
+branches, against the trunk, and well concealed among the dense
+branches. Near Asquam Lake in New Hampshire I saw two nests in
+thick clumps of mountain-laurel in some dense and heavy deciduous
+woods, where the land sloped down to the lake; the mountain-laurel
+grew here in extensive patches, but not very high, seldom over 3 or
+4 feet; the large and well-made nests were only 2 and 3 feet from
+the ground, but fairly well concealed.
+
+Some nests of the black-billed cuckoo are very flimsy affairs,
+but often they are much more substantially built than the nests
+of the yellow-billed cuckoo. Owen Durfee describes in his notes a
+well-made nest that he found in a clump of chinquapin oaks near
+a road in Rehoboth, Mass. It was made of oak twigs and dry fern
+stalks, many of the twigs being fresh, with leaves attached; it
+was lined with dry oak leaves and a few fresh ones. It measured 8
+inches in outside diameter and 3 by 3½ inches in inside diameter,
+being hollowed to a depth of 1 inch. There is a beautiful nest in
+the Thayer collection, taken from a thicket in Lancaster, Mass.,
+7 feet from the ground; it has a well-made foundation of coarse
+twigs, tufts of grass, and burs; and it is profusely lined with the
+green leaves and the cottony catkins of the poplar. S. F. Rathbun
+writes to me of an interesting nest that he found: “The nest was
+a saucer-shaped affair made entirely of the burs from the burdock
+plant, simply stuck together so as to form a shallow receptacle for
+the eggs. As a lining for the nest a few dry grasses were used, and
+the burs with the grasses represented the entire structure. The
+cuckoo certainly showed ingenuity when it made this nest, for it
+could not have been more simply or easily constructed.”
+
+Dr. T. C. Stephens has sent me some fine photographs (pl. 8)
+of a black-billed cuckoo’s nest taken at the base of a willow
+sapling, near the shore of Lake Goodenough, in Union County, S.
+Dak., and says: “I have observed a rather marked tendency for the
+black-billed cuckoo in this region to build its nest within a
+very few inches of the ground or on the ground. This nest in the
+photograph was several inches above the ground outside the clump,
+but it might be regarded as a ground nest, because there was quite
+an accumulation of dirt and weed growth immediately below it. Of
+course, I have found nests of this species at heights about level
+with a man’s eyes, also.”
+
+A. Dawes DuBois has sent me the data for eight nests of this
+cuckoo, as found by him in Tompkins County, N. Y., and Hennepin
+County, Minn. Two of them were 5 feet above ground, one in the top
+of a bush covered with grape vines on the steep slope of a ravine
+and the other in a small larch, in the midst of an extensive
+willow thicket, half a foot from the trunk of the tree on a branch
+where two branchlets were attached. One of the lowest two was
+not over a foot above ground, among weeds 2 feet high; the nest
+was supported by a small dead branch that had fallen from a tree
+and lay hidden in the weeds. Others were at intermediate heights
+in more normal situations. The nest in the small larch tree he
+describes as made first of some cottony seed pods (ripened willow
+catkins), then a main structure of woody twigs, and lined with
+finer twigs, a few grasses and bits of the cottony seed pods; two
+tufts of dry grass, with roots attached, were at opposite sides of
+the rim.
+
+Major Bendire (1895) says:
+
+     The nests of the Black-billed Cuckoo appear to be slightly
+     better built than those of the Yellow-billed species; the
+     platform is usually constructed of finer twigs, the soft
+     inner bark of cedar, fine rootlets, weed stems, etc., and
+     there is generally more lining. This consists of the aments
+     of oak, white and black ash, and maple, willow catkins, and
+     the flowers of the cudweed or everlasting (_Gnaphalium_),
+     dried leaves, and similar materials. The majority of the
+     nests are placed in rather low situations, mostly not
+     over 6 feet from the ground, on horizontal limbs of bushy
+     evergreens, pines, cedars, and hemlocks, or in deciduous
+     trees and shrubs, such as the box elder, chestnut, thorn
+     apple, and beech trees; also in hedges, briar and kalmia
+     patches, occasionally on old logs, and now and then even on
+     the ground.
+
+A rather high nest was found by P. G. Howes (1908) near Stamford,
+Conn. It was about 15 feet from the ground, at the extremity of a
+limb of “a scrubby apple tree at the foot of a hay-covered field.”
+He says that, in his experience, the nest “has always been lined
+with maiden-hair ferns.”
+
+H. W. Flint, of Stamford, Conn., in a letter to Major Bendire
+(1895), mentions a still higher nest, and says: “I know of one spot
+in this vicinity where the Black-billed Cuckoo might almost be said
+to breed in colonies--a sloping hillside near a traveled road. Here
+I have found seven nests of this species within an hour, none of
+them placed over 3 feet from the ground. I have also frequently
+found their nest on a fallen limb, the top of which was resting
+upon underbrush. As an exception to their low nesting, I once found
+a nest containing two well-feathered young and two fresh eggs over
+18 feet from the ground, placed in the top of a cedar tree, in a
+dense thicket of other cedars.”
+
+As already mentioned under the preceding species, both cuckoos
+often lay their eggs in each other’s nests. Thomas McIlwraith
+(1894) mentions three cases of parasitism on the part of the
+black-billed cuckoo, as observed by Dr. C. K. Clarke, of Kingston,
+Ontario; he says:
+
+     The first birds Dr. Clarke observed being imposed upon were
+     a pair of chipping sparrows, who raised the young cuckoo at
+     the expense of the family.
+
+     Next came a pair of yellow warblers, whose _protégé_ soon
+     crowded out the legitimate occupants of the nest. They were
+     raised from the ground and placed within reach, but the big
+     boy required all the attention of the foster-parents, and
+     the others died. During the whole period, the old cuckoo
+     was always to be found flitting about in a restless manner,
+     as if she had some doubt in regard to the ability of the
+     warblers to take care of her child.
+
+     The third case was another pair of chipping sparrows, in
+     whose nest the cuckoo was observed sitting, and from which
+     she did not move till the observers almost touched her. The
+     result was the same as in the other cases. The young cuckoo
+     threw the sparrows out as soon as he had strength to do so.
+
+Eggs of the black-billed cuckoo have also been found in nests of
+the wood pewee, cardinal, cedar waxwing, catbird, and wood thrush.
+Under the preceding species will be found a note, published by
+J. L. Davison (1887), describing the finding of a nest occupied
+by a robin, a yellow-billed cuckoo, and a mourning dove. Bendire
+(1895) published an almost identical account of such a remarkable
+occurrence, on the authority of the same observer, but with the
+black-billed substituted for the yellow-billed cuckoo. It seems
+hardly likely that such an unusual happening could occur with both
+species in exactly the same way, and leaves us in doubt as to which
+species of cuckoo was involved.
+
+_Eggs._--The black-billed cuckoo commonly lays 2 or 3 eggs; sets
+of 4 or 5 may sometimes be the product of a single pair; but the
+larger numbers that have been found in their nests, 6, 7, or even
+8 eggs, were probably laid by two or perhaps three females, as
+these birds are notoriously careless about laying in each other’s
+nests. Bendire (1895) says: “The eggs of the Black-billed Cuckoo
+are more nearly oval than elliptical oval, and shorter and rounder
+than those of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and much more deeply
+colored. Like these, they are unspotted; the shell is thin and
+fine grained, with little or no gloss. Their color is difficult to
+describe exactly, varying from nile blue to pale beryl green, and
+occasionally the shell shows a decidedly marbled appearance, caused
+by different shades running into each other. * * * Aside from their
+deeper color, they are also readily distinguished from eggs of the
+Yellow-billed Cuckoo by their smaller size.”
+
+Eggs that I have seen in collections I should describe as “pale
+glaucous green,” “dull opaline green,” or “microline green” and
+varying from oval to elliptical-oval. Some of these, as well
+as some of those included in the following measurements, may
+be yellow-billed cuckoos’ eggs, as the two are probably not
+always recognizable with certainty. The measurements of 54 eggs,
+presumably of this species, average 27.18 by 20.57 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure =30.48= by =22.86=,
+=22.61= by 18.80, and 25.40 by =18.29= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--Incubation is shared by both sexes and lasts for about
+14 days. As the eggs are often laid at infrequent intervals, it is
+not unusual to find young birds of different ages, or even eggs and
+young, in the same nest. Both sexes assist in the care of the young
+and are devoted parents; even when an egg is hatched by a foster
+parent, the mother cuckoo does not seem entirely to lose interest
+in her youngster, as related above. On the other hand, William H.
+Moore (1902a), of Scotch Lake, New Brunswick, says: “I have known
+this bird to desert its young when the nest was molested, and
+after the young died they were covered with leaves by the adults.”
+Cuckoos are careless about removing the cast-off shells, which are
+often found in the nest after the young have hatched. The young
+remain in the nest 7 to 9 days after hatching and then become quite
+precocial. While in the nest the young are fed by their parents in
+a rather peculiar manner, of which Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932)
+writes:
+
+     When the old bird returns, the food, which is very likely
+     to be _live_ caterpillars, is concealed in the throat. As
+     a nestling raises its head with open mouth and rapidly
+     vibrating wings, the parent thrusts its bill deeply into
+     the open maw and the young bird grasps securely the smooth
+     bill of the old bird, in which action it is greatly aided
+     by several soft papillae or disks in the roof of the
+     mouth. Then, with a slow, pumping motion, the squirming
+     caterpillars are transferred with some difficulty from one
+     mouth to another. The process is a slow one, the birds
+     being attached a minute or more and the transfer aided,
+     apparently, by a sucking effort on the part of the nestling.
+
+     When a young Cuckoo opens its mouth widely there are
+     visible, in the roof of the mouth, a number of large,
+     flat-topped, white papillae or tubercles, arranged
+     symmetrically, the function of which is plainly to make
+     it possible for the nestling to maintain its hold on the
+     parent’s bill, which is smooth and tapering. A small
+     finger-tip inserted well down into the open, upturned mouth
+     of a nestling is seized tightly and a sucking motion is
+     distinctly perceptible. [Pl. 10.]
+
+Prof. Francis H. Herrick (1935) has made a thorough study of the
+home life of the black-billed cuckoo, and I cannot do better than
+to quote a few of his remarks on the behavior of the young. After
+describing the peculiar appearance of the newly hatched young, he
+says:
+
+     More remarkable than anything about its appearance,
+     however, is the muscular vigor and endurance the cuckoo
+     displays at this tender age, for it seems to be able to
+     withstand heat, hunger, and general neglect that would be
+     fatal to the young of most wild birds. I soon found by
+     experiment that when barely three hours out of its shell
+     this little cuckoo could hang suspended by a leg or even
+     by a single toe for upwards of a quarter of a minute, and
+     that it could raise itself up until its bill was well over
+     the twig that it grasped with both feet; and in a short
+     time it was able to raise itself on to the twig, or even to
+     draw itself up with the power of one leg, which implies an
+     extraordinary muscular development. * * * Though born blind
+     and essentially naked, the young black-bill is neither deaf
+     nor dumb, and in proportion to its size it is probably the
+     strongest and most enterprising altricial nestling on the
+     North American continent. * * *
+
+     Like other nestlings, the cuckoo lies flat, with toes
+     clenched, and holds to its fragile nest with a firm grip.
+     Attempt to remove it, and it is likely to pull its nest to
+     pieces rather than loose its hold; or it may even drag out
+     a fellow-nestling, reminding one of crayfishes or lobsters,
+     in the handling of which one may also get a living chain.
+     Should you succeed in displacing a bird, its claws will
+     rapidly open and close in its desperate search for any
+     object to clasp, for a contact stimulus afforded by any
+     solid body can alone satisfy this strong reflex. * * *
+
+     At the age of about six days the nestling cuckoo has
+     reached that peculiar transitory state which we may call
+     the “quill” or feather-tube stage. * * *
+
+     Towards the end of this brief and unique stage the
+     behavior of the young bird changes in marked and rapid
+     fashion. It indulges in new attitudes, acquires new call
+     and alarm-notes, shows fear, and begins those preening or
+     combing movements which are to effect a relatively sudden
+     and altogether surprising change in its appearance. * * *
+
+     In one instance the first preening action was noticed on
+     the sixth day; thereafter this kind of activity became
+     frequent, and the bird would comb every “quill” within
+     reach, drawing the mandibles over it from base to apex.
+     Then, with apparent suddenness, at the close of the seventh
+     day the transparent horny sheaths began to give way at
+     their base--instead of wearing off gradually from apex
+     to base in the usual fashion--and were raked off by the
+     mouthful. * * *
+
+     Fear may become manifest as early as the sixth day, when
+     a frightened bird will sometimes clear the nest at a
+     bound and, seizing a branch with both feet, hold firmly
+     to it. Should it drop to the ground, it can make off with
+     surprising speed. If captured and held, it will emit loud,
+     explosive squeals, than which nothing seems to arouse its
+     parents to quicker attack or bolder measures. Replace it in
+     the nest, and it spreads its wings, stiffens, and lies flat
+     with every feather-tube on end; and it will repeat these
+     defensive measures as often as it is touched or disturbed.
+     * * *
+
+     When from seven to nine days old, with half of its feathers
+     unsheathed, the cuckoo suddenly leaves its nest and enters
+     upon a climbing period, which lasts about a fortnight or
+     until it is able to fly. At one of my observation stations
+     I saw three young birds leave their nest in succession,
+     and the procedure in the case of the oldest one was
+     particularly interesting. This bird, which had been sitting
+     in the bright sunshine, for the day was not uncomfortably
+     warm, of a sudden moved to one side of its platform. After
+     having combed off several mouthfuls of feather-sheaths,
+     it sat upright for some minutes and gazed into its outer
+     world. Then, directing Its attention to a small branch and
+     ducking its head as if contemplating flight, with a leap it
+     cleared the nest, and, catching hold of a twig, with both
+     feet, it swung free with acrobatic dexterity. In another
+     moment it had pulled itself up and was comfortably perched.
+     If such a first perch is placed in the shade and the young
+     bird is promptly fed, it may keep to it for a long time;
+     but it can move about, and should it drop to the ground, it
+     can mount to safety again.
+
+The vertical position assumed by young cuckoos, probably as a
+hiding pose, has been noted by several observers, but the following
+incident reported to me in a letter from Frederic H. Kennard,
+is quite unusual; he says: “I had just been investigating a big
+highbush blueberry bush, looking for a nest, when I discovered,
+to my surprise, a fledgling black-billed cuckoo, squatting on a
+twig about 6 feet from the ground. The little bird, which really
+was not able to fly, was squatting on a limb, just as little birds
+ordinarily do; his wing feathers were fairly well developed,
+but his tail was only about a quarter of an inch long. When I
+parted the branches a trifle, so that we could see him better,
+and finding out that he was discovered, he promptly assumed an
+almost perpendicular position, with his neck stretched out almost
+unbelievably and his bill almost straight in the air; and there
+he sat, immovable, with his bill in the air like a bittern, only
+oscillating a trifle when the branch on which he was sitting was
+disturbed a little by the breeze.
+
+“My youngest son, Jack, being interested in the peculiarities of
+cuckoos’ feet, attempted to pick him off the limb; the little bird
+fluttered to the ground, where he picked him up. When we had duly
+examined and discussed the arrangement of his toes, Jack endeavored
+to put the little fellow back exactly where he had been when we
+first disturbed him. Then, as he endeavored to replace him on the
+limb, he suddenly went limp and, apparently, passed out in his
+hand, frightened to death, as I supposed. He was perfectly limp
+and my impression is that his eyes were closed. Jack finally, in
+trying to get him to stay on the limb, hung him across the limb
+by the neck, with his head across one side and his body down the
+other side. Just then there came a little breeze, the body dropped,
+and that little bird simply scuttled in under the ferns. It was
+the most astonishing performance that I ever witnessed, first the
+stake-driver attitude, as a protective position, and then playing
+dead.”
+
+_Plumages._--Professor Herrick (1935) says of the newly-hatched
+young cuckoo: “Although most birds emerge from the shell wet with
+the amniotic fluid, the cuckoo just mentioned came out quite dry.
+It was two and one-half inches long and weighed less than a quarter
+of an ounce (or 7.4 grams). Its skin was coal-black, sparsely
+sprinkled with sharply contrasting snow-white ‘hairs’--in reality
+the feather-tubes of a rudimentary down which never unfolds. These
+primitive feather-tubes are later pushed out by those of the
+juvenal contour feathers and for about a week are borne upon their
+tips, thus giving them a peculiar flagellate appearance.”
+
+When about six days old, the young cuckoo “bristles like the
+fretful porcupine in every feather-tract”; these bristles are the
+feather-tubes of the juvenal plumage, referred to above. At about
+this age, the young bird begins the “combing” process, by which the
+sheaths of these feather tubes are removed, as described above, and
+a marvelous change begins to take place in a remarkably short time,
+as the sheaths are removed and fall in a shower in and about the
+nest. Professor Herrick (1935) says: “Thus at one stroke one or
+more of the juvenal contour feathers are exposed and quickly fluff
+out in all their shapely proportions. * * * The change actually
+occupies about twelve hours, and it is really not complete, since
+the sheaths of the wing- and tail-quills flake off gradually, as in
+other birds, and those feathers of head and neck out of reach of
+the ‘comb’ remain sheathed for a considerable time longer.”
+
+By the time that the young bird leaves the nest, at the ago of 8 or
+9 days, it is in nearly full juvenal plumage; the wings are fairly
+well grown, but the tail is still very short. In this plumage the
+soft plumage above is “buffy brown,” each feather tipped with
+white; the under parts are silvery white, tinged with pale gray on
+the belly and with pale buff on the breast and throat. During late
+summer and early fall, most, if not all, of this juvenal contour
+plumage is molted and replaced by the first winter plumage, but the
+flight feathers of the wings and tail are retained until spring.
+This first winter plumage is much like that of the adult, but it is
+more brownish on the head and back and more greenish olive on the
+scapulars than in adults; the throat is more buffy and the upper
+breast more grayish buff than in the adult; the young bird’s tail
+is quite different, the grayish white tips are smaller and are not
+bordered inwardly with the dusky space, which is clearly visible
+in the adult tail. The molts are apparently the same as in the
+yellow-billed cuckoo; the adult plumage seems to be acquired before
+the young birds return from their first winter in the south, but we
+have no specimens showing a spring molt.
+
+_Food._--The black-billed cuckoo is just as good a caterpillar
+destroyer as the yellow-billed; in fact the food habits of the
+two species are almost identical in all respects. An abundance
+of caterpillars in a locality is very likely to bring with it an
+invasion of cuckoos. Frank L. Farley writes to me: “As far as I am
+aware, the black-billed cuckoo was unknown in central Alberta until
+the summer of 1923. That year the central portion of the Province
+was infested with tent caterpillars, which, in 1924–25, assumed
+plague proportions. Entire bluffs of poplar trees, several acres
+in extent, were entirely denuded of their leaves, while houses and
+other buildings were overrun with the pests.” In June 1924 the
+cuckoos began to appear for the first time, birds entirely unknown
+to the residents. “Although caterpillars gradually disappeared
+after 1925, cuckoos were reported from widely separated parts of
+central Alberta, the most northerly one being about 150 miles north
+of Camrose, which is in latitude 53° N. The presence of cuckoos
+and caterpillars in the same territory during these years would
+tend to bear out the claims of other observers, that the insects
+are particularly relished by these birds, which, in some uncanny
+manner, are able to locate infested territory far removed from
+their usual place of residence.”
+
+Forbush (1927) says:
+
+     In seasons when caterpillars of any species are abundant,
+     cuckoos usually become common in the infested localities.
+     They follow the caterpillars, and where such food is
+     plentiful, the size of their broods seems to increase.
+     During an invasion of forest tent caterpillars in Stoneham,
+     Massachusetts, in May, 1898, Mr. Frank H. Mosher watched
+     one of these birds that caught and ate 36 of these insects
+     inside of five minutes. He saw another in Malden eat 29,
+     rest a few minutes and then eat 14 more. In July, 1899, he
+     reported a family of these birds in a locality infested
+     with the gipsy moth, and said that they were eating large
+     quantities of gipsy caterpillars. In June, 1895, Mr.
+     Henry Shaw reported great numbers of these cuckoos in
+     Dorchester feeding on the same pests. The late Professor
+     Walter B. Barrows, of Michigan, an extremely conservative
+     ornithologist, is responsible for the statement that in
+     several instances remains of over 100 tent caterpillars
+     have been taken from a single cuckoo’s stomach. The
+     Black-billed Cuckoo, because more common than the
+     Yellow-billed, is the species that most commonly attacks
+     this insect in New England orchards. During an invasion of
+     army worms, Professor S. A. Forbes found that 95 per cent
+     of the food of this species consisted of that caterpillar.
+
+F. H. King (1883), writing of the food of the black-billed cuckoo
+in Wisconsin, says: “Of thirteen specimens examined, nine had
+eaten caterpillars--among them were eight of the fall web-worms
+(_Hyphantria textor_), thirty-three of the oak caterpillars
+(_Dryocampa senatoria_), one of the Io caterpillars (_Saturnia
+io_), six of the antiopa caterpillars (_Vanessa antiopa_), and
+one of the caterpillars of the archippus butterfly (_Danais
+archippus_). One contained five larvae of the large saw-fly
+(_Cymbex americana_); six, twenty-five grasshoppers; one, a
+cricket; two, ten beetles; and two, two harvest-men.”
+
+Other authors have charged this cuckoo with eating minute mollusks
+and other small animals, fishes and aquatic larvae, fruits and
+berries, and even the eggs and young of small birds. On the latter
+point, Henry D. Minot (1877) says that “they do great mischief in
+destroying the eggs of other useful birds. Like arrant cowards, as
+they are, they take opportunities to approach stealthily the nests
+of many birds, whom they would be afraid to encounter, and then
+feast on the eggs of the absent parents, after which they hurry
+away. They are scarcely less destructive in this way than the black
+snakes, though I have never known them to kill young birds.”
+
+_Behavior._--The two cuckoos are so much alike in haunts, habits,
+and behavior that most of what I have said about the yellow-billed
+would apply equally well to this species. The black-billed is
+rather more swift on the wing than the other, but it flies in the
+same graceful manner. It is the same shy recluse of the shady
+retreats, among the dense foliage of the woods and shade trees,
+unafraid to frequent the orchards and gardens in search for its
+food, but shunning any intimacy with human beings; we hear its
+wandering voice but seldom see more than a fleeting glimpse of its
+graceful form as it fades away into the shadows.
+
+In defense of its eggs or young the black-billed cuckoo is often
+quite courageous. Olive Thorne Miller (1892) writes charmingly
+of her experiences with an incubating pair of these cuckoos; she
+watched them change places on the nest, and found the female quite
+confiding, but the male never became reconciled to her presence:
+
+     It happened that I arrived when the mother was away, and
+     the head of the household in charge. No sooner did I appear
+     on the path than he flew off the nest with great bustle,
+     thus betraying himself at once; but he did not desert his
+     post of protector. He perched on a branch somewhat higher
+     than my head, and five or six feet away, and began calling,
+     a low “coo-oo.” With every cry he opened his mouth very
+     wide, as though to shriek at the top of his voice, and the
+     low cry that came out was so ludicrously inadequate to his
+     apparent effort that it was very droll. In this performance
+     he made fine display of the inside of his mouth and throat,
+     which looked, from where I stood, like black satin. * * *
+
+     Finding that his voice did not drive me away, the bird
+     resorted to another method; he tried intimidation. First
+     he threw himself into a most curious attitude, humping his
+     shoulders and opening his tail like a fan, then spreading
+     his wings and resting the upper end of them on his tail,
+     which made at the back a sort of scoop effect. Every time
+     he uttered the cry he lifted wings and tail together, and
+     let them fall slowly back to their natural position. It was
+     the queerest bird performance I ever saw.
+
+On another day, she says: “We had not waited long when the head
+of the cuckoo family appeared. He saw us instantly, and, I regret
+to say, was no more reconciled to our presence than he had been
+on the previous occasion; but he showed his displeasure in a
+different way. He rushed about in the trees, crying, ‘cuck-a-ruck,
+cuck-a-ruck,’ running out even to the tip of slender branches that
+seemed too slight to bear his weight. When his feelings entirely
+overcame him he flew away, and though we remained fifteen minutes,
+no one came to the nest.”
+
+E. A. Samuels (1883) writes:
+
+     Like the other, the Black-billed Cuckoo is very cowardly,
+     and is quickly driven from the neighborhood of the nest of
+     almost any of the other birds. If a robin, or other bird of
+     equal size, discover one of these, to him pirates, in the
+     vicinity of his nest, he immediately assaults the intruder,
+     with loud outcries, pouncing upon him, and pecking with
+     great ferocity. Others of his neighbors, who are near,
+     join in the attack; the Cuckoo, in retreating, dives into
+     the recesses of a stone wall, or the first secure retreat
+     available; very seldom taking to his wings, as another bird
+     would do, I have known of a cuckoo being driven into a barn
+     by a Blue-bird (_S. sialis_), who sat perching on a fence
+     outside for several minutes, keeping his enemy prisoner;
+     and the latter, when pursued and captured by myself,
+     preferred being my prisoner to facing his enemy outside.
+
+_Voice._--One cannot always distinguish with certainty _all_
+the notes of the black-billed cuckoo from _all_ those of the
+yellow-billed. Many of the notes are much alike in both species.
+The notes of the black-billed are, as a rule, softer and more
+liquid than those of the yellow-billed and not so deep-toned.
+
+The ordinary “song” of the black-billed is preceded by a gurgling
+note, and the rest of the long song is uttered in regularly
+measured time, not retarded at the end, as is that of the
+yellow-billed, and the notes are given in couplets or triplets,
+one syllable in each set being accented. Dr. Charles W. Townsend
+(1920a) describes it very well as follows: “The full song may be
+described as a preliminary harsh clearing of the throat followed by
+from six to twelve short coughs which in turn are succeeded by the
+more pleasing doublets and triplets of _cows_. The Yellow-billed
+Cuckoo repeats his _cows_ or _cowks_ in regular order without
+dividing them into sets and they sound as woodeny as if he were
+striking a plank with a mallet.”
+
+Aretas A. Saunders (1929) says: “The bird has a variety of calls.
+One consists of a gurgling note followed by single notes in even
+time, ‘krak-ika kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh’. Another is a
+series of groups consisting of two to six notes repeated many
+times, with one of the notes strongly accented, such as ‘_kuka kuka
+kuka_,’ or ‘ka_kuk_aka ka_kuk_aka ka_kuk_aka.’ I have known a bird
+to repeat such phrases over a hundred times without stopping.”
+
+The notes of the black-billed cuckoo are often given on the nest
+or while the bird is in flight, and they may be heard at all hours
+of the day or night. Both cuckoos are said to be more noisy just
+before a rain, hence the name “rain crow.”
+
+Mr. Brewster (1937a) says that “both species coo in the same
+subdued, mournful, dovelike tones, but when so engaged, the
+Yellow-bill always utters only a single note at a time, and then
+waits at least a second or two before following it with another
+precisely similar; whereas the cooing notes of the Black-bill
+are invariably doubled or trebled or quadrupled, or perhaps even
+quintupled, yet separated from one another within such grouping by
+scarcely appreciable pauses.”
+
+Gerald H. Thayer (1903) has given an interesting account of
+what he calls “the mid-summer, mid-night, mid-sky gyrations of
+the Black-billed Cuckoo, as noted by my father and me for three
+consecutive seasons in the southwestern corner of New Hampshire”:
+
+     Several years before we discovered the nocturnal-flight
+     phenomenon, we began to be puzzled by the extreme frequency
+     of Cuckoo calls on summer nights. * * * They uttered both
+     the _cow-cow_ notes and the rolling guttural call; but the
+     guttural was much the commoner of the two, except on dark,
+     foggy nights, when the case was usually reversed. * * * The
+     birds were often so far up as to be only faintly audible
+     when directly overhead, with no obstructions interposed;
+     and this on a still night would seem to mean an elevation
+     of at least a hundred and fifty yards. They sometimes flew
+     lower, however, and on cloudy nights often moved about
+     barely above the tree-tops.
+
+     * * * On the evening of July 11--a pitch-dark evening with
+     a thunder-shower lowering,--they were remarkably noisy,
+     both sitting in trees and flying high in air. The seated
+     ones, of which I heard only two, made the _cow-cow_ notes,
+     while all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. I heard
+     this note overhead between thirty and forty times in the
+     course of about three hours, during half of which time I
+     was afoot on the road.
+
+_Field marks._--This bird may be recognized as a cuckoo by its
+size, shape, and general coloration. It can be distinguished from
+the yellow-billed cuckoo by the absence of the distinguishing
+marks of the latter, the cinnamon-rufous in the wings, and the
+conspicuously black-and-white lateral tail feathers.
+
+The wings of the black-billed cuckoo are practically uniform in
+color with its back; and the lateral tail feathers are dark gray,
+with inconspicuous, grayish-white, smaller tips, bordered inwardly
+with a dusky spot. The wholly black bill and the red eyelids can be
+seen only at short range.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southern Canada and the United States east of the
+Rocky Mountains, south in winter to northwestern South America.
+Accidental in Italy, the Azores, and Ireland.
+
+_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the black-billed cuckoo
+extends =north= to southern Saskatchewan (Johnstone Lake, Muscow,
+and Indian Head); southern Manitoba (Carberry, Portage la Prairie,
+and Shoal Lake); northern Minnesota (Crooked Lake); southern
+Ontario (probably Goulais Bay, Toronto, and Stirling); Quebec
+(Hull, Montreal, probably Quebec, and probably Kamouraska); New
+Brunswick (Scotch Lake); probably Prince Edward Island (North
+River); and Nova Scotia (Wolfville and Pictou). From this point the
+range extends =south= along the seaboard to North Carolina (Raleigh
+and Winston-Salem); Tennessee (Beersheba Springs and Nashville);
+northwestern Arkansas (Rogers); eastern Kansas (Lawrence and
+Clearwater); Nebraska (Red Cloud, Kearney, and Antioch); and
+southeastern Wyoming (Wheatland). =West= to eastern Wyoming
+(Wheatland and Dayton); eastern Montana (Terry); and Saskatchewan
+(Johnstone Lake).
+
+The species has been detected in summer on several occasions west
+of its breeding range. Among these are: Colorado (Fort Morgan,
+Clear Creek, Fort Collins, and Wray); Wyoming (Laramie); Montana
+(Fort Keogh, Knowlton, and Billings); and western Saskatchewan
+(Eastend, Skull Creek, Medicine Hat, and Big Stick Lake). On June
+23, 1924, a partially completed nest was found near Camrose,
+Alberta, a range extension that for the time being must be
+considered unusual (see remarks under “Food”). The species also
+was recorded at Godbout, Quebec, on August 11, 1885.
+
+_Winter range._--Available information indicates that in winter
+this species is concentrated in northwestern South America:
+Colombia (Antroquia, Medellin, and Bogota); Ecuador (Guapulo,
+La Carolina, Daule, Puna Lake, and Lechugal); and northern Peru
+(Huamachuco).
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida--
+Hastings, April 13; Eau Gallie, April 27; Pensacola, May 2.
+Alabama--Scottsboro, April 18; Barachias, April 22. Georgia--Atlanta,
+April 24; Athens, April 27. South Carolina--Frogmore, April 24;
+Spartanburg, April 29. North Carolina--Raleigh, April 15; Piney
+Creek, May 4. Virginia--Blacksburg, April 26; Lynchburg, May 8.
+District of Columbia--Washington, April 30. Maryland--Baltimore,
+April 20. Pennsylvania--Jeffersonville, April 30; Ridgway, May
+6; Doylestown, May 9. New Jersey--Milltown, May 2; Passaic, May
+7. New York--Medina, May 3; New York City, May 9; Rochester, May
+15. Connecticut--Fairfield, May 1; Hadlyme, May 4; New Haven, May
+7. Rhode Island--Block Island, May 6. Massachusetts--Belmont,
+May 4; Marlboro, May 6; North Amherst, May 12; Danvers, May 12.
+Vermont--Clarendon, May 12; St. Johnsbury, May 13; Wells River,
+May 18. New Hampshire--East Westmoreland, May 16; South Hooksett,
+May 16; Concord, May 21. Maine--South Portland, May 11; Winthrop,
+May 15; Waterville, May 20. Quebec--Montreal, May 10; Hatley, May
+28. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, May 27. Nova Scotia--Halifax,
+May 12; Wolfville, May 18. Louisiana--Avery Island, April 12.
+Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, April 14. Arkansas--Fayetteville,
+April 30; Broma Towns, May 2. Tennessee--Knoxville, April 12;
+Tate, April 26. Kentucky--Lexington, May 1; Bowling Green, May 6.
+Missouri--Jonesburg, May 3; Montgomery City, May 4; Columbia, May
+7. Illinois--Rantoul, April 17; Elgin, May 5; Glen Ellyn, May 7.
+Indiana--Bloomington, April 26; Richmond, April 27; Vincennes,
+May 7. Ohio--Oberlin, May 1; Columbia, May 2; Upper Sandusky,
+May 3. Michigan--Detroit, May 1; Brant, May 3; Sault Ste. Marie,
+May 11. Ontario--Guelph, April 19; Ottawa, May 7; London, May 9.
+Iowa--McGregor, April 24; Mason City, April 30; Wall Lake, May
+3. Wisconsin--Racine, May 8; Beloit, May 10; Whitewater, May 11.
+Minnesota--Montevideo, April 13; Anoka County, May 5; Excelsior, May
+13. Oklahoma--Tulsa, May 3; Norman, May 5. Kansas--Fort Leavenworth,
+May 6; Bendena, May 8; Clearwater, May 9. Nebraska--Valentine, May
+1; Red Cloud, May 11; Omaha, May 13. South Dakota--Yankton, May 1;
+Huron, May 13; Forestburg, May 15. North Dakota--Grafton, April 25;
+Antler, May 3; Jamestown, May 23. Manitoba--Aweme, May 20; Pilot
+Mound, May 24; Reaburn, May 26. Saskatchewan--Muscow, May 12; Indian
+Head, May 20.
+
+_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Manitoba--
+Margaret, September 3; Aweme, September 14. North Dakota--Fargo,
+September 13; Cando, September 18; Argusville, September 22.
+South Dakota--Forestburg, September 6; Sioux Falls, September 22;
+Lennox, October 14. Kansas--Cimarron, September 2; Osawatomie,
+September 22. Minnesota--Elk River, September 27; Red Wing,
+October 2. Wisconsin--New London, September 24; Racine, September
+24; Madison, September 26. Iowa--Wall Lake, September 28; Osage,
+October 10; McGregor, October 20. Ontario--Ottawa, September 16;
+Point Pelee, October 18. Michigan--Charity Island, September 20;
+Grand Rapids, September 26, Detroit, October 9. Ohio--Saybrook,
+October 1; Berlin Center, October 12; Columbus, October 15.
+Indiana--Indianapolis, October 2; Fort Wayne, October 12; Bicknell,
+October 18. Illinois--Rantoul, October 4; La Grange, October 7;
+Glen Ellyn, October 21. Missouri--Columbia, October 4; St. Louis,
+October 16. Kentucky--Danville, October 5; Bowling Green, October 18.
+Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, October 11. Nova Scotia--Sable Island,
+September 25. Quebec--Montreal, September 5. Maine--Orono, September
+21; Winthrop, October 20. New Hampshire--Jefferson, October 3;
+Durham, October 5. Vermont--Wells River, September 14; Woodstock,
+September 18. Massachusetts--West Groton, September 30; North
+Truro, October 13; Harvard, October 16. Rhode Island--Providence,
+October 23. Connecticut--New Haven, September 28; East Portland,
+October 3; Meriden, October 8. New York--Hyde Park, October 6; New
+York City, October 10. New Jersey--Elizabeth, October 3; Sandy
+Hook, October 5; Milltown, October 24. Pennsylvania--McKeesport,
+October 11; Jeffersonville, October 13; Pittsburgh, October 16.
+District of Columbia--Washington, October 28. Virginia--Naruna,
+October 18. North Carolina--Chapel Hill, October 3; Raleigh,
+October 10; Hendersonville, October 12. Georgia--Atlanta, October
+14; Thomasville, October 21. Alabama--Autauga County, October 16.
+Florida--College Point, September 28; Pensacola, October 23.
+
+_Casual records._--While the black-billed cuckoo does not migrate
+regularly through the Caribbean region it has been recorded on
+Dominica (September 30, 1904), Tobago, and Trinidad. Gundlach is
+alleged to have taken a specimen in May (year?) near Cardenas,
+Cuba, and there is a somewhat doubtful record from the Isle of
+Pines on May 11, 1909. Specimens were taken in Bermuda in October
+1874 and also in April and May 1875. The Ponta Delgada Museum has
+an undated specimen taken at San Miguel, Ponta Delgada, Azores;
+a specimen taken in 1858 near Lucca, Italy, is preserved in the
+Museum of the University of Pisa; and one was taken on September
+25, 1871, at Killead, County Antrim, Ireland.
+
+_Egg dates._--Illinois: 13 records, May 7 to July 20; 7 records,
+June 1 to 26, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Massachusetts: 20 records, May 19 to June 20; 10 records, May 30 to
+June 10.
+
+Michigan: 14 records, May 25 to September 14; 7 records, June 21 to
+July 20.
+
+New York: 23 records, May 11 to July 18; 12 records, May 29 to June
+9.
+
+
+                   CUCULUS OPTATUS OPTATUS Gould
+
+                          HIMALAYAN CUCKOO
+
+             CONTRIBUTED BY EDWARD CHARLES STUART BAKER
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The Himalayan cuckoo very closely resembles the various races of
+the common cuckoo (_Cuculus canorus_) in its general habits, but
+it is, I think, a more secretive bird, keeping closely to tall
+trees with dense foliage, so that although one may hear its very
+distinctive call on many occasions quite close by it is often
+very difficult to see until it takes to wing. In Kashmir and the
+northwest Himalayas it is found in summer at all elevations between
+5,000 and 10,000 feet and occasionally to some 2,000 feet higher
+but, never, I believe, above the forest line. In Sikkim it is
+common in well-forested land between 4,000 and 9,000 feet, while
+Stevens (1925) records having heard it calling at an elevation of
+3,500 feet on May 25, so that it may breed as low down as this in
+that part of the Himalayas. In Assam it is very common between the
+same elevations as in Sikkim, there also keeping closely to forest,
+either deciduous, pine, or evergreen with dense undergrowth. All
+ornithologists seem to agree as to the nature of the country
+frequented by this cuckoo. In letters to me A. E. Jones mentions
+“dense forest,” “dense deodar forest” as the breeding haunts of
+birds whose eggs he has found; B. B. Osmaston (MS.) found it in
+“open, well-wooded forest.” Mackenzie and Hopwood (MS.) took eggs
+in the nests of _Acanthopneuste davisoni_ in the Chin Hills, in
+“heavy evergreen forest.” The only exception to this of which I am
+aware is an egg taken by T. R. Livesey (MS.) found in Kashmir in a
+nest of _Emberiza cia stracheyi_ in a “well-wooded glade in forest.”
+
+At all seasons of the year it keeps almost entirely to branches of
+high trees, some 40 or 50 feet or more from the ground, descending
+to the undergrowth only when hunting for nests in which to deposit
+its eggs or for the actual deposition of the egg. When so employed
+it is, I believe, always silent and, even in its movements, very
+quiet and secretive unless it is being harassed by small birds
+who hunt it just as they do the common cuckoo. I have not seen
+this bird feeding in bushes or on the ground even when there are
+numerous caterpillars or a flight of termites to tempt it.
+
+When on migration also this cuckoo seems to keep to forest or to
+exceptionally well-wooded country, and I have no record of its
+having been found in the open in India, though obviously it must
+sometimes pass over such country in its movements from one district
+to another, more especially in the northwest.
+
+_Spring._--In Kashmir and the northwest Himalayas the birds arrive
+from the lower hills and the plains adjoining them in April, a few
+apparently in the first fortnight, but the majority not until the
+last week or so. In Sikkim they arrive a good deal earlier, and
+Stevens (1925) records them as _seen_ at Gopaldhara in the Rambong
+Valley about the middle of March “when it ascends to an elevation
+of 7,000 feet,” while he _heard_ them calling at the same place as
+early as March 12. Farther east in Assam it does not arrive at its
+breeding quarters in the higher hills until about the first week
+in April and then only in small numbers. In Burma at elevations of
+about 4,000 feet and over it breeds about a fortnight earlier and
+is in full call by the last week in March.
+
+This cuckoo is possibly only a partial migrant in India, leaving
+the higher hills for the broken foothills, where it may be found
+more or less throughout the winter, as well as in the plains
+immediately adjoining them. To the east, however, as I show under
+the fall migration notes, it is a true migrant. According to La
+Touche (1931–1936), during the spring migration north the Himalayan
+cuckoo “appears in China from about the 10th April to the end of
+May,” and he records three cuckoos taken at Shaweishan on May 1,
+16, and 17. These birds were presumably on their way north to
+eastern Siberia or Manchuria.
+
+La Touche does not think that this bird breeds anywhere in the
+Chinese Hills, its place being taken by the local breeding race
+_kelungensis_.
+
+The 38 eggs in my collection were taken as follows: Three in April,
+14 in May, 20 in June, none in July, and 1 in August. The earliest
+date was April 25, 1915, and the latest August 20, 1914. At the
+same time an egg taken in the Chin Hills on April 30 was on the
+point of hatching, so, in the Burmese Hills, some eggs must be
+laid in the middle of that month, birds arriving in their breeding
+haunts at least a fortnight earlier. Other eggs that have passed
+through my hands were all taken within these dates so far as I have
+recorded them, so they may be accepted as confirming my dates for
+migration.
+
+_Courtship._--There is nothing recorded upon this subject but, so
+far as I know, it differs in no way from that of the Khasia Hills
+cuckoo, and both sexes seem to be equally promiscuous in their
+sexual relations.
+
+_Nesting._--This cuckoo is parasitic principally on the small
+warblers of the _Phylloscopus_ and _Acanthopneuste_ group, which
+lay white eggs, either immaculate or speckled slightly with various
+tints of reddish brown or red, or the _Seicercus_ group, which lay
+glossy pure white eggs.
+
+In my own collection I have eggs taken from the nests of 16 species
+and subspecies of fosterers (see the following list); of these the
+first 10 may be considered to be normal fosterers and the latter
+abnormal.
+
+The Himalayan cuckoo does adopt a certain territory but hardly
+in the restricted sense that _Cuculus canorus_ and its various
+races do. The principal reason for this is the comparative rarity
+of the birds that she selects as foster parents to her eggs. For
+instance, although the little _Acanthopneuste_ breeding in the
+Khasia Hills is a common bird, it nowhere breeds in the numbers in
+which birds of the _Suya_ and _Cisticola_ genera are found. Perhaps
+half a dozen pairs may be found in one big forest of many square
+miles, and to find even these six is very hard work. In the same
+forest another half dozen birds of the genus _Seicercus_ of various
+species may be found. These little warblers of the two genera
+_Acanthopneuste_ and _Seicercus_ make very similar nests, balls of
+moss, quite green and fresh, which are placed in hollows in banks
+and generally among the same kind of moss as that of which the
+nests are built. They are exceedingly hard to find by human beings
+and, unless the birds are watched on to the nest, are generally
+located only when the female is disturbed from it by accident and
+doubtless the cuckoo also finds they are difficult to mark down.
+
+        LIST OF FOSTER PARENTS
+                                                        eggs
+  _Phylloscopus inornatus humei_                          2
+  _Phylloscopus proregulus simlaae_                       1
+  _Acanthopneuste reguloides harterti_                   13
+  _Acanthopneuste reguloides davisoni_                    3
+  _Acanthopneuste reguloides reguloides_                  1
+  _Acanthopneuste occipitatis occipitatis_                4
+  _Seicercus cantator_                                    3
+  _Seicercus burkii_                                      2
+  _Seicercus xanthoschista xanthoschista_                 1
+  _Seicercus castaneiceps castaneiceps_                   2
+  _Ianthia rufilata_                                      1
+  _Niltava sundara sundara_                               1
+  _Suya crinigera assamica_                               1
+  _Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus_                        1
+  _Napothera brevicaudata striata_                        1
+  _Emberiza cia stracheyi_                                1
+
+I have only two small series of three eggs, each of which I believe
+to have been laid by one cuckoo, one of these being taken in 1909
+by myself. Of this latter the first two eggs were found on June 16
+and 18 in a patch of forest in which we marked down three nests
+of the Khasia crowned willow warbler, one of which contained no
+cuckoo’s egg. On June 13 we found that the pair of warblers first
+seen on May 16 had again built close by their original nest and the
+new one contained a third egg, apparently of the same cuckoo, and
+three of their own. The nests found on May 16 and 18 were between a
+quarter and a half of a mile apart.
+
+On another occasion, June 27, 1935, three eggs were taken, one
+in the nest of the willow warbler and two others in nests of
+_Seicercus_. These were all in the same forest, but only two close
+together and the third nearly half a mile away. The eggs, however,
+appeared obviously to have been laid by the same bird.
+
+_Eggs._--The eggs of this species of cuckoo are all of the same
+type, white eggs sparsely marked with tiny black specks, sometimes
+confined to the larger end only. Several oviduct eggs have been
+taken, the first by Brooks from the oviduct of a female he shot in
+Kashmir on June 17, and three others by Rattray in 1903 on June 10,
+15, and 17, respectively. All these were exactly alike and similar
+to the description given above.
+
+The only two exceptions in coloration I have seen are eggs one of
+which has a faintly green tinge while the other has an equally
+faint pink tinge. The first of these was taken from a forktail’s
+(_Enicurus maculatus guttatus_) nest and the second from that of a
+tailorbird (_Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus_).
+
+In shape the eggs are rather long ellipses, and the shell is thin
+and rather fragile for a cuckoo’s.
+
+Forty-one eggs average in size 20.11 by 14.28 millimeters; maxima
+=25.3= by =16.2=; minima =19.0= by =13.0= millimeters; the same
+number average in weight 141.4 milligrams; maximum 178; minimum 117
+milligrams.
+
+A large double-yolked egg weighs 222 milligrams, while two very
+small, almost pygmy eggs, weigh only 105 and 112 milligrams.
+
+The method of the deposition of the eggs is not known, but in many
+cases they could not possibly be laid direct into the nest. The
+crowned willow warbler makes a nest in a hole in among the roots of
+trees with so small an entrance and so far in that the cuckoo could
+not possibly get in to lay her egg nor could she eject it from the
+cloaca sufficiently far to reach the egg chamber and, if she did,
+it would certainly break. Nests of the genus _Seicercus_ and of
+_Acanthopneuste reguloides_ are so shaped and situated that though
+the cuckoo could not enter them she could very often eject the eggs
+into them without much difficulty by clinging to their tops or
+sides during the operation.
+
+_Young._--Nothing is recorded, as to incubation, but I believe it
+to take only 10 or 11 days, i. e., much the same period as for the
+eggs of the small warblers the cuckoo selects to cuckold.
+
+Ejection of young undoubtedly takes place in the same manner as
+that by which it is effected by the common cuckoo, the young cuckoo
+hoisting the other occupants of the nest, either eggs or young
+birds, onto its shoulder and then pushing them over the edge of the
+nest. I have seen several young birds from two days to a week old
+in the nests of various warblers, and they have always been alone.
+The young cuckoo has the same dorsal interscapular arrangement as
+that found in the nestling _canorus_ to assist it in carrying out
+the fratricide.
+
+_Plumages._--Male: Similar to the male of _Cuculus c. canorus_ and
+_C. c. bakeri_ but less dark on the upper parts than the latter
+and always to be distinguished from all races of the canorus group
+by having the edge of the wing pure white and not barred. On the
+lower surface the white bars are broader and the black bars in
+consequence wider apart, while they are blacker and bolder in
+appearance.
+
+Female: Similar to the male but generally with a more rufous tinge
+on the breast and abdomen; the under tail coverts are often pale
+fulvous with black crossbars.
+
+The female has a hepatic phase like that of _C. c. canorus_.
+
+Juvenile: In first plumage blackish brown above, the feathers all
+broadly edged with white; the wing quills are barred with rufous
+on the outer webs; the chin, throat, and breast are blackish, the
+feathers narrowly fringed with white and the rest of the lower
+parts white, or faintly fulvous-white, heavily barred with strong
+bands of black.
+
+In intermediate stage between juvenile and adult the plumage is
+slaty, the feathers very narrowly edged with white; below, the
+chin, throat, and upper breast are blackish, the feathers broadly
+fringed with white and the remainder of the lower parts like the
+adult.
+
+Hepatic young are like the hepatic female adult but less richly
+colored and more heavily banded below with blackish, especially
+on the chin, throat, and breast. Some specimens of young birds in
+the British Museum collection seem to be changing from a juvenile
+hepatic plumage into a normal adult plumage.
+
+The white nuchal spot is very seldom seen in the young of this
+cuckoo but is occasionally present.
+
+_Measurements._--Wing 208 to 226; tail 151 to 176; tarsus about
+20 or 21; culmen 20 to 22 millimeters. The female is little, if
+any, smaller than the male in Indian birds, but of Chinese birds
+La Touche gives the following measurements: Male, 23 (2 examples),
+wing 200 to 226; female, 22 (1 example), 190–200; culmen, male,
+20–22; female, 19 millimeters.
+
+_Colors of soft parts._--Iris yellow or “grey with brown inner
+circle” (La Touche); bill dark horny green, the base of the upper,
+and most of the lower, mandible yellowish horny, the gape still
+more yellow; legs and feet wax-yellow to rather bright yellow.
+
+_Food._--This also is the same in character as that of _Cuculus
+canorus_, but _C. optatus_ also devours more hard-bodied insects
+such as Cicadae and many small and some quite large beetles, while
+it feeds rather more exclusively on food obtained near the tops of
+high trees. I have never seen it feeding on the ground, nor have I
+noticed it in scrub or bushes except when it was probably hunting
+for a nest in which to deposit its egg.
+
+_Behavior._--I do not think that this bird could be distinguished
+from _Cuculus canorus_, except by its voice, by any field
+naturalist until the bird was actually in his hand. In flight,
+perching position, and general action I have been able to discern
+no difference of any kind between the two birds unless it is that
+when the two were seen together _optatus_ looks a smaller, slighter
+bird than _canorus_ and may fly a trifle faster with quicker wing
+beats.
+
+Both sexes have the habit, as _canorus_ has, of sitting, almost
+motionless, for a very long time in one position, possibly in the
+case of the female while she is watching certain birds and waiting
+for them to give away the site of their nest, or when she is
+waiting for the precise moment at which to fly down and place her
+egg in the nest of the foster parent selected to receive it.
+
+_Voice._--The call of the male consists of four notes, two rapid,
+then a pause, and then two more, all of the same cadence, sounding
+like _hoo-hoo hoo-hoo_. When one is close to the bird a fifth
+note can be heard preceding these, much higher pitched and far
+less resounding so that at a little distance only the four notes
+are heard. The call is a typical cuckoo note, and hearing it one
+would expect to find that a cuckoo had uttered it. There is also a
+sweet trilling note that is rarely heard, and I cannot say whether
+it is uttered by one sex or both, but I suspect it to correspond
+to the bubbling note uttered by the female _canorus_. Although
+occasionally this cuckoo calls on moonlight nights it does not do
+so with anything like the perseverance of the common cuckoo, nor is
+it so incessantly vocal during the day.
+
+_Enemies._--The same as those of the common cuckoo, but the young
+do not suffer so much from exposure by falling out of nests too
+small or too weak to hold them. In the case, however, of eggs
+laid in holes occupied by the nests of the crowned willow warbler
+the young birds have to vacate them at a very early stage or they
+would be unable to do so when full grown and would be incarcerated
+in them for life. As these cuckoos select ground nests so largely
+in which to deposit their eggs, these and the young birds when
+hatched do not suffer so greatly from the crows and magpies who
+hunt the hedges and bushes, but, on the other hand, they are easier
+for snakes and lizards to get at.
+
+_Fall._--Migration from the breeding grounds in northwest India
+apparently commences in the end of August and continues to the end
+of September or early October. From northeast India they would seem
+to migrate later by about a month, birds continuing to call up to
+the beginning of August, while in 1914 an egg was taken as late
+as August 20. It is a curious fact that in the continent of India
+birds do not seem to move far south and have only been recorded
+in winter from many places in the plains of the northwest and
+Punjab and from Lucknow, Jodhpore, Fategarh, Bihar, Dibrugarh and
+Cachar, in the United Provinces, Bengal, and Assam. Farther east
+it migrates much farther south and has been recorded from all over
+Burma to the extreme south, and from the Andamans and Nicobars,
+while it also ranges throughout the Malay Peninsula and the
+Austro-Malaysian islands to New Guinea and Australia. Birds found
+in winter east of Burma are certainly those that breed north of
+China and probably migrate, more or less, due north and south, and
+I am inclined to think it is possible that birds from the Himalayas
+migrate almost entirely to the east in India and then southeast
+through Burma and the Malay States. Otherwise it seems incredible
+that no specimens should ever be obtained, in south India or even
+central India, of a migrant which in and from China wanders so very
+far south in the winter months.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+The Himalyan cuckoo is found throughout the Himalayas and central
+Asia from the extreme west of India and Baluchistan, while in
+central Siberia it extends from Dauria and Lake Baikal to the
+extreme east of the northern Chinese mountains and, possibly,
+to Japan. In China La Touche (1931) summarizes its distribution
+as follows: “China generally, Szechuen, Kwangsi, Fohkien, Lower
+Yangtse, Shaweishan, Shantung, Chihli (migrant).” To this he
+adds, “On the whole this Cuckoo is not common in North China, and
+very few have been noted by Dr. Wilder,” and, again, noting on my
+distribution of the summer range he adds, “Corea and Manchuria
+should probably be added.”
+
+It certainly occurs and breeds in all the higher hills in Burma;
+quite commonly in the Chin Hills and rarely to the east in the Ruby
+Mines district and the Shan States.
+
+Its appearance on the American list is due to a specimen obtained
+on St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, on July 4, 1890 (W.
+Palmer, 1894).
+
+
+                   CUCULUS CANORUS BAKERI Hartert
+
+                        KHASIA HILLS CUCKOO
+
+             CONTRIBUTED BY EDWARD CHARLES STUART BAKER
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This most interesting race of the common European cuckoo was
+given a name in 1912 by Dr. Hartert (1912), no museum possessing
+sufficient material until 1911 to substantiate the differences that
+both Dr. Hartert and I believed to distinguish this subspecies from
+those others already accepted.
+
+The Khasia Hills cuckoo is a race that breeds at considerably lower
+elevations than do either _C. c. canorus_ or _C. c. telephonus_
+and, speaking generally, haunts during the breeding season more
+densely forested areas in much hotter and far more humid climates.
+Thus in the Khasia Hills of Assam, where it is extraordinarily
+common, it may be found in all the higher ranges at and about
+Sherraponji between 3,500 and 6,500 feet frequenting forest that
+is always lush and green, with luxuriant undergrowth and with an
+almost impenetrable tangle of creepers, beautiful orchids, ferns,
+and parasites growing on every tree. Here the rainfall averages
+about 550 inches in the year, while as much as 72 inches have
+fallen in 24 hours and over 700 inches in the 12 months. They are,
+however, equally numerous, between 4,000 and 6,000 feet around
+Shillong, where the rainfall is less than 150 inches in the year
+and where, in many parts, pine woods take the place of the wet
+evergreen forests.
+
+Although on the whole this race of the cuckoo certainly frequents
+denser and thicker forest than do the other forms, individuals vary
+greatly in their tastes and those parasitic on pipits and other
+species of birds, which breed in the open grass plains, also haunt
+the same kind of country as that in which these birds breed. At
+the same time even in these places they always select those that
+contain a certain number of trees on which they can perch and from
+which they can survey the surrounding area and watch the fosterers
+to their nests. In the Khasia Hills many cuckoos are parasitic
+on the common Indian and Blyth’s pipits, which are to be found
+nesting on the wide stretches of open grassland above Shillong, the
+former on ridges and plateaus up to some 5,500 feet and the latter
+on those above that altitude. Intermediate in habits between the
+evergreen forest cuckoos and the open country cuckoos there are
+others that haunt the more open pine forests, especially those that
+have brooks and small rivers running through them, or are broken
+up by ravines in which small deciduous trees, bushes, and brambles
+grow freely to the exclusion of the somber pine trees.
+
+In Burma this cuckoo is commoner in the Ruby Mines district and in
+the Southern Shan States than anywhere else. T. R. Livesey, who has
+had a wonderful experience with them in the latter country, informs
+me that in these districts they frequent both the open deciduous
+forests as well as the open country of scrub and grass land around
+towns and villages, even depositing their eggs in the nests of
+birds breeding in and close to the gardens of houses occupied by
+Europeans or by Shans.
+
+After the breeding season this cuckoo may be found in almost any
+kind of country that is fairly well-wooded, while in the plains of
+Bengal and Lower Assam it seems to have a special liking for mango
+orchards and patches of jungles in tea plantations.
+
+_Spring._--In Assam those individuals that have migrated into
+the plains and lower hills the preceding autumn return to their
+breeding quarters in the end of March or early April, their numbers
+increasing rapidly up to the end of that month, when their mellow
+call may be heard almost continually in every direction at all
+elevations between 3,500 and 6,500 feet. Exact dates of arrival are
+recorded nowhere that I can trace, but I have eggs taken on April
+14, odd eggs taken in the third week in April, and many after the
+25th of that month.
+
+In the Chin Hills, between Assam and the Ruby Mines district and
+Shan States, most cuckoos commence breeding about the middle of
+April, arriving in their breeding haunts nearly a month earlier.
+Here they are common at about 4,000 feet upward and haunt much the
+same kinds of country as they do in Assam, certainly breeding up
+to 7,000 feet, or a little over, as eggs have been taken on Mount
+Victoria and the hills above Fort White.
+
+In the Shan States Mr. Livesey informs me that few if any birds
+remain above 4,000 feet in winter, in the end of August and early
+September the great majority moving into the lower hills and
+adjoining plains. The first birds returning to the higher hills put
+in an appearance early in March and commence to lay the last of
+that month, March 27 being the earliest date on which he has taken
+eggs and July 1 the latest.
+
+The length of the breeding season is much more extended than is
+that of the European cuckoo (_C. c. canorus_) or the central Asian
+bird (_C. c. telephonus_), doubtless owing to the same factors
+of cold, food supply, etc., that compel the more northern birds
+of all families to compress their breeding arrangements into a
+far shorter time than that occupied by the southern birds, for
+whom temperature, food supply, and other factors are more or less
+favorable almost throughout the year.
+
+The individual cuckoo, however, is governed in her time of
+egg-laying by the habits of the foster parent that she selects
+to bring up her young, while all cuckoos, as well as the foster
+parents, are affected more or less in their spring migration and
+breeding time by the late or early arrival of the rains and the
+consequent shortage or abundance of insect life. In Assam, where
+the rainy season is long and the rainfall heavy, eggs may be found
+in some numbers from April 20 to the middle of June and, then, in
+decreasing numbers, to the end of June, after which they further
+decrease in number until, after the middle of July, few will be
+taken, though my latest recorded date for a cuckoo’s egg is August
+24. In Burma, as already noted, birds commence laying about a month
+earlier, and few eggs are found after early June.
+
+The 1,366 eggs in my collection were taken as follows: One in March
+(taken in Burma), 104 in April, 608 in May, 527 in June, 114 in
+July, and 12 in August. It may, I think, be accepted that migrating
+birds arrive on their breeding ground some two to three weeks
+before commencing to lay and leave again about one to two months
+after the deposition of their last eggs.
+
+In Burma the peak of laying is reached in early May; in Assam not
+until the end of that month.
+
+_Courtship._--I can find nothing recorded as to the conduct of
+courtship between males and females during the breeding season
+and have, therefore, only my own observations to guide me. There
+appears to be no true courtship, and I have no doubt that, except
+in very rare instances, cuckoos do not pair, though in certain
+areas, where the bird is uncommon, a male and female may possibly
+mate and remain together throughout the breeding season. This is
+probably the case in North Cachar, where the bird is rare, breeding
+in deeper forest than I have seen anywhere else, and where I have
+seldom heard more than one male calling in any one particular area
+or found more than one type of egg deposited therein. In the Khasia
+Hills, in which district the birds swarm in incredible numbers,
+both sexes were undoubtedly promiscuous in their sexual relations.
+I have personally seen a female accept the attentions of one male
+and then fly off to a tree close by and accept another pursuing
+male within a few minutes. On this occasion several, I think four,
+males were pursuing the one female, who flew slowly from one tree
+to another on a roadside. Settling on one of these she crouched on
+a large bough, half lying there with both wings hanging slightly
+lowered and quivering, while her head was held quite low, her
+whole attitude expressing invitation. The first male, of those
+following her, at once accepted this after which he settled on a
+branch close by while the female flew away to a tree about 50 paces
+distant followed by the other three males, one of whom was again
+accepted by the female who, after the completion of the act flew
+off accompanied by the remaining two males to a tree beyond my view.
+
+Among the Khasias, certain classes of whom are very intelligent
+observers, it appears to be well known that both sexes of cuckoo
+exercise no discretion in their love affairs.
+
+_Nesting._--The female cuckoo is, of course, parasitic in her
+habits, and I have personally taken eggs in the nests of no less
+than 103 species and subspecies of fosterer (see following list),
+the very great majority of which are, however, undoubtedly abnormal
+or casual only, for I feel satisfied that when the usual foster
+parent has no nest available the cuckoo will eventually deposit
+her egg in that of any other bird that may be convenient. Repeated
+instances have come within my own experience in which a cuckoo
+normally parasitic on one bird deposits one or more of a series of
+eggs in a nest utterly unlike those of the usual fosterer, merely
+because she has already exhausted all the nests known to her of the
+latter.
+
+              LIST OF FOSTER PARENTS
+                                                               eggs
+  _Suya crinigera_ (subspecies 6)                               215
+  _Cisticola jundicis cursitans_                                276
+  _Cisticola exilis tytleri_ (generally with _C. j. c._ series)   7
+  _Tribura luteiventris_                                         32
+  _Orthotomus_ (species and subspecies 2)                        27
+  _Acanthopneuste reguloides harterti_                            9
+  _Megalurus palustris_                                           7
+  Miscellaneous warblers (abnormal fosterers, 9)                 25
+  _Anthus_ (various species and subspecies, 8)                  199
+  _Rhodophila ferrea haringtoni_                                 18
+  _Saxicola caprata burmanica_                                   55
+  _Rhyacornis fuliginosus_                                       25
+  _Enicurus_ (species 2)                                         25
+  _Petrophila (Monticola)_ (species 2)                           21
+  Turdidae (abnormal fosterers, species 8)                       15
+  _Cyanosylvia leucura_                                          13
+  _Eumyias thalassina thalassina_                                63
+  _Niltava_ (species 3)                                          43
+  Muscicapidae (abnormal fosterers, species 12)                  22
+  _Lanius nigriceps nigriceps_                                   35
+  Laniidae (abnormal fosterers, species 2)                        2
+  Troglodytidae (species 3)                                      21
+  _Mesia agentauris_                                             46
+  _Leiothrix calipyga_                                           33
+  Timaliidae (abnormal fosterers, species 32)                    92
+  Other abnormal fosterers, _Passer_, _Sitta_, _Parus_, etc.
+    (7 species)                                                   8
+        Total _Fosterers:_ Normal 23, abnormal 80 ( = 103).
+
+Like the English cuckoo, as Chance (1922) has proved, the Khasia
+Hills female cuckoo sometimes adopts a certain area of country
+as its own breeding territory into which it will allow no other
+female, parasitic on the same foster parent, to enter, though it
+seems to have no objection to the entry of any number of males
+or of another female parasitic on a different species. Thus in a
+certain area close to the house in which I lived in Shillong I
+found three cuckoos breeding; one depositing its eggs in the nests
+of the little fantail warbler (_Cisticola juncidis cursitans_), the
+second in the nests of the verditer flycatcher (_Eumyias thalassina
+thalassina_), and the third in the nests of the black-headed
+shrike (_Lanius nigriceps nigriceps_). On another occasion I
+took eggs of three different cuckoos from nests of _Cisticola_,
+_Niltava_, and _Leiothrix_ in the same strip of jungle and not 50
+yards from one another. Yet another instance of shared territory
+was a grass-covered hillside occupied by two female cuckoos, the
+one parasitic on the same little fantail warbler and the other on
+pipits (species various). Other similar instances were quite common
+in this district.
+
+My personal experience confirms what those interested in
+cuckoo-work have for some time maintained in regard to cuckoos
+being consistently parasitic on one selected foster parent. A good
+example of this constancy is a series, collected for me by a family
+of four men trained by myself in cuckoo-work in the Khasia Hills.
+From 1925 to 1935 these men obtained for me no less than 132 eggs
+of one cuckoo parasitic on the fantail warbler, all collected in
+the same area of grass and scrub surrounded by pine forest. Of
+these 132 eggs only 4 were taken from nests other than those of
+the little fantail and of these 4, 3 were placed in the nests
+of another little warbler (_Orthotomus sutorius patia_) and the
+other in the nest of the Assam brown hill warbler (_Suya crinigera
+assamica_), both, of course, in the same territory.
+
+In addition to the above I have many series of eggs, numbering 3
+to 15, from individual cuckoos, occasionally taken in two or more
+consecutive years, all placed in nests of the same warbler. Again I
+have other series of cuckoos’ eggs, some taken from nests of _Suya_
+(various species); others from those of _Eumyias_, pipits (various
+species), the silver-eared mesia (_Mesia a. argentauris_), the
+Pekin robin (_Leiothrix lutea calipyga_), and other fosterers. As a
+rule the cuckoo also shows equal constancy to its chosen breeding
+area, returning year after year to it and leaving it only when the
+supply of fosterers is exhausted or the nature of the country has
+been altered by man or some other agency. Where the normal foster
+parent is exceptionally common, such as are the warblers of the
+genera _Cisticola_ and _Suya_, the cuckoo often has ample nests in
+a compact area to act as hosts to her whole series of eggs, and we
+have found as many as 18 eggs laid by the same individual within
+such an area. Where, however, the fosterers such as pipits or mesia
+are less numerous or are breeding in comparatively small areas,
+some 4 to 10 eggs are laid in the one area and then, when the
+available nests have all been made use of, the cuckoo removes to
+another area, generally close by, eventually often returning to the
+original one later in the season and again cuckolding other nests
+of the same fosterer.
+
+There can, I think, be no doubt that a cuckoo brought up in a nest
+of a certain fosterer will deposit its own eggs in nests of the
+same bird. This theory seems now to be one generally accepted,
+and certainly my experience goes to confirm this, and in my own
+collection I have eggs of a very definite type taken for over 30
+years in the nests of the same species of fosterer in the same
+district.
+
+_Eggs._--The eggs of the Khasia Hills cuckoo are of very many and
+beautiful types of color and character of markings, while the eggs
+of each individual cuckoo, though varying slightly _inter se_, do
+not show so great a variation as is found in the eggs of single
+clutches laid by many species of Passeres or other orders.
+
+Among the most common types of eggs are, naturally, those that
+have been evolved to assimilate with the eggs of the birds most
+frequently employed as foster parents. Among these may be mentioned
+the following:
+
+An egg with a white ground lightly marked, chiefly at the larger
+end, with specks, spots, or small blotches of red, reddish brown,
+or brown. These eggs are excellent counterparts in all but size
+of the eggs of the fantail warbler, in whose tiny nest they are
+usually deposited.
+
+The next commonest type has the ground color more or less
+distinctly tinged with reddish and is rather more profusely marked
+with larger blotches of various shades of red-brown. These are
+normally deposited in the nests of various species of _Suya_, or
+brown hill warbler, the most common types of whose eggs agree well
+with those of the cuckoo.
+
+A third and common type of cuckoo’s egg has the ground color a
+beautiful salmon-pink or buff-pink and has the surface freckled
+with deeper reddish; in some cases so finely and thickly that the
+eggs appear at first glance to be unicolored; in other cases more
+or less boldly, though sparsely, covered with reddish brown and
+underlying faint marks of gray or pale purple. These eggs agree
+well with various types of eggs laid by the verditer flycatcher
+and, even still more so, with those of the beautiful niltava
+(_Niltava sundara_), while it is in the nests of these birds we
+find them deposited. Cuckoos, however, that normally deposit
+their eggs in the nest of these birds seem regularly also to
+cuckold the large niltava (_N. grandis_) and the white-tailed chat
+(_Muscisylvia notodela_), which lay the same colored eggs and make
+similar cup-shaped nests of living moss, built in exactly similar
+positions in holes in banks and among boulders.
+
+Another beautiful type is bright pale blue, often immaculate but
+sometimes faintly flecked with primary reddish and secondary gray
+blotches. In the Khasia Hills these are almost invariably deposited
+in the nests of the silver-eared _Mesia_ or the red-billed
+_Leiothrix_ (_L. lutea calypga_), two species that lay exactly
+the same type of egg to that of the cuckoo, though more boldly
+blotched, while the two species also make similar nests, which they
+place in somewhat similar positions in bushes, etc.
+
+In Burma, more especially in the Ruby Mines district and in the
+Shan States, we have two dominant types of eggs: One blue, much
+darker in tint than those referred to as being deposited in
+_Leiothrix_ nests, laid with the similar eggs of the Burmese dark
+gray bushchat (_Rhodophila ferrea haringtoni_), and the other
+having a pale pink ground, freely blotched all over with reddish,
+deposited in the nests of the Burmese stonechat (_Saxicola caprata
+burmanica_), which also lays eggs of this color and character. In
+connection with these two types of egg an interesting state of
+affairs has now been arrived at in parts of the Shan States. Thirty
+years ago the bushchat was extremely common in certain districts
+in hills between 4,000 and 5,000 feet, and the great majority of
+cuckoos found there were those laying blue eggs. Cultivation has
+now wiped out the scrub and bush jungle, beloved by the bushchat,
+and fields of rice, gardens, and the vegetation surrounding
+villages have taken its place. With this change in the character of
+the jungle growth has also come a change in the birds frequenting
+it, the bushchat has almost disappeared, and the little stonechat
+has taken its place, breeding everywhere in gardens, village
+grounds, and cultivated fields. The elimination of the bushchat,
+although so recent, has already gone far to eliminate also the
+cuckoo that lays blue eggs, while the one that lays eggs like those
+of the stonechat has become much more numerous and has become the
+common form. Even now, however, an occasional blue egg of a cuckoo
+will be found in the stonechats’ nests, the latter similar in every
+respect to the nests of the bushchat and therefore cuckolded,
+_faute de mieux_, by the cuckoo.
+
+It is impossible here to deal with the problem of the evolution of
+the various types of cuckoos’ eggs, but the facts recorded above
+seem to go far toward proving that cuckoo eggs, to assimilate with
+those of their fosterers, have been evolved by discrimination among
+the foster parents leading to the slow but sure destruction of the
+unfit, i. e., Darwin’s doctrine of the survival of the fittest in
+its crudest form.
+
+In shape the eggs are rather broader ovals than those of the
+European cuckoo, and they also average larger and heavier. It is
+indeed much easier to separate the various subspecies of cuckoo by
+the eggs they lay than by the plumage of the birds that lay them.
+
+The number of eggs laid by the Khasia Hills cuckoo probably varies
+somewhat individually, though I believe it generally to be 12 to
+20. It is, however, very difficult to decide this definitely, as
+it is impossible to be satisfied that every nest of the selected
+fosterer in any given area has without doubt been marked down. It
+was not until 1907 that I concentrated on the attempt to solve
+any one of the numerous cuckoo problems, and it was some years
+after this before satisfactory evidence had accumulated on this
+particular point. My different series of eggs of individual cuckoos
+vary greatly in number, being, I believe, governed entirely by the
+number of nests of the foster parent available in the area searched
+over. In 1908, on May 25, in one small grass glade surrounded by
+pine forest I found five nests of _Cisticola_, three containing
+young cuckoos or eggs of the cuckoo, and I am practically sure that
+I missed no _Cisticola_ or _Suya_ nests. One of these nests had in
+it a young cuckoo about 2 days old, another nest had a young cuckoo
+just hatching, while a third had a slightly incubated cuckoo’s
+egg. The two other nests of the _Cisticola_ were unfinished and
+empty, but on June 1 one of these contained a slightly incubated
+cuckoo’s egg and three of the foster parent, while, finally, on
+June 4 the last nest contained a fresh egg of the cuckoo and four
+of the warbler. As the egg from which the older of the nestling
+cuckoos had been hatched must have been laid about May 13, while
+the last egg was laid on June 3 or 4, we have only five eggs
+laid in 21 days, whereas we know now that the larger cuckoos lay
+every second day, so the five eggs and the two young found cannot
+possibly include all then laid. A series of 14 eggs, all found
+between May 19 and June 10, 1910, in a similar but much larger
+area, were probably laid between May 16 and June 10 and represent a
+complete series laid every alternate day. In another small series
+of five eggs of one and the same cuckoo found in a narrow strip
+of grassland three eggs were deposited in Cisticola’s nests on
+May 16, 18, and 20, this exhausting all the nests then available.
+After this she apparently departed, but on July 5 and 7 the same
+cuckoo returned and placed two more eggs, one each in two new nests
+of Cisticolas. Another series of 14 eggs, of which 12 were placed
+in nests of _Cisticola jundicis cursitans_, one in a nest of _C.
+exilis tytleri_, and one in a nest of _Suya atrogularis khasiana_,
+were laid in two periods: The first from May 15 to 23 occupying
+each of the five nests of the fantail warbler available between
+these dates, and, then, from June 1 to 18 in all the nests then
+available in that particular area. Finally a series of eggs of one
+cuckoo that were taken from 1925 to 1935 consisted of the following
+numbers: 6, 8, 14, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 14, 11, 15. In 1925 and 1926
+woodcutters were working in the pinewoods surrounding the open
+patch in which the fantail warblers were breeding and doubtless
+drove these little birds away and so deprived the cuckoo of foster
+parents during the latter period of her laying, or probably larger
+series would have been obtained in that particular patch of
+grassland. The various series prove satisfactorily that eggs are
+normally deposited every alternate day and, also, that there is no
+interval in the laying period dividing it into two.
+
+The weights of 1,368 eggs of the Khasia Hills cuckoo are as
+follows: Average weight 231; maximum 307; minimum 153 milligrams;
+this latter is, however, an abnormally small light egg and very few
+will be found less than 180 milligrams.
+
+The same number of eggs measure: Average 23.76 by 17.43; maxima,
+28.5 by 18.0 and 27.1 by 20.0; minima 20.9 by 16.3 and 23.4 by 15.0
+millimeters.
+
+I should, perhaps, not omit to say that though the generally
+accepted idea that cuckoos’ eggs can be distinguished by their
+weight is in most cases correct, it is not always so. For instance,
+I have 37 eggs of this cuckoo taken in shrikes’ nests, and a
+comparison of weights and measures of the eggs of the two species
+is as follows:
+
+    _C. c. bakeri, 37 eggs_          _Lanius n. nigriceps, 100 eggs_
+  Average size: 23.56 by 17.50 mm.          23.60 by 17.9 mm.
+  Average weight: 232 mg.                        215 mg.
+  Maximum weight: 266 mg.                        249 mg.
+  Minimum weight: 190 mg.                        185 mg.
+
+The comparative weight of the eggs of different species of birds
+varies greatly. Thus _Anthus_ eggs are normally very light while
+the eggs of _Passer_ are very heavy, two of the former about
+equaling three of the latter of the same size and, in a few cases,
+otherwise indistinguishable in coloring, shape, etc. Hoopoes’ and
+spine-tailed swifts’ eggs are very heavy, far more so in comparison
+with their size than those of cuckoos.
+
+This shows that weight alone in some cases does not suffice to
+distinguish cuckoos’ eggs from their fosterers’ eggs, and other
+comparisons of cuckoos’ eggs with those of other species could be
+quoted to confirm this. The hard _gritty_ shell with fine pits at
+wide intervals is a further good distinguishing feature of cuckoos’
+eggs, while when blowing it is noticeable that most cuckoos’ eggs
+have the yolks tinged with flesh color and very pale, while the
+white is rather more opaque, like the white of a duck’s egg when
+compared with that of a fowl.
+
+In Europe it is very rare to find two eggs of cuckoos in a nest
+laid by the same female; in India this is not so rare, and I have
+on three occasions found three eggs of the same cuckoo in one nest.
+
+It is not possible here to go fully into the fascinating subject of
+the method of deposition of eggs, but briefly it may be said that
+it has been fully proved that in many cases cuckoos lay their eggs
+directly into open nests, an act that has been witnessed by myself,
+Whitehead, and others in India and proved by Chance (1922) to be
+the case in England.
+
+There are, however, any number of eggs deposited by cuckoos in
+nests into which it is utterly impossible for the cuckoo to gain
+an entrance. Into many of these the cuckoo projects her egg from
+the cloaca by pressing herself up against the entrance to the nest
+and ejecting her egg with sufficient force to propel it the 2 or
+3 inches that may be necessary for it to reach the nest (Livesey,
+1936; A. E. Jones, 1937).
+
+On the other hand, there are many nests to which this method also
+would not apply, such as nests of small birds, more than 2 or 3
+inches inside holes of various character, in some cases a corner
+having to be turned before the nest is reached. Into these I
+believe the cuckoo places her egg with her bill, and there is some
+evidence to support this which I hope to give in my proposed book
+on “Cuckoo Problems.”
+
+_Young._--Incubation, I think, takes usually 12 or 13 days, rarely
+only 11 days but occasionally extending to 14. The period the
+nestling remains in the nest is 4 to 6 weeks, but in many cases the
+nest is far too small to retain the young cuckoo until it is full
+grown. Thus when the eggs are deposited in the nests of birds such
+as _Cisticola_ and, to a lesser degree, _Suya_, the young bird when
+a quarter grown fills the small egg-shaped nest, sitting in it with
+its head projecting from the entrance at the top side. Gradually,
+as the young cuckoo grows, the nest is expanded until it looks
+like basketwork around it, which finally bursts, depositing him or
+her on the ground. This generally occurs when the cuckoo has fair
+feathering and is about half grown or a little later.
+
+The young Khasia Hills cuckoo ejects the fosterer’s eggs or
+young from the nest in the same way as its English cousin does,
+possessing the same curious interscapulary pit to assist it in
+doing so. This structural aid to ejection is found in all such
+genera as _Cuculus_, _Cacomantis_, _Penthoceryx_, and others that
+eject their foster brothers and sisters, but not in the young of
+_Clamator_, _Eudynamis_, and those cuckoos that do not commit such
+murders. In the cuckoos that possess it, the pit soon fills in and
+young cuckoos lose the impulse to eject after a very short time,
+sometimes within 4 days and almost invariably within a week of
+being hatched.
+
+_Plumages._--Male: Whole upper plumage and wing coverts a dark
+slaty-gray or blackish slate, decidedly darker than the same
+parts in the European cuckoo; the lower back, rump, and upper
+tail coverts are a purer and somewhat lighter gray; the wing
+quills and concealed portions of greater coverts more brown, the
+quills slightly glossed and barred with white on the inner webs
+of the outer primaries, turning to rufous on the inner primaries;
+tail ashy black tipped with white and with white notches along
+the sides of the shafts, the white increasing in extent on the
+lateral tail feathers; chin, throat, sides of head and neck, and
+the upper breast ashy gray, not so dark as the back; remainder of
+lower parts, axillaries, and under wing coverts white with rather
+irregular bands of black, broader and farther apart than in _C. c.
+canorus_. Under tail coverts the same but with the dark bars still
+farther apart.
+
+Female: Differs in having a rufous tinge on the upper breast and
+sometimes on the throat and sides of the neck.
+
+Nestling: Naked when hatched.
+
+Juvenile: First plumage; whole plumage brownish gray or slate,
+obsoletely barred with buffish white; a patch of white on the nape
+or hind neck; whole lower plumage barred white or rufescent white
+and dark brown, very heavily on the chin, throat, and breast, and
+less so on the under tail coverts.
+
+The young male after the first molt is like the adult but nearly
+always retains traces of the juvenile barring, more especially so
+on the wings.
+
+Hepatic females have the whole upper parts barred chestnut and
+blackish slate or blackish brown; the lower plumage has the chin,
+throat, and breast barred pale chestnut and blackish and generally
+with a strong rufous tinge on the breast and abdomen.
+
+Young hepatic females are duller in color than the adults and have
+the feathers of the upper part fringed with white.
+
+_Colors of soft parts._--Iris pale to deep yellow, sometimes
+brownish in young birds of the year; bill dark horny brown, or
+very dark horny green, paler and yellowish at the base and on the
+commissure and orange-yellow on the gape; legs and feet wax-yellow.
+
+_Measurements._--Wing 220 to 227; tail 155 to 178; tarsus 18
+(La Touche) to 19; culmen from feathers of forehead 20 to 22
+millimeters (24 La Touche).
+
+_Food._--The principal food of this, as of other cuckoos, consists
+of caterpillars, pupae, chrysalides, and soft insects of any kind.
+During flights of termites cuckoos may be seen both catching them
+on the wing and eating them on the ground as they emerge from it. I
+have also taken Cicadae from their stomachs, and occasionally quite
+hard beetles of considerable size.
+
+The actions of this bird when attempting, and indeed succeeding in,
+the catching of termites in flight are very clumsy and labored and
+their progress on the ground very slow, similar to the progress of
+certain woodpeckers when hunting a lawn for ants and other prey.
+
+As a rule they feed in trees at some height from the ground, but
+any plague of caterpillars will tempt them down to quite low
+undergrowth or even onto low grass in the open, and I once saw four
+cuckoos all feeding on small green caterpillars on the ground in an
+open glade in pine forest.
+
+_Behavior._--Normally cuckoos are seldom found on any but high
+trees, often resting in one position for a long time on some lofty
+branch and then flying to another tree with strong, easy beats
+of the wing, at a considerable speed. In the breeding season the
+females undoubtedly mark down the nests in which they intend
+to deposit their eggs, and they may be seen perched in a tree,
+watching their victims until these latter give away the position
+of the nest. While thus engaged the patience of the cuckoo seems
+inexhaustible, and it will sit for hours in one position, hardly
+moving, yet obviously watching the intended fosterers, which may
+be loath to return to their nests though they may come and perch
+on the same tree as that occupied by the cuckoo, sometimes within
+a few feet of her. Apparently they not only mark down nests for
+immediate victimization, but others to be made use of when later
+eggs are to be laid. At other times they seem to be able to
+ascertain the approximate, yet not the exact, position of a nest.
+(Livesey MS.) gives me a most interesting example of this. He
+writes:
+
+“Yesterday, May 19, 1937, I was out for a walk with my wife about
+5 p. m. at Taungyi, which has an elevation of some 5,000 feet.
+Close to my cottage the dogs chased a bird off a ploughed field,
+which I recognized as a cuckoo. The cuckoo returned with two chats
+after her and perched on some bamboo rails, so, suspecting that
+the chats had a nest somewhere near in which the cuckoo was going
+to lay, I sat down to wait and watch with my glasses. Back came
+the cuckoo and flew low over the field almost settling on a place
+some 50 yards in front of us. Twice she flew backward and forward,
+chased by the chats, finally settling where I expected the nest
+to be. I could see her very plainly through the glasses as with
+throat feathers puffed out and crest feathers sometimes raised she
+jumped clumsily from clod to clod searching for the nest, straining
+her neck up and looking everywhere. The chats were now mobbing her
+furiously and in retaliation she only opened her beak and made
+faces at them. She did not appear to know where the nest was and
+began a systematic search for it in an area about 5 by 3 yards.
+The clods in the field were very large and lumpy with all sorts
+of holes which might have held a nest, and from time to time she
+disappeared from sight as she hopped into the various depressions,
+going backward and forward in the most persistent manner, mobbed
+all the time by the chats.
+
+“She was, I think, a full 10 minutes searching for the nest,
+but, at last she dipped out of sight and a flutter of her wings
+suggested she had found the nest and was in the act of laying. She
+was out of my sight for about 4 seconds and then sped away in a
+great hurry.
+
+“We climbed the fence and walking up to the place whence she had
+flown found a very well-concealed chats’ nest in which by stooping
+down to the ground I could see that the nest contained two eggs,
+the cuckoo’s and one of the chat’s; by using the tips of my two
+fingers I was just able to draw the eggs out, one at a time with
+considerable difficulty.”
+
+_Voice._--The call of the male during the breeding season is
+exactly the same as that of the European cuckoo, but in winter
+it also has a single note sounding like _chuck_ softly repeated
+two or three times. At the beginning of the season the bisyllabic
+note, from which the bird derives its name, is not perfect and the
+imperfections cover quite a wide range of variations. Sometimes the
+note is single instead of double; often it is preceded by a rather
+hoarse note of the same character as the call, while sometimes
+the _cuck-oo_ is followed by another hoarser note. The female has
+the summer bubbling note of its cousin and also certain chuckling
+notes, very seldom uttered, while in winter it gives vent to the
+same soft _chucks_ as the male. Whether the female ever calls
+_cuckoo_ is disputed, but, personally, I am fairly certain that
+she does, although it may be but seldom. The bubbling note is the
+call to the male and is also repeated after she has met her mate,
+but it is then, I think, lower and softer, perhaps an expression of
+satisfaction.
+
+During the daytime the calling of the male is almost continuous,
+but that of the female far less so as the former calls in the
+presence of a female, while the latter does not “bubble” before the
+male except at the moment she takes to flight and invites him to
+follow her.
+
+On moonlight nights the male often calls with as much persistency
+as during the day, but I have never heard it calling on dark nights
+until dawn is advanced.
+
+_Enemies._--Cuckoos have the usual enemies of all bird life, vermin
+of every kind, which during the breeding season hunt for and devour
+all the eggs and young they can find. All the civet-cat tribe,
+snakes, lizards, and iguanas are inveterate thieves of eggs and
+young, while even more destructive than these are the birds of the
+crow and magpie tribe, which systematically hunt out the nests and
+devour their contents. I have often watched the birds of the genus
+_Dendrocitta_ and _Cissa_ beating over an area in search of nests,
+quartering it with the care and energy of a spaniel after game. The
+young birds suffer also very greatly from being too large for the
+nests in which they are hatched. Half grown they fall out on to the
+ground, and many, which escape death from vermin, are killed by
+exposure to heavy rain.
+
+The older birds seem to have no special enemies, their swift flight
+and comparatively large size saving them from the sudden death so
+often the fate of smaller, slower birds. At the same time birds
+of prey undoubtedly attack and kill them just as they would any
+other bird of similar size and their superficial resemblance--in
+human eyes--to a sparrow hawk, would certainly not deceive their
+would-be destroyers even if these were sparrow hawks. Nor do the
+small birds attack cuckoos because they _believe_ them to be hawks,
+but because they _know_ them to be cuckoos and, in their own way as
+objectionable as hawks.
+
+_Fall._--The Khasia Hills cuckoo is far more sedentary in character
+than its nearest relations and, possibly, is originally a sedentary
+race from which the migratory forms have sprung. I have seen the
+bird in the Khasia Hills in every month of the year except February
+and, as it is silent in the winter months and does not call
+attention to its presence, it is probably even more numerous in its
+breeding range at this time than has hitherto been supposed, while
+some individuals may be resident in the same locality all the year
+round. At the same time migration does take place in some degree
+and this dark race has been found in winter, certainly, in Bengal,
+more especially in the eastern districts on the Bay, in Orissa,
+once by Annandale (MS.), while it extends through Burma, south to
+Prome (Mackenzie and Hopwood, MS.); south Siam (E. G. Herbert, MS.)
+and finally, almost certainly, to southwestern China. I have no
+proof that in the Indian Empire adult cuckoos migrate any earlier
+than the birds of the year. About September the pleasant call,
+which has been heard continually up to the end of July and casually
+up to the end of August, ceases entirely, and the birds are also
+far less frequently seen on the higher ranges of hills and, by
+October, nearly all the birds, old and young, have left these and
+have taken to the lower hills and the broken country at their
+bases, thence slowly and gradually extending into the plains in the
+districts already mentioned. It is also possible, of course, that
+this cuckoo may range farther south in winter than stated above, as
+records of _Cuculus canorus_ (subspecies?) have been recorded from
+Madras and from the islands of the Austro-Malayan region, between
+October and March, some of which almost certainly refer to this
+form. At present, from the evidence at my disposal, I can neither
+substantiate nor refute this suggestion, as it is quite impossible
+to recognize one subspecies from another in the field unless a
+particularly bright light shows up the comparative slaty darkness
+of this bird, to an observer with some experience of cuckoos.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+Exact details as to the distribution of the Khasia Hills cuckoo
+are still wanting as so many records of cuckoos refer merely to
+the species, _Cuculus canorus_, while the subspecies is not given
+or, indeed, in many cases distinguished. The breeding area has
+been _proved_ to extend throughout the hills of Assam and Burma as
+far south as Karen-nee and as far east as Yunnan, while Bangs and
+Peters (1928) consider it is this form that is found and breeds
+in eastern Tibet and Szechwan. To the west the breeding cuckoo in
+the Bhutan Hills is undoubtedly of this race, but how much farther
+west it may extend is not known though, almost certainly, it may be
+found breeding in the lower Himalayas below Sikkim. Stevens informs
+me that he believes it does.
+
+A fine series of breeding specimens in the Stevens collection,
+collected by him in the Sikkim Hills, indicates that the range of
+_bakeri_ is below 7,000 or 8,000 feet, and that above that, up to
+12,000 feet, _telephonus_ is the breeding form.
+
+In the cold weather it extends to the countries mentioned above in
+this article as being visited on migration. To these may be added
+that it occurs in Siam, as far south as Bangkok and the Siamese
+peninsula west of Tenasserim. Finally, extraordinary as it may
+seem, it has been recorded by Friedmann (Friedmann and Riley, 1931)
+as having once been obtained in St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, an
+occurrence that entitles it to a place in the American avifauna.
+This specimen was originally described as belonging to the central
+and northeastern Asiatic race _telephonus_, which one might expect
+would occur at long intervals in Alaska.
+
+
+
+
+                        Order TROGONIFORMES
+
+                     Family TROGONIDAE: Trogons
+
+
+                   TROGON AMBIGUUS AMBIGUUS Gould
+
+                       COPPERY-TAILED TROGON
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This gorgeous Mexican species brings color from the Tropics, all
+too rarely, across our borders in extreme southern Texas and
+southern Arizona. Ever since Lieutenant Benson shot an immature
+male in the Huachuca Mountains on August 24, 1885, it has been
+known to occur there and in other neighboring localities in Arizona
+as one of our rarest birds. Specimens have been taken there under
+circumstances that would indicate that sometime its nest will be
+found within our borders. An adult female was shot by F. H. Fowler
+(1903) in the Huachucas during August 1892. Major Bendire (1895)
+writes: “Another adult female, which evidently had a nest close
+by, was obtained by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, on
+June 23, 1892, on the east side of the San Luis Mountains, close to
+the Mexican boundary line. The long tail feathers in this specimen
+are much worn and abraded, and look as if the bird had passed
+considerable time in very limited quarters. Its mate was also seen,
+but not secured. Judging from the character of the country this
+species inhabits in southern Arizona, that is pine forest regions,
+it is probably only a straggler, in the lower Rio Grande Valley in
+Texas, and does not breed there.”
+
+Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1923) reports that A. B. Howell discovered
+a pair of these trogons in the Santa Rita Mountains in southern
+Arizona in 1918, of which he writes: “While wrapping two birds
+which I had shot at 6,000 feet in a canyon, on August 4, I looked
+up and saw a pair of these birds watching me from live oak
+branches at perhaps a hundred yards. I had an unobstructed view of
+their bright underparts and characteristic form and flight, and
+identification was sure. They were very ‘wise,’ and as I carefully
+approached, they as slowly receded, flying from oak to oak until
+they separated and I lost them in the denser growth. The trees were
+almost entirely live oaks here with a very occasional pine.”
+
+Herbert W. Brandt has sent me the following notes on the status
+of this beautiful bird on the western slopes of the Huachuca
+Mountains, Ariz.: “The turkeylike call of this rare, semitropical
+visitor is a common bird note in Sunnyside Canyon and in the lower
+reaches of Bear Canyon. There are at least three pairs of birds
+in each of these valleys; and in the morning they noisily call
+back and forth to one another. These valley floors are usually
+densely wooded and would make this bird difficult to study were
+it not for its inquisitive nature, for it is usually easily lured
+by the ‘squeech.’ One lavishly garbed male and his more modest
+mate repeatedly allowed me to walk up to within about 20 feet
+of them before they would fly a short distance and then allow
+me to approach them again. Each time they both called their
+hen-turkey-like notes, _kum-kum-kum_, ever answering my squeeches
+of a like count and inflection. That this bird breeds in the
+vicinity there is little doubt, but we did not spend time seeking
+its home, as Arizona has wisely put it on the permanently protected
+list, and in consequence this mountain-loving species is becoming
+common again in its densely tangled retreats.”
+
+A. J. van Rossem (1936) adds the following news:
+
+     Regardless of its status in former years, this trogon may
+     now be counted a fairly common summer visitant in the Santa
+     Ritas. Possibly it has always been more numerous than was
+     supposed, for one of the rangers, who has been stationed
+     for many years in the Santa Ritas, knew the bird well and
+     told me of having seen as many as five or six feeding
+     together at a single patch of manzanita. At any rate there
+     were several pairs in Madera Cañon in the summers of 1931
+     and 1932. * * *
+
+     On June 27 [1931], Mr. Gorsuch and I saw or heard eight
+     birds between the forks of the cañon at 6000 feet, and
+     Littleshot Cabin at 7000. On that date a fully adult
+     male was collected by Mr. Gorsuch for the museum at the
+     University of Arizona. On June 28, a very young trogon,
+     about two-thirds grown and evidently just out of the nest,
+     was shot, quite unintentionally, in a patch of oaks at 6000
+     feet.
+
+At least two pairs were noted on May 30, 1931; “the association
+in which they were noted was the oak-sycamore growth near the
+juncture of Upper Sonoran and Transition. Two males (both of which
+presumably had mates) were heard in the left (north) fork--one at
+7000, the other at 8000 feet altitude. These altitudes are in the
+pine-oak association in the Transition Zone.”
+
+Col. A. J. Grayson (Lawrence, 1874) says that, in western Mexico,
+“it is to be met with only in the dark forests of the _tierra
+caliente_.”
+
+_Nesting._--Colonel Grayson says that “it breeds in the hollows
+of trees like the parrots.” According to Mrs. Bailey (1928), the
+nest is “reported in cavities in large trees, generally in large
+deserted woodpecker holes, but also in holes in banks.” There
+are ten sets of eggs of the coppery-tailed trogon in the Thayer
+collection in Cambridge, all collected by, or for, Frank B.
+Armstrong near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, between March
+29 and April 27, 1908. If these dates are all correctly recorded,
+these trogons must breed very plentifully in that region, or Mr.
+Armstrong’s collectors must have been very industrious. There are
+a number of sets in other collections from the same locality, all
+taken by the same collectors. These eggs were all taken from nests
+in holes in trees, apparently natural cavities; the holes were at
+various heights, ranging from 12 to 40 feet above the ground; some
+of the trees were in a river bottom and others in “big woods near
+town.” The nests were made of various materials, such as hay,
+straw, trash, moss, wool, down, feathers, vines, and thistledown.
+
+_Eggs._--The coppery-tailed trogon lays ordinarily three or four
+eggs but probably sometimes only two. These are rounded-ovate to
+nearly oval in shape; and the shell is smooth but not glossy. The
+color is dull white or faintly bluish white and entirely unmarked.
+The measurements of 55 eggs average 28.50 by 23.18 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =30.7= by 24.6, 29 by =25=,
+=26= by 22.8, and 29.5 by =22.1= millimeters.
+
+_Plumages._--I have not seen any nestlings or very young birds.
+Ridgway (1911) gives very full and accurate descriptions of all the
+known plumages of both sexes of this trogon; but his accounts are
+too long to be quoted in full here, so I shall mention only the
+most conspicuous features of the different plumages, by which the
+reader may recognize them.
+
+In the juvenal plumage, in July, the sexes are alike, or nearly so,
+and closely resemble, on the upper parts, the adult female, except
+that the central pair of tail feathers have very narrow black
+tips, instead of broad ones; the next three pairs of rectrices are
+black, and the two lateral pairs are mostly white, barred with
+black, except for a large terminal white area; the lesser, median,
+and to a lesser degree the greater wing coverts are tipped with a
+large spot of pale buff or buffy white, bordered with black; chin
+and throat grayish brown above a quite distinct white pectoral
+band; below this band the under parts are indistinctly barred, or
+mottled, with grayish brown and grayish white.
+
+This unadulterated juvenal plumage is apparently worn through the
+first summer and early fall; I have seen it in its purity in birds
+collected at various dates between July 23 and September 20; but,
+on the other hand, some specimens show the beginning of a molt
+before the end of August. During all the remainder of their first
+year, young birds show more or less continuous progress toward
+maturity by a gradual and irregular molt. At an early age, between
+August and November, young males begin to show metallic green
+feathers in the back and throat, and metallic blue feathers in
+the rump and upper tail coverts; during winter and spring these
+metallic colors gradually increase; and on the under parts, below
+the white band, there is a gradual decrease in the brown and white
+and a corresponding increase in the “geranium red” of the adult
+plumage. At the same time, young females are acquiring more and
+more of the “peach red” of the adult female on the posterior under
+parts.
+
+These transition plumages may be seen, in the series I have
+studied, in birds collected in November, December, February, March,
+April, May, June, and July, during all of which time the juvenal
+wings and tail are retained. From this I infer that the annual molt
+occurs in summer and fall and that young birds do not acquire
+the fully adult plumage until they are at least 15 months old, or
+perhaps much older.
+
+_Food._--Some coppery-tailed trogons that E. C. Jacot collected
+for me were feeding on wild grapes. Dr. A. K. Fisher wrote to
+Major Bendire (1895) that “a rancher who raises fruit in Ramsay
+Canyon stated that the species visited the gardens in considerable
+numbers, especially during the period when cherries were ripe.”
+Major Bendire (1895) says of other members of the trogon family:
+“Their food consists of fruit, grasshoppers, and other insects,
+and in their actions while catching the latter they are said to
+resemble a Flycatcher, starting and returning from a perch like
+these birds, and often sitting for hours in the same place.”
+
+Cottam and Knappen (1939) state that a bird, collected by Dr.
+Fisher in the Huachuca Mountains in June, “had fed exclusively on
+the adults and larvae of lepidopterous insects.” They examined
+the stomach of another bird, collected in October in Mexico, that
+contained 68 percent insects and 32 percent fruits. The insect
+food included one grasshopper nymph, long-horned grasshopper eggs,
+three Mantidae, three stink bugs, other Heteroptera, one leaf
+beetle, one very large larva of a hawk moth, larvae of undetermined
+Lepidoptera, and two sawfly larvae. The vegetable food consisted of
+fruits of cut-leaved cissus, fruit of red pepper, and undetermined
+plant fiber.
+
+_Behavior._--F. H. Fowler (1903) writes:
+
+     On June 9, 1892, my father and I accompanied Dr. A. K.
+     Fisher to Garden Canyon seven miles south of the post.
+     We reached the canyon and were riding up the narrow
+     trail bordered with pines and live oaks, when suddenly a
+     beautiful male trogon flew across the path just ahead of
+     us, and perched on a live oak bush on the other side of the
+     small stream which flows through the canyon. The Doctor
+     tried to approach it, but the noise caused by his passage
+     through the thick brush and over the sliding rocks on the
+     hill side alarmed the bird, which from the first had seemed
+     a trifle uneasy, and it was soon lost to view among the
+     trees down the canyon. Higher up among the pines, on the
+     same day, we heard the calls of another which sounded much
+     like those of a hen turkey. While we were eating lunch
+     on the way down, we heard still another calling from the
+     hillside above us, and the Doctor, who found it perched
+     on the lower limb of a pine after a short search, watched
+     its actions for a few moments and then shot at it. It sat
+     erect, the tail hanging straight down, and when uttering
+     the call threw its head back until its beak pointed nearly
+     straight up.
+
+     On August 14 of the same year I again found the trogon in
+     Garden Canyon, this time higher up however at the Picture
+     Rocks. A beautiful pair flew up from a fallen pine to the
+     lower limb of a tree, and sat there quietly watching me. I
+     dismounted and fired a reduced charge at the male, but the
+     only effect was that he flew off through the trees unhurt,
+     while the female flew up to a small tree on the hill, where
+     she sat, looking at me until I loaded my gun, when I shot
+     her. At the second shot the male flew up the canyon his
+     beautiful carmine breast gleaming in the sunlight like a
+     streak of flame. Both birds sat nearly erect when at rest,
+     with their long tails hanging nearly straight down. Their
+     flight was nearly like the slow flight of a magpie, until
+     startled, when they flew like a dove and nearly as fast.
+
+_Voice._--Mr. Jacot says, in his letter, that the young birds were
+silent but that the adults had many notes, one of which was “almost
+like the chattering of our gray squirrel.” A note referred to above
+was like that of a hen turkey. Dr. William Beebe (1905) says: “The
+call of the trogon, uttered especially toward evening when it came
+to drink, was a soft series of melodious notes, reminding one
+somewhat of the content-call of a hen with chickens. Regularly at
+dusk two of these birds went to roost in a dense tangle of wild
+clematis.” Mr. van Rossem (1936) refers to the note of the male
+trogon as a “loud, hoarse, ‘kóa-kóa-kóa’.” Evidently the bird has a
+variety of notes.
+
+_Field marks._--The shape and posture, referred to above, as well
+as its brilliant colors, would mark this beautiful bird definitely
+as a trogon. The only other trogon likely to be met with anywhere
+within the range of this species is the Mexican trogon, found on
+the highlands of Mexico. The two species can be recognized in life
+by the color patterns of the outer tail feathers; in _ambiguus_
+these feathers are largely white, barred or vermiculated with
+black; in _mexicanus_ they are largely black, broadly tipped with
+white.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southern Arizona, south to central Mexico; accidental in
+the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
+
+The range of the coppery-tailed trogon extends =north= casually to
+Arizona (possibly Santa Catalina Mountains, Huachuca Mountains, and
+possibly Tombstone); northern Chihuahua (San Luis Mountains and
+the Sierra de la Campana); Nuevo Leon (Monterey and Montemorelos);
+and central Tamaulipas (Ciudad Victoria and Soto la Marina).
+=East= to Tamaulipas (Soto la Marina, Xicotencatl, Altamira, and
+Tampico); central Veracruz (Orizaba); and central Oaxaca (Talca and
+Juchatengo). =South= to Oaxaca (Juchatengo); Oaxaca (Omilteme and
+Amula); Michoacan (Tancitaro); and Jalisco (Zapotlan). =West= to
+Jalisco (Zapotlan, Ameca, and San Marcos); Nayarit (Mazatlan, Tres
+Marias Islands, and Mexcatitlan); Sinaloa (Escuinapa, El Limon,
+Angostura, and San Javier); eastern Sonora (Alamos, Chinobampo,
+and Guiracoba); and southeastern Arizona (Huachuca Mountains and
+possibly the Santa Catalina Mountains).
+
+_Casual records._--Although this bird can only be considered as
+rare anywhere in the United States, it appears to be fairly regular
+in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz. During the summer of 1877 a trogon
+was killed near Ringgold Barracks and another at Las Cuevas, Tex.
+Although not preserved they were fully described, by the persons
+who shot them, to Dr. James C. Merrill, and were undoubtedly this
+species.
+
+_Egg dates._--Mexico: 23 records, March 29 to June 30; 12 records,
+April 15 to May 13, indicating the height of the season.
+
+
+
+
+                        Order CORACIIFORMES
+
+                  Family ALCEDINIDAE: Kingfishers
+
+                MEGACERYLE ALCYON ALCYON (Linnaeus)
+
+                     EASTERN BELTED KINGFISHER
+
+                            PLATES 12–14
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Our North American representative of the large and interesting
+kingfisher family is not so gaudily colored as some of the foreign
+species and is intermediate in size between the largest and the
+smallest members of the family, but it is an interesting bird,
+striking in appearance and voice, and unique in form. Its long,
+heavy bill and its large head with its prominent crest, contrasting
+with its diminutive feet and its short tail, seem entirely out
+of balance and give it a top-heavy appearance. But its peculiar
+proportions and structure are beautifully adapted for the life it
+leads; its large beak and head form an effective spearhead for use
+in its deep plunges, and they are well built to stand the shocks
+of frequent diving. Unlike the osprey, it does not need to use its
+feet in fishing; but the short legs and shovellike feet are most
+useful in shoveling the loose soil from its nesting burrows, after
+it has been loosened by the powerful beak.
+
+The belted kingfisher, as a species, covers nearly all the North
+American Continent, breeding from northern Alaska and central
+Labrador southward to the southern border of the United States.
+Being essentially a fish-eating bird, its haunts are naturally
+near large or small bodies of water. It is common on the seacoast
+and estuaries, where it may be seen perched on some stake or pier,
+watching for its prey; or along the shore of a lake or pond, its
+favorite outlook may be the branch of a tree overhanging the water;
+I believe that it prefers to perch on a dead or leafless branch,
+where its view is unobstructed. Trout brooks, especially swift
+and rocky mountain streams, are favorite resorts, where its loud,
+rattling cry is often heard, as it flies up and down, patrolling
+its chosen fishing ground and driving away any intruders of its own
+species; it prefers to play the role of the lone fisherman.
+
+_Courtship._--Very little seems to be known about the kingfisher’s
+courtship. Laurence B. Potter says in his notes: “Sometimes I have
+watched as many as five or six high up in the air, tumbling and
+wheeling about, uttering their harsh rattle; they appear to be
+doing it merely for the joy of flying, or it may be their courtship
+antics.” Francis H. Allen writes to me: “From courting birds--a
+group of them--I have heard a mewing note uttered in rapid
+succession, almost if not quite as loud as the familiar rattle of
+the species. These same birds--or two of them at least--also kept
+up a continual, prolonged rattle.”
+
+_Nesting._--The nest of the belted kingfisher is almost invariably
+in a burrow in a sandy, clay, or gravelly bank, excavated by the
+birds themselves. The site chosen is preferably near water and as
+near the favorite fishing grounds of the birds as a suitable bank
+can be found. But such banks are not always to be found in the most
+convenient places, so the birds are forced to nest in any bank they
+can find, often at a long distance from any water, such as the
+embankment of a railroad cut, the cliff of a sand dune, or a bank
+by a roadside where sand or gravel has been taken out for grading.
+On Cape Cod, the sandpits made while sanding cranberry bogs are
+favorite sites. The burrow may be at any height from the base of
+the cliff, depending on the height of the cliff, but it is usually
+not more than 2 or 3 feet from the top, though Major Bendire (1895)
+says that it is sometimes as much as 20 feet below the top of the
+cliff. The burrow extends inward, sloping slightly upward, for
+varying distances, usually from 3 to 6 feet, but sometimes as much
+as 10 or even 15 feet; as kingfishers sometimes use the same burrow
+for several years in succession, it may be that the deepest burrows
+are the oldest and have been extended from year to year to provide
+a fresh, clean nest. The burrow is usually straight, or nearly
+so, but often it curves somewhat, or makes a more or less abrupt
+turn to the right or left. One that I dug out ran straight in for
+3 feet, made an abrupt turn to the left, and then made a reverse
+curve, so that the nest was only about 2 feet from the face of the
+cliff. The entrance and the tunnel itself are not quite circular,
+being usually about 3½ to 4 inches wide and 3 to 3½ inches high;
+an occupied burrow can generally be recognized by the footmarks of
+the bird, a central ridge with a furrow on each side of it, made by
+the bird as it enters or leaves the nest. The nest is placed in an
+enlarged chamber, which may be directly at the end of the tunnel,
+or a little to one side of it, and usually a little above the level
+of the tunnel. The chamber varies considerably in size and shape
+but is approximately circular and dome-shaped; it is usually 10
+to 12 inches in diameter and 6 to 7 inches in height. Often the
+eggs are laid on the bare sand or gravel which probably indicates
+that the nest is a new one, or that the eggs are fresh; oftener,
+perhaps, the nesting chamber is lined with bits of clean, white
+fish bones, fish scales, or fragments of the shells of crustaceans;
+these, I believe, are the remains of ejected pellets and indicate
+that the nest has been previously occupied by young birds or that
+the female has been fed on the nest for some time; there is no
+evidence to indicate that the birds ever bring in such material
+intentionally.
+
+Bendire (1895) writes:
+
+     The time required to dig out a burrow depends largely on
+     the nature of the soil to be removed, taking sometimes two
+     or three weeks, but generally much less. I have personally
+     seen an instance where a pair of these birds excavated a
+     new burrow in a rather friable clay bank near Fort Lapwai,
+     Idaho, to a depth of 5 feet (estimated measurement) in a
+     little over three days. How they managed to dig so rapidly,
+     considering their short and weak-looking feet, with which
+     they must remove the greater part of the material, has
+     always been a mystery to me, and I would not believe them
+     capable of accomplishing such an amount of work had I not
+     seen it done. When not disturbed the same nesting site is
+     resorted to from year to year. Sometimes the male burrows
+     an additional hole near the occupied nesting site, usually
+     not over 3 feet deep, to which it retires to feed and to
+     pass the night.
+
+Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932) published the following account on the
+authority of Miss Frances Densmore, of Red Wing, Minn.:
+
+     On April 25, 1928, I found a pair of Kingfishers digging
+     their tunnel at the top of a high cut about a foot below
+     the surface, just where the black loam met the under sand,
+     some one hundred feet, or thereabouts, above the water.
+     They both dug, taking turn and turn about, except when she
+     thought he hadn’t stayed in long enough and sent him back.
+     After watching them for an hour or more I formed a theory
+     as to how they managed it. One would go in and work for two
+     or three minutes and then push the dirt ahead of it to the
+     entrance and fly out over it. No dirt ever came out with
+     the bird that had been digging, but when the other went
+     in there was a veritable fountain spurting out for nearly
+     a minute after it entered. Then this subsided and more
+     digging was done by the bird that had cleared the hole.
+     They kept very close to their schedule of two or three
+     minutes each. On this day the dirt they brought out was
+     sand, but on the 27th it was black loam from above, and I
+     decided that they had got back to their “sitting room.” On
+     May 1 they weren’t working and, as both were in and out at
+     the same time, I judged that there was room to turn and
+     that they would call it done.
+
+Dr. A. K. Fisher wrote to Major Bendire (1895) as follows:
+
+     On June 6, 1882, the writer found two nests of the
+     Kingfisher in the side of a railroad cut near Croton Lake,
+     Westchester County, New York. The burrows were placed in a
+     bank not over 7 feet above the roadbed and within 18 inches
+     of the top. That of the first one ran in about 7 feet and
+     turned to the right as it entered the nesting chamber. The
+     seven fresh eggs were placed in a nest of coarse grass,
+     which, although rather scanty, covered the floor of the
+     cavity on all sides. The burrow of the second one extended
+     in about 4½ feet, and, like the other previously mentioned,
+     turned toward the right as the expanded nesting cavity was
+     reached. The nest, which was quite elaborate, was composed
+     wholly of fish scales and bones, arranged in a compact,
+     saucer-shaped mass. The writer made a tunnel from the top
+     of the bank so as to intercept the burrow as it entered
+     the nesting cavity. Viewed through this hole, the nest was
+     a beautiful affair. The scales, which looked as if made
+     of frosted silver, formed a delicate setting for the six
+     pure-white eggs lying in the center, and by the projected
+     light made a most effective picture. On two occasions,
+     near Sing Sing, New York, the writer found the Kingfisher
+     and Rough-winged Swallow using burrows having a common
+     entrance. It is probable in each case that the swallow
+     had commenced its diverging burrow after the larger bird
+     completed its work.
+
+A few cases have been recorded of the kingfisher nesting in other
+cavities, where suitable sandbanks were not available. Mr. Forbush
+(1927) says: “Mr. Herbert F. Moulton of Ware, Massachusetts,
+tells me that he found a kingfisher’s nest in a plowed field on
+a hillside. The entrance was made in a ‘dead furrow.’” Arthur H.
+Howell (1932) says: “Baynard (1913) writes that in Alachua County
+[Florida] the Kingfisher nests early in April in holes in dead
+trees or stubs over water. He states, also (verbally), that he once
+found a nest at Clearwater, 4 feet above water in a leaning stub,
+the entrance hole being on the under side; this nest contained 4
+eggs on May 6.”
+
+Beyer, Allison, and Kopman (1908), referring to Louisiana, say:
+
+     The character of the nest varies greatly with different
+     conditions of soil. On the coast it is content with such
+     elevations as can be found on the shores, and the burrow
+     is sometimes scarcely more than a pocket in the clayey
+     banks; in the upper districts, the site is often far from
+     water, and the soft, coarse-grained soil renders easy the
+     excavation of a burrow five or six feet deep, enlarged at
+     the end, and often partly lined with leaves and pine straw;
+     and finally, a unique condition exists in the extensive
+     gum-swamps in the lake region of the southeast, where the
+     land--always submerged--is perfectly flat, and nothing
+     stands above water except innumerable trees and stumps of
+     Nyssa; the nest is placed in the top of a decaying stump,
+     with no attempt at excavation.
+
+But tree-nesting is not wholly confined to the southern swamps, for
+Dr. George M. Sutton (1928) writes:
+
+     On May 27th, 1927, while observing Chimney Swifts at
+     Bethany, Brooke County, West Virginia, I saw a Kingfisher
+     fly rapidly across an open field from a near-by deep
+     pool in Buffalo Creek. Wondering that it should thus
+     cross overland, I watched it as it flew to a large, dead
+     sycamore, not far from me, and disappeared in a hole at the
+     end of a short, thick, horizontal stub. Upon going to the
+     tree I heard the buzzing cries of the young birds. Shortly
+     thereafter the male parent flew away as the female came in.
+     The nest was located about ten feet from the ground in a
+     large cavity near the juncture of the bough and the main
+     trunk. The young birds were lying about seven feet from the
+     entrance. The cavity was almost as dark as a bank burrow
+     would have been. It is odd that the Kingfishers chose such
+     a site for their nest, since earthen banks admirably suited
+     to their needs were available along the creek.
+
+_Eggs._--The number of eggs laid by the eastern belted kingfisher
+varies ordinarily from five to eight, the commonest numbers being
+6 and 7; on rare occasions as many as 11 or 14 eggs or young have
+been found in a nest. If the first set of eggs is taken, the birds
+will dig another burrow, often within a few feet of the first, and
+lay a second set; sometimes a third, or even a fourth, attempt
+will be made. But only one brood is raised in a season. The eggs
+are short-ovate or rounded-ovate in shape; the shell is smooth and
+rather glossy; they are pure white in color. The measurements of
+54 eggs average 33.9 by 26.7 millimeters, the eggs showing the four
+extremes measure =36.8= by =27.9=, =30.8= by 26.4, and 33 by =25.4=
+millimeters.
+
+_Young._--The incubation period is said to be about 23 or 24 days.
+Bendire (1895) says:
+
+     The male does not assist in incubation, but supplies his
+     mate with food while so engaged, and she rarely leaves the
+     nest after the first egg has been laid; at any rate I have
+     invariably found the bird at home if there were any eggs in
+     the nest. Incubation lasts about sixteen days. The young
+     when first hatched are blind, perfectly naked, helpless,
+     and, in a word, very unprepossessing. They scarcely look
+     like birds while crawling about in the nest, where they
+     remain several weeks, their growth being very slow. The
+     excrement of the young is promptly removed and the burrow
+     is kept rather clean. They utter a low, puffing sound when
+     disturbed, and frequently vary considerably in size, as
+     if incubation, in some instances at least, began with the
+     first egg laid. The young, even after they have left the
+     nest for some time, require the attendance of their parents
+     before they are able to secure subsistence for themselves.
+
+I believe that Bendire’s statement above, that the male does not
+incubate, is incorrect; perhaps he may not do so regularly, or to
+the same extent that the female does, but several observers have
+reported finding the male on the eggs, or at least in the nest.
+The young remain in the nest for about 4 weeks or more, and do not
+leave it until they are able to fly.
+
+William L. Bailey (1900) made an interesting study of a family of
+young kingfishers, by digging a hole in the rear of the nesting
+cavity on four different occasions, taking photographs of the young
+at four different ages, and filling up the hole each time, so as
+not to disturb the birds too much. He says that when the young
+were about two days old they “were not only found wrapped together
+in the nest, but the moment they were put on the ground, one at a
+time, though their eyes were still sealed, they immediately covered
+one another with their wings and wide bills, making such a tight
+ball that when one shifted a leg, the whole mass would move like a
+single bird. This is a most sensible method of keeping warm, since
+the mother bird’s legs are so short that she could not stand over
+them, but as they are protected from the wind and weather they have
+no need of her. Their appearance is comical in the extreme, and all
+out of proportion. This clinging to one another is apparently kept
+up for at least ten days, for a week later, when nine days old,
+they were found in exactly a similar position.”
+
+On his last visit, when the young birds were 23 days old, he made
+an interesting discovery, of which he says: “Taking the precaution
+to stop the hole with a good-sized stone, I proceeded to my digging
+for the last time on the top of the bank. This time I found the
+chamber had been moved, and I had some difficulty in locating it
+about a foot higher up and about the same distance to one side.
+The old birds had evidently discovered my imperfectly closed back
+door, and either mistrusted its security, or else a heavy rain
+had soaked down into the loosened earth and caused them to make
+alterations. They had completely closed up the old chamber and
+packed it tightly with earth and disgorged fish bones.”
+
+Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928) makes the following apt quotation
+from the writings of Professor Herrick:
+
+     From the time of birth the young lie huddled in a cluster
+     in their dark underground chamber.... As they grow in size
+     and strength the monotony of sitting still, often with
+     legs and wings interlocked, must become very great, and
+     ... they soon begin to bite and tease one another like
+     young puppies. Should one be hard pressed, the only way of
+     escape lies along the narrow passage, which they naturally
+     traverse head first; but the instinct to return to the warm
+     family cluster is strong, and to do this they are obliged
+     to walk backwards. Again when the rattle of the _alma
+     mater_ announcing the capture of another fish is heard,
+     each struggles to get down the narrow passage-way first,
+     but when the parent enters the hole she hustles them all
+     back.
+
+The young are fed by their two parents while they remain in the
+nest, and for some time afterward while they are learning to fish
+for themselves. Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock (1905) made the following
+observations:
+
+     By care in concealment we were able to discover that the
+     adult came to the nest on the first day with no visible
+     supply of food in the bill but with a gullet conspicuously
+     swollen. We had previously excavated the nest from the rear
+     making a false back to it so that it would be protected
+     from the weather and at the same time open easily. As soon
+     as feeding was completed and the adult out of sight, we
+     opened the nest at the false back, took out the young, then
+     one day old, and examined the crops. They contained a dark
+     gray, oily mass, nearly fluid and very ill smelling, but
+     with no bones or scales in it. If fish they were very small
+     and digested. Returning the young fishers to the tunnel, we
+     closed it. Two days later the experiment was repeated with
+     the same results. Four days later, or the seventh day after
+     hatching, we examined again. This time one of the nestlings
+     had swallowed several small fish about one and one half
+     inches long and the others were still hungry. As yet we
+     had not seen either of the adults bring visible food and
+     the most frequent feedings had been forty minutes apart, I
+     believe all by regurgitation. No record was kept from the
+     seventh to the fourteenth day when an examination was made
+     for the third time. We now found the young showing well
+     developed pin feathers, and there were traces of disgorged
+     fish bones and scales in the nest which had not been there
+     before. The crops examined showed fish only slightly
+     digested and regurgitative feeding had evidently given
+     place wholly or in part to fresh food. On this day one of
+     the adults brought several fish, possibly four inches long
+     to the nest in different journeys. Examinations made on the
+     twenty-first day revealed the same food conditions as the
+     fourteenth. The pile of fish bones and scales was a trifle
+     larger but was partially buried in the earth. There was
+     surprisingly little of this debris in the nest or tunnel
+     but the ground seemed to be saturated with fishy oil. On
+     the twenty-eighth day the young kingfishers resented being
+     examined or photographed, and made good their escape when
+     taken from the nest.
+
+Henry R. Carey (1909) writes:
+
+     The food brought to the nest-hole consists of various
+     kinds of small fish. It not infrequently happens that one
+     of these fish is too large to be carried by the parent
+     bird into the narrow passage; it is then dropped upon the
+     sand and is allowed to rot. * * * I once found a common
+     salt-water flounder, four and one-half inches long and
+     proportionately wide, which, being rather unwieldy for the
+     parent bird to handle, had been left in this way. Another
+     time I found a young Sculpin (_Callionymus aeneus_) in the
+     same condition, and, yet again, a live minnow, which, in
+     spite of a great patch on its side devoid of scales, was
+     finally freed in perfect health. * * *
+
+     The young birds leave the earth about July 25 [in New
+     Hampshire]. They are a sombre-looking lot, as for several
+     days they sit tamely about the wharfs or venture on short,
+     erratic flights, which makes one feel that they have not
+     yet got used to the light after their long imprisonment
+     underground. It is at this time that both parents and
+     young, somewhat crowded in the vicinity of the home nest
+     by their sudden increase in population, begin to seek out
+     new fishing-stubs, or to use old ones for the first time in
+     the year. When the young are able to care for themselves,
+     the old birds leave them and lead once more the single life
+     which they seem to enjoy most.
+
+     At this time of year, frequent quarrels occur among them,
+     mostly about the best fishing spots, and now that strange,
+     whining note, which Herrick describes as resembling the
+     grating of two tree boughs in the wind, is often heard. It
+     appears to be a note of anger; I have heard it when one
+     bird, wanting the perch of another, hovered menacingly over
+     him. Once I saw two birds dive simultaneously for the same
+     spot in the water, the same note escaping them as each
+     reluctantly swerved aside.
+
+Floyd Bralliar (1922) writes interestingly of how the young learn
+to catch their own fish:
+
+     The young birds did not remain in the neighborhood of the
+     nest more than a few days, but those few days were busy
+     ones, for in that brief time the mother was teaching her
+     children how to earn a living. She would perch by their
+     side on an overhanging limb and patiently wait for the
+     glimmer of a fish below. The first day or two she usually
+     caught the fish, beat it into partial insensibility and
+     then dropped it again into the water. The young were
+     persistent in their plea for food, but the mother was as
+     insistent that they catch their living if they got any.
+     There was very little current where they hunted, and a
+     fish did not float out of sight quickly. The young birds
+     would crane their necks and look hungrily at the fish below
+     until finally one more hungry or more bold than the rest
+     would make a dive for it. At first the aim was not good,
+     and the bird would miss even a dead fish more often than he
+     succeeded in catching it. Usually, however, he fluttered
+     about the surface of the water until he got his fish, even
+     tho he had missed it when he made his plunge. * * * During
+     the first few days when the young birds became too hungry,
+     the mother would occasionally relent and feed them, but
+     before the week was over, no matter how hungry they became,
+     no food was coming until they caught it. Within ten days
+     the young birds were catching live fish instead of half
+     dead ones.
+
+     Then a young bird would catch his fish, carry it to his
+     perch, whack it over the limb a few times, toss it in the
+     air, catch it by the head as it came down and swallow
+     it with as much skill as his mother. As soon as she was
+     convinced of the skill of each of her brood, she forsook
+     them entirely. I do not know whether she ultimately
+     drove them from the neighborhood or whether they left
+     voluntarily, but when July was past only the old birds were
+     to be seen in the neighborhood.
+
+Henry Mousley (1938), who made a prolonged study of a family of
+belted kingfishers, estimated the period of incubation to be about
+24 days. His report says, in conclusion:
+
+     On summing up I find forty-two hours were spent with the
+     birds (May 11-July 24), during which time the young were
+     fed one hundred times, or at an average rate of once in
+     every 25.2 minutes. Of course there were periods when the
+     feeding was much faster, as for instance, once in every
+     8, 9, 13, 20, and 21 minutes respectively. Sometimes the
+     parents were absent from the nest for long periods of time,
+     such as, 150, 120, 105, 97, 93, 90, 85, 75, 70, and 60
+     minutes at a time, when of course the young were without
+     food. It was after these long spells that the more rapid
+     feedings generally took place. As already remarked, the
+     male seemed to pay the most attention to this part of the
+     business, for I find of those times when I was perfectly
+     sure of the sex of the parent, the male fed twenty-eight
+     times to his partner’s fourteen, or just double. It was the
+     male parent which was the last seen at the nest previous
+     to the departure of the one surviving young--a male. The
+     food for the most part consisted of small fish, crawfish,
+     minnows, tadpoles, and probably beetles.
+
+_Plumages._--The young kingfisher is hatched naked, blind, and
+helpless, a shapeless mass of reddish flesh, looking much like a
+very young puppy with a huge conical bill. Its eyes do not open for
+about two weeks. Within a week, or less, the pinfeathers or feather
+sheaths appear, and soon the young bird bristles in all the feather
+tracts with quills like a young porcupine, which grow to varying
+lengths and show, before they burst, the pectoral band and the
+general color pattern of the adult. When the young bird is 17 or 18
+days old, a remarkable change takes places within the short space
+of 24 hours, for the sheaths rapidly burst and the juvenal plumage
+blossoms out all over the body.
+
+In this plumage the young bird looks strikingly like the adult
+with only minor differences, and the sexes are alike. Young birds
+of both sexes, when fully fledged, have the pectoral band more or
+less heavily tipped or mixed with cinnamon, rufous or dull brown;
+this usually consists of narrow edgings in young males, but in
+young females many feathers are half or more brown; the rufous band
+of the female adult is only partially shown in the young female,
+mainly on the flanks, and it shows to some extent in nearly all
+young males, some having nearly as much as young females; the
+crest is darker than in adults, there is more white in the wing
+coverts, the white tips of the secondaries are more extensive, and
+the central tail feathers are spotted, as in the adult female.
+This juvenal plumage is also a first winter plumage, for it is
+worn without much change until spring. Young birds have a first,
+prenuptial molt early in spring, which involves most of the body
+plumage, perhaps all of it, the tail, and apparently the wings
+also; this takes place between February and April. Adults have a
+complete postnuptial molt in August, September, and October.
+
+Mr. Brewster (1937a) made some observations on the roosting habits
+of kingfishers at Umbagog Lake, Maine, of which he says: “Every
+evening, a little after sunset, two or three Kingfishers resort to
+Pine Point to spend the night. They fly directly into the forest
+and go to roost among the densest foliage, often that of spruces
+and arbor vitaes, growing anywhere from four to ten rods back from
+the nearest shore.” One that he watched “flew up into a tall,
+slender Paper Birch, and alighted near the end of a long branch,
+about thirty feet above the ground. * * * As darkness gathered,
+the bird settled lower and lower on the branch, and drew in its
+neck without, however, burying its head in its plumage, for I could
+still see its bill pointing outward over the breast. At 9 P. M. I
+went under the tree, and by the light of a lantern dimly made out
+the Kingfisher, crouching in the same attitude, in exactly the same
+place.”
+
+_Food._--The kingfisher is a fish eater and an expert fisherman,
+well deserving its name. It evidently prefers fish to any other
+food and would probably live on fish exclusively, if it were
+always able to secure all it needed. It catches mainly small fish,
+preferably not over 6 inches long, and mostly those species that
+are of little use, or even harmful, economically as far as human
+interests are concerned. The kingfisher has been condemned by trout
+fisherman as a great destroyer of trout, but in a large measure
+unjustly. Kingfishers undoubtedly visit trout hatcheries frequently
+and can easily catch plenty of trout in the open pools, where the
+trout have no place to hide and where they are congregated in large
+numbers; they can do considerable damage in such places, but the
+trout can be easily protected by placing wire screens over the
+pools. In the trout streams wild trout are not so easily caught,
+for, as every trout fisherman knows, the trout are seldom seen
+in the open places except when darting swiftly across them, but
+spend their time hiding under overhanging banks, or under logs or
+stones, and only dashing out occasionally to capture their prey.
+On the other hand, chubs, dace, suckers, and sometimes sculpins
+are very common in most trout streams, generally in larger numbers
+than the trout; they frequent the open spaces, are much slower in
+their movements than the swiftly moving trout, and consequently are
+more easily caught. The records show that these neutral or harmful
+fishes make up the greater part, or nearly all, of the kingfisher’s
+catch in trout streams. Chub and sculpins are very destructive
+to small trout fry; and suckers eat quantities of trout spawn;
+consequently the kingfishers are really doing the trout fisherman
+a favor by reducing the numbers of these fishes in the streams and
+should be protected rather than persecuted.
+
+The kingfisher must of necessity do its fishing in clear water,
+so is seldom seen on muddy streams or ponds, or on those that
+are choked or overgrown with thick vegetation, such as is often
+found along trout streams. It usually perches on some stake,
+snag, or pier standing in the water, or on some bare overhanging
+branch, where it can watch patiently for some passing fish.
+Favorite perches of this sort in good fishing spots are resorted
+to regularly and rival kingfishers are driven away, for the
+kingfisher is a solitary bird except during the nesting season
+or while training its young. From such a perch the bird may dive
+obliquely into the water to seize the fish in its powerful bill;
+or, rising 30 or 40 feet into the air and scanning the water below
+it in more active pursuit of its prey, it may stop and hover for
+a few seconds, with rapidly vibrating wings, and then make a
+straight or spiral dive directly downward, disappearing beneath the
+water sometimes for several seconds. It is not always successful
+in its plunges, as the fish may move and cause a sudden change
+of direction in the bird’s rapid dive either above or below the
+surface; but it is not easily discouraged and is always ready
+to try again. Having secured the fish, it flies with it to some
+favorite perch, where it beats the fish into insensibility, tosses
+it into the air, or otherwise adjusts it, so that it can swallow
+it head first and thus avoid any injury to its throat from the
+sharp spiny fins. Sometimes the fish is too large to be swallowed
+completely, in which case the tail must be left protruding from
+the mouth until the rapid process of digestion enables the bird to
+gradually work it down. Manly Hardy wrote to Major Bendire (1895)
+of such a case, and says: “I shot a Kingfisher last spring that had
+swallowed a pickerel considerably longer than the bird from the
+end of the bill to the tip of the tail, and the tail of the fish
+protruding from the throat, while the head was partly doubled back,
+causing a large protuberance near the vent.”
+
+Where fish are not readily obtainable, especially in the arid
+regions of the Southwest where the streams largely disappear
+during the dry season, the kingfisher seems able to make a good
+living on various other kinds of food. The list includes crabs,
+crayfishes, mussels, lizards, frogs, toads, small snakes, turtles,
+grasshoppers, locusts, rickets, salamanders, newts, butterflies,
+moths, beetles and other insects, young birds, mice, and even
+berries. On the seacoast, it has been known to feed on clams and
+oysters, which sometimes results disastrously for the bird. H. C.
+Hopkins (1892) reports finding a kingfisher with “its bill held
+fast between the shells of an oyster.” The bird had evidently
+inserted its bill into the open shell of the oyster, which had
+closed upon it; “the tongue [was] quite black from non-circulation
+of the blood, which showed that it must have been held prisoner
+for some time.” The bird would probably have drowned at the next
+high tide. Dr. B. H. Warren (1890) reports that a friend of his
+once caught one of these birds on a hook and line while fishing
+with a live minnow for bait. He also says: “One day B. M. Everhart
+found a kingfisher lying on the bank of a small stream. On making
+an investigation, Mr. Everhart ascertained that the bird was
+unable to fly, as its bill was tightly clasped in the grasp of a
+large fresh-water mussel. I have heard of several instances where
+kingfishers have been captured under similar circumstances, which
+could naturally lead one to suppose that they feed to a limited
+degree on the flesh of these bivalves.”
+
+In the Bermudas, kingfishers are said to feed on squids. Walter B.
+Barrows (1912) quotes Professor Aughey, of Nebraska, as follows:
+“One that was sent to me to identify in September, 1874, had 18
+locusts, in addition to portions of some fish, in its stomach.
+One that I opened in September, 1876, had mingled at least 14
+locusts with its fish diet.” Bendire (1895) caught a kingfisher
+in a trap baited with a mouse, and believed “that not a few
+mice, and possibly small birds also, are caught by them during
+their nocturnal rambles, and they are certainly fully as active
+throughout the night as in the daytime.”
+
+Kingfishers disgorge as pellets the indigestible portions of their
+food, such as fish bones and scales, the shells of crustaceans and
+the seeds of berries; the bones and scales found in the nests are
+the remains of such pellets. Henry K. Carey (1909) writes:
+
+     Only once have I seen a pellet of fishbones and scales
+     being disgorged from the bird’s beak, as he sat on his
+     hunting perch. These pellets are found wherever the birds
+     are accustomed to sit for any length of time. I once found
+     one completely composed of various parts of the shell of
+     a small crab. Only a few days later I had the pleasure of
+     seeing a crab actually caught. The bird captured him by
+     diving in the usual way and took him to a low rock where
+     he proceeded to bang him just as he would have done to a
+     minnow. During this process the crab, which measured an
+     inch and a half sideways across the shell, lost several
+     legs and was dropped upon the rock, from which by a
+     considerable effort he managed to fall by scrambling to the
+     edge with his remaining legs. The bird, perhaps seeing that
+     he was rather a large morsel to swallow whole, then forgot
+     him completely and went on with his fishing.
+
+Ora W. Knight (1908) has seen kingfishers chase and capture moths
+and butterflies, taking them on the wing. Dr. Thomas S. Roberts
+(1932) says that they have been known to eat young sparrows; also
+that “crawfish are pounded and crushed before swallowing, and fish
+that are too large may be divided into pieces by the powerful bill.
+Miss Densmore, of Red Wing, once saw a Kingfisher that was making
+unsuccessful attempts to handle a small turtle. This was thoroughly
+pounded and variously manipulated but had to be discarded in the
+end.”
+
+Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1918) writes: “Early in August, 1917, Mr.
+John Hair, gamekeeper of Mr. R. T. Crane at Ipswich, missed six
+of a four days old brood of Bob-whites. He had seen a Kingfisher
+nearby and later the same day saw it perched on the gable end of
+the little house where the Bob-whites had been hatched, and from
+there pounce on the young birds as they ran in and out. He shot the
+Kingfisher, and, on opening the bird, a female, found the legs and
+feathers of the young Bob-whites in its crop.”
+
+When hard pressed for animal food the kingfisher has been known
+to eat wild cherries and probably other wild fruits. Dr. Elliott
+Coues (1878) published the following note from Mrs. Mary Treat
+about a kingfisher that fished regularly from a private wharf in
+front of her house in Florida: “When the water is so rough that
+it is difficult for him to procure fish, instead of seeking some
+sequestered pool he remains at his usual post, occasionally making
+an ineffectual effort to secure his customary prey, until, nearly
+starved, he resorts to a sour-gum tree (_Nyssa aquatica_, L.) in
+the vicinity, and greedily devours the berries. Returning to his
+post, he soon ejects a pellet of the large seeds and skins of the
+fruit.”
+
+_Behavior._--The belted kingfisher is a striking and picturesque
+feature in the landscape whether in action or at rest. The mountain
+trout stream would lose much of its charm without the rattling call
+of the lone fisherman and the flash of his broad, blue wings, as he
+follows the course of the stream, flying well below the treetops
+until he glides upward to alight on his accustomed perch, there to
+tilt his short tail nervously up and down and raise and lower his
+long crest a few times, as he sounds his battle cry again. At the
+seashore, too, his trim, unique figure and his conspicuous color
+pattern, as he perches day after day on his favorite stake or goes
+rattling along the shore, add color and a tinge of wildness to the
+scene.
+
+The flight of the kingfisher is strong, swift, and graceful,
+usually low, but high above the treetops when traveling; often
+there are five or six rapid strokes followed by a long glide on
+half-closed wings. Mr. Carey (1909) writes of it:
+
+     The Kingfisher’s flight is remarkable for its beauty. How
+     easily those long wings carry him about, as he skims so
+     close over the water that their tips are sometimes wetted,
+     or, as he hovers, his body appearing absolutely motionless,
+     in that wonderful way which few birds can equal, for
+     indefinite periods of time. Sometimes, especially in water
+     half a foot or less in depth, he dives while flying nearly
+     parallel to its surface. Sometimes, in his journeys from
+     perch to perch when fish are plentiful, he dips again and
+     again into the water in this way, reminding one of the
+     Swallow as he gracefully touches the water here and there
+     in his flight over the mill-pond. Again, he drops like a
+     falling stone in a nearly perpendicular line upon his fishy
+     prey.
+
+Again he writes, referring to times of keen competition over good
+fishing grounds:
+
+     On such occasions one bird is often angrily pursued by
+     another. These pursuits are most reckless and enduring in
+     character. One sees the two birds swirl by like two blue
+     flashes of light, to disappear in an instant of time on
+     perfectly controlled wings perhaps far away in the pine
+     woods, almost grazing the tough trunk of some mighty tree,
+     or heading straight for a sheer cliff and rising fifteen
+     feet or more to clear it when it seems that they must be
+     dashed to pieces on the rock. I once saw a Kingfisher,
+     hard-pressed in such a pursuit, adopt a clever means of
+     escape. His pursuer was close upon him--about five feet
+     behind. On they came down the creek, neither bird seeming
+     to gain upon the other. Both were flying at top speed
+     low over the water. Suddenly there was a splash, and the
+     foremost Kingfisher disappeared under the water. The bird
+     behind swept on and lit on a nearby stub, not attempting to
+     renew the chase when his enemy reappeared.
+
+The above was probably a case of one bird defending its territory
+against the invasion of it by another kingfisher. Frederick C.
+Lincoln (1924) saw a striking example of this during his field work
+in the marshes of the Illinois River; he says: “During the period
+of greatest abundance, practically every channel had its quota of
+birds, each of which appeared to patrol or to hold dominion over
+a certain well-defined section.” As many as 8 or 10 birds were
+encountered, each always confined to its own limited section. One
+of the boatmen told him that “he took much pleasure in informing
+club members and others who might be with him in the club launch,
+just how far the kingfisher then in sight would go and where the
+next one would be met.”
+
+William Brewster (1937a) watched a kingfisher at Lake Umbagog that
+“plunged into the water, striking a fish so large, that he had to
+let it go after a brief struggle, during which he failed to bring
+it to the surface, although evidently trying his best to do so.”
+
+_Voice._--There is not much beauty in the voice of the kingfisher,
+but the loud rattling call always produces a thrill in the
+listener; it is a wild, weird, wilderness call that enlivens
+the solitudes and punctuates the stillness of lonely shores or
+forest streams; it seems to fit in well with the active vigor
+of this aggressive guardian of his domain, as a warning to his
+rivals. It consists of a series of harsh, wooden, rattling notes
+of great carrying power. It has been likened to the sound made by
+an old-fashioned policeman’s or watchman’s rattle, a very good
+description for those of us who are old enough to remember such
+out-of-date sounds; but it may remind the younger generation of the
+sound made by certain noise-making instruments used at get-together
+dinners, political rallies, or other joyous gatherings.
+
+It is not easily expressed in syllables, but Mr. Bralliar (1922)
+has written it fairly well as _rickety, crick, crick, crick_. The
+call varies some under different circumstances, sometimes being
+quite soft and low, as if in a conversational tone with its mate.
+The courtship note, referred to above by Mr. Allen, was “a mewing
+note uttered in rapid succession, almost if not quite as loud as
+the familiar rattle.” Then there is the whining note, referred to
+by Mr. Carey above, “resembling the grating of two tree boughs
+in the wind,” which seems to be a note of anger while quarreling
+over fishing rights. Brewster (1937a) says that “on such occasions
+they often utter a harsh _cah-car-car-car_, quite unlike the usual
+volley of watchman’s rattle-like notes.”
+
+_Field marks._--The kingfisher could hardly be mistaken for
+anything else. Its shape is distinctive, its large head and crest
+and its long, heavy bill are all out of proportion to its small
+body, short tail, and tiny feet. As it flies its great blue wings,
+its white collar, and its banded breast are unique. Its loud,
+rattling note proclaims it beyond doubt.
+
+_Enemies._--The most serious enemies of the kingfisher are the
+selfish fisherman, who wants all the fish for himself and begrudges
+the poor bird an honest living, and the proprietor of a trout
+hatchery, who is unwilling to go to the trouble and expense of
+screening his pools to protect his fish. The former shoots every
+kingfisher he can with misguided satisfaction; the latter either
+shoots or traps any that visit his pools. A small, unbaited, steel
+trap is set and fastened to the top of a stake or post near the
+bird’s favorite fishing pool; if the trap is so set that the pan is
+at the highest point, the bird is almost sure to alight on it and
+is caught. Hundreds of kingfishers are caught and killed in this
+way along private trout streams, or about trout hatcheries, every
+year.
+
+The natural enemies of the kingfisher are of no great menace to its
+welfare. The Cooper’s and the sharp-shinned hawks often pursue it,
+perhaps largely for sport; under the accounts of these two hawks,
+in a previous volume, will be found references to these attacks and
+the successful attempts of the kingfisher to escape by diving; it
+even seems as if the kingfisher enjoyed the sport, judged by its
+derisive “laughter” at the defeat of the hawk.
+
+The remains of a kingfisher have been found in the stomach of a
+red-tailed hawk; the former must have been caught unaware, for the
+hawk is no match for it in flight. The kingbird sometimes makes
+life miserable for the kingfisher; Fred T. Jencks (1881) writes:
+
+     The Kingfisher had poised himself several times to look for
+     fish, and was just moving to do so again as the Kingbird
+     approached and attacked him. The Kingfisher is not a
+     troublesome bird, and always minds his own business. He
+     was entirely unprepared, and acted as though he could not
+     believe that the other had any evil intentions, for he
+     tried to poise again. The second attack seemed to undeceive
+     him, and show him his enemy was in earnest. He vaulted
+     and turned, vainly endeavoring to rid himself of his
+     persecutor. He soon saw he could not save himself by flight
+     and tried diving. As soon, however, as he appeared at the
+     surface he attempted to fly, but the Kingbird, keeping
+     up an incessant twittering, forced him to dive again.
+     Two or three times this was repeated, both birds making
+     considerable noise, until the Kingfisher seemed convinced
+     that escape in that direction was impossible, so he sat
+     like a duck upon the surface, and as his persecutor would
+     swoop at him he would go under. This lasted for some little
+     time, until even the Kingbird seemed wearied and flew away.
+
+Snakes and perhaps skunks or minks may crawl into the nesting
+holes, while the parent birds are away, and destroy the eggs
+or young; but it would seem that the formidable beak of the
+kingfisher, if at home, would prove to be an effective weapon
+of defense. H. H. Bailey (1907) says: “While digging out some
+Kingfishers’ nests this season I was surprised to find a dead bird
+in about every fourth or fifth hole. This I was at loss to account
+for, as the birds showed no signs of combat or disease, while the
+plumage was not even disarranged. The bodies, though, seemed to
+be dried up, with no signs of blood in them, so I presumed that
+something had crawled into the holes and sucked the blood from
+them, leaving the carcass intact. This surmise proved correct, as
+the last hole I dug out contained a large black snake, and a dead
+kingfisher still warm.”
+
+I quote the above for what it is worth, but cannot agree with
+Mr. Bailey’s conclusion. I have never heard that the black snake
+is a blood-sucker and doubt if it would attack a bird as big
+as a kingfisher. If such well-known blood-suckers as minks or
+weasels had attacked the bird, there would have been evidences
+of a struggle. I believe that the snake was looking for eggs.
+The kingfishers may have died from an epidemic of roundworms or
+ringworms, which have often proved fatal to these birds.
+
+Frederic H. Kennard told me that while he was fishing on Grand
+Lake, Maine, he and his daughter heard a splash behind them and
+their guide saw a kingfisher dive, disappear beneath the surface
+and not come up. Although they all watched for some time, the bird
+never appeared. They paddled over to the place where the kingfisher
+dived but could see no trace of the bird in the water or in the
+air. They suspected that some of the large fish, pickerel, salmon,
+or togue, that abound in that lake, may have caught the kingfisher.
+
+Arthur W. Brockway tells me of a nest that was dug into by a skunk
+and the young devoured, the excavation being made from above the
+nest.
+
+_Winter._--The belted kingfisher is a hardy bird, and remains as
+far north in fall and winter as it can find open water in which
+to catch a fair supply of fish. A few kingfishers remain all
+winter, especially during mild winters, in southern New England,
+frequenting to some extent the open inland streams, but more
+regularly along the southern coast from Cape Cod to Long Island
+Sound.
+
+There, Mr. Forbush (1927) says, “they go into winter quarters in
+December, especially about river mouths where at that time the
+little frost-fish come in, and there they remain, unless extreme
+cold locks rivers and shores in ice.”
+
+They are occasionally seen in winter in the northern tier of
+States. Dr. L. H. Walkinshaw writes to me from Battle Creek,
+Mich.: “Along open stretches of water, a few kingfishers can be
+found during the entire winter. I have several dates for southern
+Michigan for December, January and February. I have watched them on
+zero, or near zero, days dive from some dead branch after minnows
+in the open stream.”
+
+Mr. Skinner says in his notes from Yellowstone Park: “Ordinarily
+this is a migratory bird, but here a few remain all winter along
+the streams kept open by hot water. During cold winds and storms,
+they are often seen in the most protected places, but with feathers
+all fluffed out. The winter birds noticed have been males, the
+females not appearing until March 17. In winter, I believe they
+roost in the tops of the thick cedars in the Gardiner Canyon, but I
+have no data about the other localities.”
+
+Most of the kingfishers migrate to the more southern States during
+the late fall, where they find open water and plenty of fish. There
+they establish regular fishing stations and live their solitary
+lives, each in its own territory. We often saw one in Florida
+perched day after day in practically the same spot, presumably the
+same bird in each case.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--North America south to northern South America; accidental
+in the Azores, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
+
+_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the belted kingfisher
+extends =north= to central Alaska (Kowak River, Fairbanks, and
+probably Fort Yukon); Mackenzie (Fort McPherson, Fort Wrigley, Fort
+Providence, and Fort Smith); central Saskatchewan (Knee Lake and
+Pelican Lake); central Manitoba (Oxford Lake); Ontario (Rossport
+and North Abitibi River); Quebec (Lake Mistassini, Godbout, and
+Romaine River); and east-central Labrador (Grand Falls). From
+this northeastern station the range extends southward through
+Newfoundland and along the coasts of Nova Scotia and the Eastern
+United States to central Florida (Micanopy and Clearwater). =South=
+to Florida (Clearwater, probably St. Marks, and Chipley); southern
+Louisiana (Bird Island and Bayou Sara); Texas (Giddings, Corpus
+Christi, Kerrville, and Pecos); southern New Mexico (Carlsbad
+and Chloride); and southern California (Escondido). The western
+limits extend northward through California, Oregon, Washington, and
+British Columbia (sometimes along the coast) to Alaska (Sitka,
+Hope, Mount McKinley, and Kowak River).
+
+There are a few records north and west of the range as outlined
+that may possibly represent occasional nesting. One was seen August
+5 and 6, 1915, at a point 100 miles above Bethel, Alaska, and
+another was seen on July 6, 1917, at Iditerod. MacFarlane (1891)
+reported seeing several birds in the Fort Anderson region of
+Mackenzie, but he states that no nests were found. An adult female
+was taken at Churchill, Manitoba, previous to 1845; one was seen at
+Fort Du Brochet on September 22, 1920, while the species also has
+been reported from York Factory.
+
+_Winter range._--In winter the species is found =north= with
+fair regularity to southeastern Alaska (Sitka and Wrangell);
+southeastern British Columbia (Okanagan Landing); Wyoming
+(Yellowstone Park and rarely Wheatland); rarely central Missouri
+(Marionville); rarely central Indiana (Crawfordsville and
+Richmond); Ohio (Canton); and southern New Jersey (Cape May).
+From this point the eastern boundary of the winter range extends
+=south= along the coast to southern Florida (Royal Palm Hammock
+and Key West); the Bahama Islands (Nassau); the Dominican Republic
+(Sanchez); Puerto Rico (Fortuna); the Lesser Antilles (Anguilla,
+Antigua, St. Lucia, Carriacou Island, and Los Testigos); and
+northeastern Venezuela (Cariaco). South to Venezuela (Cariaco,
+Guarico, and Apure); rarely northern Colombia (Santa Marta); Panama
+(Barro Colorado Island); and Costa Rica (San Jose). =West= to Costa
+Rica (San Jose and Rio Frio) and northward along the west coast
+of Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, and British
+Columbia, to southeastern Alaska (Craig, Ketchikan, and Sitka).
+Occasionally kingfishers will be recorded in winter from points in
+the northern United States (Montana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, New
+York, Vermont, and Massachusetts), as well as from northern Ontario
+(London, Guelph, and Toronto). It also is a winter resident on
+Bermuda.
+
+The range as outlined is for the entire species, of which two
+subspecies are currently recognized. The eastern belted kingfisher
+(_Megaceryle alcyon alcyon_) occupies all the range east of the
+Rocky Mountains and north to Quebec and Mackenzie; the western
+belted kingfisher (_M. a. caurina_) is found west of the Rocky
+Mountains and north to Alaska and Yukon.
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are:
+Pennsylvania--Renovo, February 22; Oil City, March 3; Beaver,
+March 22. New York--Ballston Spa, March 19; Rochester, March
+21; Watertown, March 27. Connecticut--Hartford, March 16. Rhode
+Island--Providence, February 23. Massachusetts--Boston, March 19;
+Harvard, March 25. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, March 26; Rutland,
+April 4; Wells River, April 12. New Hampshire--Tilton, March 28.
+Maine--Orono, April 6; Portland, April 7; Machias, April 18. New
+Brunswick--Scotch Lake, April 22. Nova Scotia--Picton, April
+6. Prince Edward Island--Alberton, April 17. Quebec--Montreal,
+April 21; Quebec City, April 24; Godbout, May 5. Missouri--St.
+Louis, February 25; Kansas City, March 10; Concordia, March
+17. Illinois--Chicago, March 11; Odin, March 13. Northern
+Ohio--Oberlin, February 13. Michigan--Vicksburg, March 8; Detroit,
+March 20; Sault Ste. Marie, April 11. Ontario--Toronto, March
+6; Ottawa, April 5. Iowa--Iowa City, March 7; Sioux City, March
+18. Wisconsin--La Crosse, March 11; Madison, March 16; Stevens
+Point, April 1. Minnesota--St. Cloud, March 23; Minneapolis,
+March 24. Kansas--Hays, February 7. Nebraska--Valentine, March 3.
+South Dakota--Vermillion, March 22; Dell Rapids, March 23. North
+Dakota--Charlson, April 5. Manitoba--Margaret, April 1; Aweme,
+April 11; Reaburn, April 22. Saskatchewan--Indian Head, April 22;
+Eastend, April 23. Idaho--Rathdrum, April 9. Montana--Bozeman,
+March 26; Great Falls, April 13, Alberta--Banff, April 25; Stony
+Plain, May 12. Northwestern Alaska--Kowak River, May 21.
+
+_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Alberta--Lac
+la Biche, September 27; Banff, September 30; Camrose, October
+24. Montana--Great Falls, October 1; Big Sandy, October 9;
+Fortine, October 31 (winters rarely). Saskatchewan--Indian
+Head, September 20; Eastend, October 5. Manitoba--Killarney,
+October 15; Aweme, October 25. North Dakota--Rice Lake, October
+2; Kindred, October 22. South Dakota--Yankton, October 16;
+Sioux Falls, November 11. Nebraska--Valentine, October 24;
+Lincoln, October 30; Red Cloud, November 10. Kansas (sometimes
+winters)--Hays, November 21; Wallace, November 24; Harper,
+November 30. Minnesota--Lanesboro, November 16 (sometimes
+winters); Minneapolis, November 25. Wisconsin--Madison, November
+12. Illinois--Rantoul, October 27; Chicago, November 20.
+Ontario--Toronto, November 3; Ottawa, November 26. Michigan, Sault
+Ste. Marie, October 16; Detroit, December 4. Quebec--Montreal,
+October 23. Prince Edward Island--Alberton, October 10. New
+Brunswick--Scotch Lake, November 5. Maine--Portland, October 13;
+Phillips, October 17. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, November 9; Wells
+River, November 23. Massachusetts--Boston, December 13. Rhode
+Island--Providence, December 2. Connecticut--Hartford, December 26.
+New York--Watertown, October 31; Rochester, November 13. Northern
+New Jersey--Elizabeth, December 15. Pennsylvania--Beaver, November
+28; Renovo, November 30.
+
+Further insight into the migratory flights of individual
+kingfishers is provided by banding records. One banded as a
+nestling at Noblesville, Ind., on June 21, 1924, was killed in the
+Naches River Valley, Tex., on November 19, 1924, while another,
+banded on June 30, 1937, at Waukesha, Wis., was retaken at Society
+Hill, S. C., on November 22, 1937.
+
+_Casual records._--At least a part of the reported occurrences of
+the belted kingfisher in the Old World are unsatisfactory. Two
+cases, wherein specimens were alleged to have been taken in Meath
+and Wicklow, Ireland, in the autumn of 1845 are now believed to be
+based upon fraud. A specimen is supposed to have been taken on the
+island of Flores in the Azores, but neither its disposition nor the
+details of collection are known. A male bird was taken, however, in
+Holland on December 17, 1899, and another was collected on Westmann
+Island, off the south coast of Iceland, in September 1901.
+
+_Egg dates._--California: 16 records, April 7 to June 24; 8
+records, April 21 to May 17, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Illinois: 5 records, May 10 to June 8.
+
+Massachusetts: 8 records, May 11 to June 6.
+
+New York: 27 records, April 10 to July 15; 14 records, May 10 to 29.
+
+Ontario: 7 records, May 24 to June 28.
+
+
+                MEGACERYLE ALCYON CAURINA (Grinnell)
+
+                     WESTERN BELTED KINGFISHER
+
+                              PLATE 15
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+It has long been known that the kingfishers of the Pacific
+coast are appreciably larger than eastern birds, but Dr. Joseph
+Grinnell (1910) was the first to give the western race a name.
+He characterizes it as “similar to the _Ceryle alcyon_ of
+eastern and southern North America, but size throughout greater,
+especially measurements of flight-feathers,” and goes on to say
+that “the secondary wing quills are _proportionally_ longer in the
+northwestern birds. This means that in addition to its greater
+expanse of wing and generally larger size, the wing of _caurina_
+is _broader_. In the closed wing this difference presents itself
+conspicuously in the interval between the end of the longest
+secondary and the tip of the longest primary. In the northwestern
+birds this interval averages only 27.3 mm., while in the eastern
+birds it averages 33.7 mm. This is in spite of the larger size of
+the former. The ratio to total wing length in the two cases is 17
+and 22 per cent., respectively.”
+
+The nesting habits of the western belted kingfisher seem to be
+very similar to those of the eastern bird; I find no record of its
+nesting anywhere but in sand, clay, or gravel banks; such banks are
+often much higher than those in the East, so the nesting burrow is
+often at a considerable height from the base, but usually near the
+top of the cliff.
+
+In all other respects its habits are not materially different
+from those of the species elsewhere. Grinnell and Storer (1924)
+say: “This bird’s wing-beat is characteristic, three quick beats
+followed by two executed in a more leisurely manner, like this:
+one, two, three; four; five.
+
+“A Western Belted Kingfisher watched by Mr. Walter P. Taylor came
+to a perch on a bare limb overhanging some rapids in the river, and
+sat there motionless. The outline of the bird’s body at once became
+indistinguishable from the light and shade of its background; in
+other words it was obliterated because of the disruptive pattern
+of its coloration, white and slate areas alternating. If the
+fishes in the water beneath got the same impression as did the
+human observer, the kingfisher must have become invisible to them,
+remaining so until the moment of its headlong plunge in their
+pursuit.”
+
+The eggs of the western belted kingfisher are similar to those of
+the eastern bird and average only slightly larger. The measurements
+of 38 eggs average 34.78 by 26.89 millimeters; the eggs showing the
+four extremes measure =36.6= by 27.4, 35.7 by =28=, =31.6= by 27,
+and 33 by =25.4= millimeters.
+
+
+              MEGACERYLE TORQUATA TORQUATA (Linnaeus).
+
+                         RINGED KINGFISHER
+
+                              PLATE 17
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This handsome bird is the largest of the three species of
+kingfisher found on the American Continent. Its claim to a place
+on our list is based on the capture of a single specimen, an
+adult female, by George B. Benners, on June 2, 1888, about a mile
+below Laredo, Tex., on the United States side of the Rio Grande.
+The specimen was presented to the Academy of Natural Sciences,
+in Philadelphia, of which Dr. Witmer Stone (1894) says: “It was
+sitting on some old roots which had been washed up into a heap by
+the current of the river, and was shot immediately, so that he did
+not see it fly or hear its call. Mr. Benners further states that
+he never saw one of these birds in the vicinity either before or
+since. Upon the strength of the evidence just given this species
+seems entitled to a place in the fauna of the United States, along
+with several other tropical birds which occasionally reach the Rio
+Grande valley.”
+
+Col. A. J. Grayson, in his notes from western Mexico, sent to
+George N. Lawrence (1874), says:
+
+     I have seen the largest kingfisher only near the sea coast,
+     in the vicinity of Mazatlan River, but not on that stream.
+     They seem to prefer the stagnant pools and lagoons, whose
+     waters are murky and densely shaded with overhanging trees;
+     here upon some dried branch it sits quietly watching the
+     opaque water for whatever finny creature may make its
+     appearance upon the surface, when if not too large, it
+     instantly darts or plunges headlong upon it; after securing
+     the prey in its powerful bill, it bears it to the perch,
+     and beating it a few times upon the perch swallows it
+     entire. Small fishes constitute almost its principal food,
+     but frogs and small water reptiles are often struck and
+     devoured by it. This species does not seem to be so wary as
+     its near congener, the Belted. I have approached it quite
+     near, in order to observe its habits, and it appeared to
+     be very little concerned at my presence. In examining the
+     stomach of one shot by me, I found it crammed with the
+     small fry peculiar to muddy pools, among which was a mud
+     catfish of considerable size. It doubtless breeds in holes
+     scratched in sand cliffs, like the other members of this
+     family, but I have never encountered the nest.
+
+Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say that in El Salvador--
+
+     the ringed kingfisher is of general distribution along
+     the coast where it shows decided preference for mangrove
+     lagoons. Locally, the species is almost equally common on
+     fresh water wherever there is a plentiful supply of small
+     fish. It is notable, though, that the species attains
+     its upward limit at Lake Guija at 1,450 feet, and seems
+     to be absent from the higher lakes such as Ilopango. It
+     is customarily solitary, although local conditions such
+     as a very favorable stream may result in a number being
+     found at one point. A great deal of territory may be
+     covered by individual birds, for they seem to have regular
+     routes along lake borders and rivers with lookout perches
+     at intervals of every few hundred yards. In activity
+     this species is far ahead of any of the other resident
+     kingfishers and evidently prefers to range widely for its
+     prey rather than to stake out a limited, private preserve.
+
+Alexander F. Skutch tells me that in the Caribbean lowlands of
+Guatemala and Honduras they are partial to the larger, more open
+streams and lagoons, and avoid the narrow, tree-shaded waterways
+that the smaller species of kingfisher sometimes frequent.
+
+_Nesting._--Major Bendire (1895) quotes Dr. Herman Burmeister
+(1856) as saying that “it nests in perpendicular banks,
+occasionally quite a distance from water, in burrows from 5 to 6
+feet deep, and lays two white eggs.”
+
+There are two sets of eggs, one of five and one of six eggs, in
+the Thayer collection, taken for Frank B. Armstrong, on March 21
+and 30, 1910, near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico. One of the
+nests is described as a hole in the bank of a river, 8 feet deep
+and 10 feet above water.
+
+Dickey and van Rossem (1938) state that “at San Sebastián in late
+July, 1912, nest holes were occasionally noted in vertical sandy
+banks. In size these holes were on an average four inches wide and
+three inches high at the entrance. Those investigated went straight
+back into the bank, in one case as far as six feet. This particular
+burrow then may have made a turn, but it was not dug out.”
+
+Alexander F. Skutch has very kindly lent me his unpublished
+manuscript for a proposed work on the birds of the Caribbean
+lowlands of Central America, which contains much interesting
+information on this species, from which I shall quote freely. He
+says that, in that region, these kingfishers “begin the excavation
+of their burrows in February, if not earlier. Their nesting is of
+necessity limited to the drier season when the rivers are lowest,
+which in this region extends from February to the end of May. The
+flood waters of June often undermine and eat away the banks in
+which they nest, if they do not actually rise high enough to flood
+their tunnels. Since they begin the excavation of their burrows
+early and raise a single brood each year, they proceed with their
+task in a leisurely fashion, and one may watch long and in vain for
+them to return to their work.
+
+“One morning toward the end of February I concealed myself in a
+blind before a burrow in a bank of sandy loam beside the Rio Morja,
+near the boundary between Guatemala and Honduras. The tunnel was
+already well advanced and went far beneath the banana plants at the
+top of the bank, which had been freshly cut when the river ate into
+the plantation at the last high water. Although I began the watch
+early in the morning, it was 11 o’clock before I heard the measured
+_kleck kleck kleck_, and turning saw one of the pair approaching
+from upstream. It soon entered the burrow and remained within
+several minutes, appearing not to notice the rough-winged swallow
+that fluttered before the tunnel and several times rested in the
+entrance while it was busy inside. On emerging, the kingfisher
+perched atop a banana leaf and kept up a running conversation in
+low rattles with its mate, out of sight around the bend up-river.
+In five minutes it flew upstream to join the other, calling with a
+loud _kleck kleck kleck_.
+
+“Soon the pair returned together and began to work in earnest. Each
+time one entered the burrow there was a jet of earth thrown out
+behind. As the bird moved inward the jet fell short of the entrance
+until it could be seen no more. Doubtless the bird continued to
+kick the earth back until it reached the head of the excavation,
+and so the material loosened by the bill was gradually pushed out
+of the tunnel. The kingfishers invariably emerged head first,
+indicating that the burrow had reached its final length and had
+begun to widen at the far end into the nesting chamber. The bird
+inside called in low _klecks_, which were answered by the mate
+perched on a rusty tram rail, washed out by the flood, which
+leaned against the bank just below the burrow. They seemed to
+encourage each other in their dark subterranean labors. Both sexes
+shared equally in the toil, and as soon as one emerged and flew
+up beside the other on the rail, the latter went into the burrow,
+throwing out a jet of earth as he disappeared into the darkness.
+Four or five minutes was the usual period spent in the earthwork.
+On one occasion both were together in the burrow for a few minutes.
+Just after noon, while one bird was working inside, its mate became
+tired of waiting on the rail and flew upstream. The other, when
+it emerged and found itself alone, followed in this direction.
+Although I remained until the middle of the afternoon, the birds
+did not return, having worked less than an hour that day.
+
+“I waited almost a month before daring to open the nest. I probed
+the length of the burrow with a slender vine, repeating the
+measurement several times to make sure I had reached the back. I
+found the burrow to be 7 feet 3 inches long, measured back this
+distance from the top of the bank, and tried to calculate the
+position of the nesting chamber from the direction of the portion
+of the tunnel I could see from the front. Experience with Amazon
+kingfishers and motmots had taught me that by far the safest way to
+open a burrow is to dig down behind it and make an opening in the
+back of the nesting chamber just large enough to reach the eggs,
+afterward closing it with a stone or a board and carefully covering
+over the excavation.
+
+“As I began to dig almost above it, the incubating bird, who had
+stood its ground in face of the thrusts with the vine, flew out,
+uttered a few _klecks_ and headed upstream, where it perched on a
+giant cane leaning over the current and soon plunged for a fish.
+I now saw for the first time that it was the male. Like other
+burrow-nesting birds under the same circumstances, it seemed rather
+unconcerned, and this despite the fact that I afterward found it
+the most devoted of parents.”
+
+Because he “had faith that the activities of birds, including
+their periods on the nest during incubation, are rhythmic and
+more or less constant for the species, rather than irregular
+and arbitrary,” Mr. Skutch was determined to learn how these
+kingfishers arranged their shifts on the nest. In his efforts to
+solve this problem, he was at “first baffled, next challenged,
+and finally surprised.” For many weary hours, during nearly two
+weeks, and at various hours from dawn to sunset, he patiently
+watched that hole in the bank, mostly with little or no results.
+The use of what he called a “silent monitor,” a small stick stuck
+upright and loosely in the entrance of the burrow, enabled him to
+tell that a bird had either entered or left the nest, but did
+not tell him the hour or the sex of the bird. His account of how
+he accomplished this and finally learned the secret is too long
+a story to be told here. But he did finally discover “that there
+is a single nest relief each day, early in the morning. This is
+comparatively easy to observe, for the bird coming to take its
+place in the burrow usually flies downstream sounding his powerful,
+metallic _kleck kleck_ at measured intervals, and so heralds his
+own arrival.” After three or four false starts he finally gathers
+courage to enter the burrow; and, after a minute and a half or two
+minutes, his mate launches forth and flies off upstream. The times
+at which the relief took place varied from 7:05 to 10:01 a. m.,
+most of the shifts being made between seven and nine o’clock. He
+says, further: “After I learned what precautions were necessary in
+order to determine the sexes of the birds, I found that on some
+mornings it was the male who entered and the female who departed,
+while on other mornings the reverse was true. There was a regular
+alternation, the male entering one morning and the female the next.
+
+“Each afternoon the incubating partner took a single recess, for
+food or exercise, from its long 24-hour turn on the eggs. It
+emerged suddenly and without warning, at some time between 1 and
+4 o’clock, flew upstream to the feeding ground, leaving the nest
+unoccupied, and returned in half an hour to an hour. On returning,
+it flew downstream low above the water and entered the nest
+directly, without perching or calling, in a manner very different
+from the morning entry, since there was no mate on the nest to be
+advised of its arrival. Then it remained until relieved by the mate
+the following morning.
+
+“Few birds incubate so continuously as the ringed kingfishers. One
+day the female took her afternoon recess early, and on returning
+remained on the nest more than 19 hours, for her mate was very late
+in relieving her the next morning, and did not appear until 10
+o’clock. The usual period between their return in the afternoon and
+their relief the following morning is 16 or 17 hours.”
+
+Mr. Skutch found another nest of this kingfisher “400 feet
+downstream in the same bank. I opened it only two days before the
+eggs hatched. The bird on the nest, with a degree of attachment
+I have rarely seen equaled, remained bravely in the tunnel while
+I probed its length, dug in the rear, took out the eggs for
+measurement, fitted a stone in the aperture I had made, and tamped
+the soil above it. All this occupied well over an hour. This burrow
+was 7 feet 9 inches in length and the nesting chamber, 22 inches
+below the surface, contained, like the last, four white eggs. The
+territories of these two pairs extended in opposite directions
+from their burrows, the birds from the upper nest always entering
+it from upstream and returning thither when relieved, those in the
+lower nest fishing in the river below it.”
+
+_Eggs._--The ringed kingfisher apparently lays three to six eggs
+to a set; probably four and five are the commonest numbers. What
+few eggs I have seen are pure white; they vary in shape from
+ovate to short-ovate; and the shells are smooth and quite glossy.
+The measurements of 19 eggs average 43.72 by 34.52 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure =46.8= by 35, 43.7 by
+=35.6=, and =39.7= by =32.5= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--On the morning of March 28, the female arrived, at the
+first burrow examined by Mr. Skutch, at sunrise, an unusually early
+hour for her to appear, and seemed to be excited. He opened the
+burrow and found that two of the eggs had hatched. The nestlings
+were “pink skinned and were without the least vestige of feathers.
+They could already stand upright, supporting themselves on their
+feet and belly, and attempted to walk, which they did in a weak and
+tottering fashion.” Three of the eggs in the other nest hatched the
+same day; as he removed the stone from the rear, “a sizzling noise
+arose from the earth,” and two of the nestlings retreated into the
+tunnel with their mother, where they could not be reached.
+
+Soon after the young in the first nest had hatched, some malicious
+person dug into the burrow at both ends but could not reach the
+young in the tunnel. Three of these nestlings eventually died,
+but the parents continued to feed and brood the fourth in the
+exposed and gaping burrow. Then, Mr. Skutch continues: “Stuffed
+with whole fish to the bursting point, the single nestling grew
+at a tremendous rate. Its eyes opened by the tenth day, when it
+uttered a high-pitched, trilling sound in response to its parents’
+rattle. It was 14 days before the upper mandible caught up to the
+lower in length. The young kingfisher was beginning to defend
+itself with energy and bit hard with its great mandibles whenever
+I picked it up. A few days later it squealed and fought like a
+fury. When 4 weeks old it was fully feathered except for the naked
+belly, which rested upon the sandy floor of the foul burrow. To
+its biting and squealing it now added an alarm rattle almost as
+loud as that of the parents, which at length drew one of them, who
+answered in kind. Still it did not attempt to flutter, and when I
+placed it on the ground it could do no more than hop along with
+outstretched wings. It remained in the burrow a full week after it
+was completely feathered, and finally departed at the age of 34 or
+35 days.
+
+“Although this nestling was one of the most vociferous I ever
+encountered, its struggles and cries were very mild in comparison
+with those of the single youngster who survived in the burrow
+downstream.” When about 4 weeks old, it was almost as big as its
+parents. When he attempted to reach it from the back of the nest,
+“it fled through the tunnel and jumped into the river, where it
+spread its wings, turned upstream, and flapped its way slowly
+against the current. When it encountered obstacles of stranded
+brush it hooked its bill over them and scrambled across. Thus it
+led me a merry chase, wading in the muddy shallows, until a fallen
+banana plant stopped its wayward progress and I seized it. Unlike
+its neighbor of the same age upstream, it had not become accustomed
+to being taken in hands; its deafening screams and fierce attempts
+to bite made, for duration and intensity, the best efforts of the
+other pale to insignificance. It was ten agonized minutes before it
+became reconciled to me, and I let it perch on my hand until its
+feathers dried before returning it to the burrow. This bird left
+its burrow between its thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh day.”
+
+_Plumages._--I have seen no very young birds. In immature birds,
+probably birds of the first year, the sexes are distinguishable.
+In the young male, the jugular area is dull gray washed with
+“cinnamon,” and the under tail coverts are pale cinnamon, both
+of which parts are pure white in the adult male, though some
+adults have the under tail coverts barred with bluish gray; the
+brown areas on the under parts are paler than in the adult,
+“ochraceous-tawny” to “cinnamon,” more or less mixed with white;
+these parts in the adult are rich browns, “Sanford’s brown” to
+“cinnamon-rufous”; the upper parts and wing coverts are dotted with
+small white spots, and many of the feathers have shaft streaks
+or median wedges of black; these parts are clear, grayish blue,
+or “delft blue,” in adults, without streaks; young birds also
+have broad, median, black streaks in the crest. Young females are
+similar to the young males but may be readily recognized by the
+broad pectoral band, which is never present in the male at any
+age; in the adult female this is clear bluish gray, but in the
+young bird it is broadly edged with rufous, or dull brown, and
+sometimes mainly rufous; in the young female the under wing coverts
+are wholly “cinnamon-rufous,” whereas in the young male these are
+partly white.
+
+I have not seen enough material to determine how long these
+immature plumages are worn, or to learn much about the molts.
+
+_Food._--Mr. Skutch (MS.) says on this subject: “The ringed
+kingfisher’s diet is rather monotonous. They live almost entirely,
+if not exclusively on fish, often of large size, which they catch
+in the regular manner of kingfishers, but being larger birds their
+plunges are more spectacular than those of the others.”
+
+One day “a female flew into a balsa tree, growing beside a small
+stream, with a fish fully half as long as herself dangling
+crosswise in her bill. For more than two and a half hours by the
+watch she held it thus, changing her position only from one branch
+to another of the same tree. I was at the time watching a green
+kingfisher’s nest, and I could keep her in sight without additional
+effort. When at length I was ready to leave, she had begun to
+beat her fish against the limb, although it must have been dead
+long since. After this exhibition of stolidity, I no longer felt
+sorry for the ringed kingfishers because the customs of their race
+obliged them to sit on the nest for such long periods.”
+
+_Behavior._--Dr. Charles W. Richmond (1893) found this species very
+common in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and he writes of its habits:
+
+     One morning a pair of these birds went through a very
+     curious performance. Attention was first called to them
+     by their loud rattling cry, which was kept up almost
+     constantly as they circled and gyrated about over the
+     water, occasionally dropping--not diving--into the
+     water, and sinking below the surface for a moment. This
+     maneuvering lasted some minutes, after which both birds
+     flew upstream uttering their ordinary note.
+
+     Two or three individuals were in the habit of passing
+     the night at some point on the creek back of the “I. P.”
+     plantation, and came over just about dusk every evening.
+     I noticed them for several months, and was struck with
+     the regularity of their coming, and the course taken by
+     each on its way to the roost. The birds could be heard a
+     considerable distance away, just before dusk, uttering
+     their loud single “chuck” at every few beats of the wings.
+     They appeared to come from their feeding grounds, often
+     passing over the plantation opposite, probably to cut off
+     a bend in the river. One of the birds invariably passed
+     close to the corner of the laborers’ quarters, though at
+     considerable height, and the other near a trumpet tree some
+     distance away. The third bird was only a casual visitor.
+     At times the birds came together, but usually there was an
+     interval of several minutes. Their routes met at a turn of
+     the creek a few rods back of the house, where they usually
+     sounded their rattling notes and dropped down close to the
+     water, which they followed to the roost. This was a huge
+     spreading tree, covered with parasitic plants and numerous
+     vines, which hung in loops and festoons from the limbs. On
+     one occasion I shot at one of the birds as it came clucking
+     overhead, and caused it to drop several small fish. A
+     female nearly ready to deposit eggs was shot October 9.
+
+Referring to the behavior of ringed kingfishers, Mr. Skutch (MS.)
+writes: “Watercourses are their highways, and, like men, they are
+frequently reluctant to leave them. One day, ascending in a motor
+launch the Toloa Creek in Honduras, we drove a ringed kingfisher
+before us for possibly a mile. Each time the boat approached he
+would leave his perch, fly a few hundred feet ahead, and finally
+alight in a branch overhanging the stream. Here he would wait until
+the launch was almost opposite him, then fly ahead of it a few
+hundred feet more. Only after this procedure had been repeated many
+times did he finally double over the bank and return downstream.”
+
+He noticed, while studying the program of nest relief, that
+these kingfishers “showed a certain amount of formalism in their
+natures.” One morning while he was on watch, “at 7:30 the male
+emerged from the burrow without warning [and without waiting to
+be relieved by the female in the usual way] and flew upstream as
+usual. I was surprised at this unexpected behavior, but probably
+no more than his mate. Five minutes later she appeared from the
+direction of his departure and perched in a trumpet tree growing on
+the bank a few rods from the burrow, where she often rested before
+going to relieve the male on the nest. Soon he reappeared and the
+female, who had not moved, greeted him with a rapid, low rattle,
+which was evidently a scolding. A minute later he flew upstream
+again. I thought now the female would certainly enter, it was her
+day upon the nest, but such an unwelcomed entry would have been a
+breach in formality, beneath the dignity of a well-bred kingfisher
+matron. She delayed another minute, as though considering what
+course to follow, then flew off after the delinquent. Soon they
+both returned, but separately, and there was a rather lengthy
+conversation between the pair as they perched on the banana leaves
+near the entrance of the burrow. Finally, after flying back and
+forth several times before it, the male entered, rather sheepishly
+we may suppose, while his mate continued to _kleck_ from her perch
+in a low voice.
+
+“Mrs. kingfisher had won her point. She delayed a seemly interval
+for him to compose himself for her reception, then entered herself
+with the usual warning. I shall probably never know what passes
+between them in the fraction of a minute they must be together in
+the nesting chamber, but whatever form of greeting they indulge in,
+we may well suppose it was not as cordial as usual. The male came
+out in record time, about one minute after his mate’s entry, and
+turned upstream, klecking loudly, a free bird at last.”
+
+A change in the behavior of the two males was noted after the
+young had hatched in the two nests, of which Mr. Skutch (MS.)
+writes: “The males of both nests, both of whom happened to be free
+that day, behaved differently than on previous mornings. After
+being relieved, they had gone off as usual to their respective
+territories up and down the stream; but instead of remaining
+there, as they had always done before the eggs hatched, they soon
+returned to perch at no great distance from their nests, and loudly
+protested my presence. In their excitement, both perched at the
+same time in the trumpet tree which grew on the bank of the river
+between the two nests, and was apparently the boundary between
+their territories. They stood side by side on a branch, their
+beautiful, white-barred, slate-colored wings spread until they
+almost touched. One raised his crest, but the other laid his flat,
+and, with open bills and angry _klecks_, each defied the other to
+cross the accepted frontier.”
+
+_Voice._--The same patient observer says: “Now that there were
+nestlings, I heard an utterance from the kingfishers that I had
+never heard before. It was really not so much a new note as a
+different manner of using the old familiar one, for their entire
+vocabulary consists of a sound that to our ears is suggested by
+the syllable _kleck_, but they employ their single word in a great
+variety of ways to express different meanings and emotions. A
+single loud _kleck_, uttered at measured intervals, punctuates
+their flight; a softer, rapidly repeated _kleck_ is the signal that
+a bird wishes to relieve his mate on the nest; and now there were
+nestlings to guard they expressed their anxiety by a very loud,
+rapid, mechanical klecking, continued with momentary pauses so long
+as danger seemed to threaten. This harsh, deafening rattle was
+uttered while the bird perched with the bill open, the mandibles
+held motionless, and the tail vibrating rapidly up and down. I
+never heard another bird make more noise when its nestlings seemed
+to be in danger, nor give more evident signs of distress, yet, in
+common with other birds which nest underground, they never darted
+at me nor made any demonstration. They merely perched in full sight
+and rattled interminably.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Mexico, the Lesser Antilles, Central and South America;
+casual in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas; nonmigratory.
+
+The range of the ringed kingfisher extends =north= to Nayarit (Tres
+Marias Islands and San Blas); Tamaulipas (Rio Cruz and Tampico);
+Honduras (Toloa and Lancetilla); northern Colombia (Cartagena,
+Sabanilla, and Santa Marta); northern Venezuela (Lake Valencia);
+the Lesser Antilles (Goyave); British Guiana (Georgetown and
+Blairmont); Surinam (Paramaribo); and northern Brazil (Santarem
+and Capim River). =East= to Brazil (Capim River and Cantagalla);
+Uruguay (Rio Negro); and Argentina (Villegas, Puerto Santa Elena,
+and Tierra del Fuego). =South= to southern Argentina (Tierra del
+Fuego); and southern Chile (Chonos Archipelago). =West= to Chile
+(Chonos Archipelago and Chiloe Island); western Peru (Huachos and
+Lima); western Ecuador (Tumbez, Bucay, Babahoyo, and Vinces);
+western Colombia (Cali and Honda); Panama (San Miguel and Alminante
+Bay); Costa Rica (Pozo Azul and Bolson); western Guatemala (Rio
+Morja); Jalisco (Las Penas Island); and Nayarit (Tres Marias
+Islands).
+
+_Casual records._--The only United States record of this species is
+a specimen in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia that
+was collected on the American side of the Rio Grande, near Laredo,
+Texas, on June 2, 1888.
+
+_Egg dates._--Guatemala: March.
+
+Mexico: March 21 and 30.
+
+Peru: May 29.
+
+
+          CHLOROCERYLE AMERICANA SEPTENTRIONALIS (Sharpe)
+
+                          TEXAS KINGFISHER
+
+                              Plate 16
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+I made the acquaintance of this pretty little kingfisher when I
+made a short visit to Cameron County, Tex., as the guest of George
+Finlay Simmons, in May 1923. This is a most interesting bird
+country, rich in the number of Mexican species that reach their
+northern limits here and the only region in which some of them can
+be found within the limits of the United States. About Brownsville
+the chaparral, the open prairies, the tree claims, the ponds, and
+the swamps were all teeming with bird life of many species; but
+perhaps the most interesting of all were the dense forests along
+the resacas or stagnant watercourses, the old beds of rivers; these
+often contained large trees, mesquite, huisache, ebony, palms,
+etc., with a thick undergrowth of many shrubs and small trees,
+such as granjena, persimmons, coffee bean, and bush morning-glory.
+Here we found the characteristic birds of the region in abundance,
+such as the chachalaca, the red-billed pigeon, the noisy derby
+flycatcher, the brilliant green jay, and Audubon’s oriole. Here,
+too, I was delighted to see my first Texas kingfisher, as it
+sat on a dead fallen tree over the water and then went flying
+away upstream, uttering its rattling twitter, suggestive of but
+different from that of the belted kingfisher.
+
+Mr. Simmons (1925) says that it is “resident along clearer mountain
+streams of southwest-central Texas, from Comal County southward.
+* * * Occurrence depends largely on its habitat, the bird requiring
+the clearest of waters, particularly the crystal-clear rivers and
+brooks of the central Texas hill area; dislikes water the least bit
+muddy; larger, clearer streams and rarely smaller ones,” as well as
+“shady little brooks,” are mentioned as its favorite haunts.
+
+Dickey and van Rossem (1938) record this kingfisher as a “common
+resident throughout the arid Lower Tropical Zone on all freshwater
+lakes, streams, and marshes below 2,300 feet, and also coast-wise
+in the mangrove belt,” in El Salvador. Of its haunts they say: “A
+favorite environment is along small, rocky streams of the uplands,
+and in such places the population averages about a pair to the
+mile. When the young of the year are on the wing, this average is
+considerably increased for a time. Probably the section of stream
+inhabited by any individual pair has pretty definite limits, for
+although individual birds or pairs show no hesitancy in keeping
+well ahead of a person for a time, sooner or later they will make
+every effort to break back along the route to the places from
+where they were first started. Salt water is apparently not greatly
+to their liking, and in the mangrove lagoons they were decidedly
+uncommon. Scarcity of suitable nesting sites may, however, be in
+part responsible for this condition.”
+
+Alexander F. Skutch found this kingfisher on small streams as
+high as 7,000 feet above sea level in the highlands of Guatemala,
+and writes (MS.) of its haunts: “While toiling over the rocky
+bed of some narrow torrent rushing down a mountain valley, where
+the huge trees arch overhead and shut out the sky, I have often
+heard a pleasant _cheep_ and turned to watch the solitary figure
+of a green kingfisher fly swiftly past, low above the water and
+following all the twistings of the channel, until lost in the depth
+of the forest. While his larger relatives require deeper water and
+a longer drop, he is often content to plunge from the top of a
+boulder projecting a foot or so above a shallow channel, and fishes
+on the smaller streams from which they are absent; but he joins
+them on the broader and more sluggish waterways. He rarely hovers
+above the water in the manner of the larger kingfishers.”
+
+_Nesting._--The first account of the nesting of the Texas
+kingfisher is by William Brewster (1879), who writes: “This
+beautiful little Kingfisher was found by Mr. Werner in comparative
+abundance at several points in Comal County, notably about some
+of the springs that empty into the Guadaloupe River. A set of
+six eggs, taken April 25, 1878, was authenticated by the capture
+of both parent birds, the female being caught on the nest. * * *
+The nesting cavity was in a sandy bank near the water’s edge. The
+eggs were laid on the bare sand, no fish bones or other extraneous
+material being near. The entrance was not quite 1¾ inches in
+diameter, and the hole extended inward from the face of the bank
+about 3½ feet.”
+
+Bendire (1895) says:
+
+     The nests of many of these little Kingfishers are yearly
+     destroyed by high water flooding their burrows, caused
+     by heavy rains and cloud-bursts, which are more or less
+     prevalent in southern and western Texas. It is not uncommon
+     on both the Medina and San Antonio rivers, and a nesting
+     site on the last-mentioned stream found by Mr. C. H.
+     Kearny, in the spring of 1892, containing six fresh eggs,
+     is described by him as being located in a bank about 15
+     feet high and about 5 feet above the water level. The
+     nesting chamber, which was slightly larger than the tunnel
+     leading to it, was placed about 2 feet from the mouth of
+     the hole. There was no nest proper, but a few fish bones
+     and scales were scattered about the eggs. In the same bank
+     a number of Bank Swallows (_Clivicola riparia_) had taken
+     up temporary homes, and one of their holes was located
+     within a foot of that of the Kingfishers. They are devoted
+     parents, and these birds will usually allow themselves to
+     be caught rather than forsake their eggs.
+
+There are four sets of eggs of this kingfisher in the Thayer
+collection and one in the writer’s collection, all taken by, or
+for, Frank B. Armstrong, near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico,
+between March 12 and 28, 1908. The nests were all in holes in
+banks, about 3 feet deep and 6 to 8 feet above the water.
+
+Mr. Skutch says (MS.) that this kingfisher, which he calls the
+green kingfisher, is one of the five species of birds that nest
+most commonly in the banks of the streams in the Caribbean lowlands
+of Central America. “The burrows of the ringed kingfisher are
+distinguished at once by the large diameter of the tunnel, 6 inches
+in width. Next in size are those of the Amazon kingfisher, 3¾
+inches wide. Then come those of the turquoise-browed motmot, about
+3½ inches in width; and finally those of the green kingfisher, only
+2 or 2¼ inches in horizontal diameter.
+
+“While the burrows of the larger kingfishers and the motmot are
+placed in plain sight in the bare and exposed banks, so that he
+who runs may see them, those of the green kingfisher I have found
+concealed by the fringe of vines and dead vegetation draping the
+top of the bank, or else behind exposed roots, and I discovered
+them only by seeing a bird enter or leave. Theirs were the last
+of the three kingfishers’ nests I encountered, and I found only
+two, late in the season, although the species is equally abundant
+with the Amazon kingfisher. As befits the smaller bird, their
+burrows are far shorter than those of the larger species. The two I
+measured were only 22 and 25 inches in length.
+
+“One morning at the end of April, I sat down to eat my breakfast
+upon a fallen log beside the Quebrada de Arena, a little brook
+so narrow that one can easily jump across it, flowing through a
+pasture grown up with low bushes and thorny vine tangles. Presently
+a male green kingfisher flew downstream, perched on a branch ahead
+of me, _ticked_ a great deal and seemed excited about my presence.
+The bird’s persistence in remaining in that stretch of the river
+and his evident excitement renewed my conviction [on a previous
+visit] that his burrow was not far distant. I removed my shoes and
+waded up and down, examining every likely bit of bank, while the
+bird flew back and forth to keep out of my way. I discovered only
+old burrows whose lack of fresh foot-furrows proclaimed clearly
+enough they were not in use. Quite baffled, I paused beneath the
+shelter of some overhanging bushes to watch the bird, and in a
+few minutes, after calling again _tick tick tick_, he flew up
+beneath the exposed roots of a dead stump, half washed out, and
+disappeared. This was almost the exact spot whence I had seen him
+or his mate emerge three weeks before, but the entrance to the
+burrow was so well concealed by the overhang of the top of the
+bank, the projecting roots and the vines which draped over them,
+that it had completely escaped me.
+
+“I lost no time in opening the burrow. The male flew out with the
+second push I gave the machete which I used to dig, for the tunnel
+sloped upward so sharply that the nesting chamber was less than
+three inches below the surface of the ground, and I broke through
+into the rear of it before I supposed I had well started to dig.
+There were three white eggs, well advanced in incubation, to judge
+from their opacity. The male fluttered several times in front of
+the burrow, eager to enter before it had been closed again. I
+fitted a stone over the small aperture I had made, covered it with
+earth, and placed logs across the roof of the nesting chamber, to
+prevent the mules’ stepping upon it and possibly breaking through.
+The birds continued to incubate.
+
+“The pair arranged their turns on the eggs in much the same manner
+as the Amazon kingfishers. The female spent each night on the nest.
+Soon after 6 a. m. the male flew downstream, low above the water,
+uttering at intervals the high-pitched _cheep_, which is his flight
+call. He perched on one of the roots of the old stump projecting in
+front of the nest and called _tick tick tick_ in a low voice, which
+his mate heard in the burrow. She came forth, greeting him with a
+single _cheep_, as she flew swiftly past and turned down the brook
+to her feeding grounds. Her behavior was rather erratic.
+
+“One morning she could not await his arrival, although he was
+hardly late. She popped out of the nest without warning and flew
+off, but a minute later the pair returned together. The male went
+to the root in front of the burrow, _ticked_ just as much as he
+was accustomed to do to call off his mate, although he could
+certainly see she was not inside, then entered the empty burrow.
+The following morning she acted in quite another manner. Just after
+6, on a cloudy morning after a night of hard rain, the male flew
+downstream, perched in front of the burrow, and _ticked_ for her to
+come forth, but she paid no heed to his repeated calls. He flew a
+few rods downstream, then returned to call _tick tick tick_ again.
+Still no response, so he flew away out of sight. Ten minutes later
+he reappeared and perched again on the root in front of the burrow,
+where he called at intervals for two minutes before at length she
+darted forth. Then he entered for the morning. The male incubated
+until the female returned from her breakfast to relieve him. One
+morning she left him on the nest less than two hours, but the next
+it was nearly three. She covered the eggs for the remainder of the
+morning. The male was chiefly responsible for keeping them warm
+during the afternoon, until his mate called him from the nest and
+entered for the night at some time between 5 and 6 o’clock.”
+
+_Eggs._--The Texas kingfisher lays three to six eggs, but five
+seems to be the commonest number. These vary in shape from oval to
+elliptical-oval; the shell is smooth and thin; some show little
+or no gloss and others are quite glossy; the color is pure white.
+The measurements of 64 eggs average 24.36 by 19.23 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extreme measures =26.4= by 20.3, 24.1 by
+=20.7=, =22.3= by 19.3, and 23.8 by =17.5= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--The second nest that Mr. Skutch found contained five
+“pink-skinned, blind, and totally naked nestlings,” which “like
+those of the larger species, had undershot bills and heel
+callosities.” He visited this nest 18 days later and found that the
+young, which were not more than 25 days old, “could flutter just a
+few feet. One flew into the river, where she spread her wings on
+the surface and headed for the shore. I threw her into the shallow
+water again, and again she turned unerringly toward the marginal
+rocks, beating her wings on the surface until she gained a footing.
+The following morning I placed them on the shore for a photograph,
+but two found their wings and easily traversed the 50-foot channel,
+flying low above the surface. The power of flight had come to them
+almost overnight.
+
+“One evening early in June, after the sun had fallen behind the
+bordering fringe of willow trees, I was resting on a log stranded
+on the flood plain of the river, when a young green kingfisher flew
+upstream, calling _cheep_ at intervals, and perched on a pile of
+brushwood almost in front of the burrow in which it was hatched.
+Presently its father came flying downstream, with a small minnow in
+his bill, and perched on the same pile of brushwood, not far from
+the other. The young bird came toward him, as if to receive the
+fish, but the other raised his wings above his back to forfend it.
+The youngster took this as a hint to remain aloof and perched at
+a little distance. Not satisfied with the interval that remained
+between them, the male darted at the young bird, which retreated
+a few feet. Several times it started to approach its father, but
+each time was warned to remain away by the spread wings, a very
+picturesque attitude. Several times, too, the bird with the fish
+drove at the applicant for it and finally, still holding the fish
+in his bill, chased it down the stream and out of sight. The young
+kingfisher had been out of the nest 29 days and must now at least
+learn to dive for its own fish.”
+
+_Plumages._--The young kingfishers are hatched naked and blind,
+as described above, but the juvenal plumage is acquired before
+the young leave the nest. A young male, taken on August 21, fully
+grown and fully fledged in juvenal plumage, is much like the adult
+female; the rich brown pectoral band of the adult male is only
+faintly indicated but is replaced by a band of greenish-black
+spots; and there is more black spotting on the flanks than in the
+adult male. Apparently there is a gradual change toward maturity
+during the first year, for October, February, and April birds show
+a gradual increase in the rufous band.
+
+The youngest female I have seen, taken on June 8, is much like the
+adult female, but the pectoral band of greenish black spots is
+lacking, or nearly so, the under parts being nearly immaculate.
+These spots, which are more in the form of broad streaks than
+in transverse spots, increase with age to form one complete and
+one nearly complete band in the oldest birds. The observations
+made by Mr. Skutch on the brood of young that he studied agree
+substantially with the above.
+
+I have no data on the molts, but Mr. van Rossem (1938) says that
+“the annual molt * * * takes place in the fall, but the definite
+time is not known.”
+
+_Food._--The food mentioned by Mr. Skutch (MS.) consisted of
+small minnows. Mr. Simmons (1925) says that this kingfisher is a
+“business-like little fisherman, perching atop a stick or stake in
+the water or on a low branch overhanging low water”; it “frequently
+flies back and forth over the water, hunting for small fish.” It is
+“often driven off feeding-grounds by the larger Belted Kingfisher,
+with which it is sometimes found.”
+
+_Voice._--Mr. Simmons (1925) says that the voice of the Texas
+kingfisher is a “rather sharp, rattling twitter, uttered on the
+wing; quite different from and shriller than the loud, harsh rattle
+of the Belted Kingfisher.” Mr. Skutch refers to the flight note as
+_cheep_, and the call or alarm note as _tick tick tick_.
+
+_Field marks._--This is such a small kingfisher that it could
+hardly be mistaken for anything else within its range. Its upper
+parts are dark, glossy green, and spotted with white, and it has no
+occipital crest. The under parts are white, with a rufous pectoral
+band on the male and a ring of black spots across the breast of the
+female.
+
+_Enemies._--The first set of eggs that Mr. Skutch found failed to
+hatch, as they were destroyed by ants. He writes (MS.): “Opening
+the burrow, I found it swarming with myriads of small, amber ‘fire
+ants,’ a scourge to man and beast alike. Invading the nest, they
+had worried the birds until they fidgeted on their eggs and cracked
+them; then they had worked into the cracks and begun to eat the
+embryos. I had cleaned them out the previous evening, but all to
+no avail. The nest was completely ruined. That same morning they
+had attacked and killed three young woodpeckers in their nest in a
+dead stub standing a few paces from the kingfishers’ burrow. In the
+humid coastal regions, ants are one of the principal enemies, if
+not actually the chief enemy, of nesting birds. I have found more
+eggs and nestlings destroyed by them than by all other known agents
+combined.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southern Texas, Mexico, and Central and South America;
+casual in southern Arizona; apparently a nonmigratory species.
+
+The range of the green kingfisher extends =north= to Sinaloa
+(Mazatlan); Durango (Rio Sestin); southern Texas (Turtle Creek
+and New Braunfels); Quintana Roo (Xcopan); eastern Nicaragua
+(Pis Pis River); northern Colombia (Santa Marta and Bonda);
+northern Venezuela (La Guaira); British Guiana (Potaro Landing and
+Bartica); Surinam (Paramaribo); and northern Brazil (Quixada).
+=East= to Brazil (Quixada, Rio Taquarussu, and Goyaz); and Uruguay
+(Santa Elena). =South= to southern Uruguay (Santa Elena); and
+central Argentina (Santa Elena, San Jose, and Tucuman). =West= to
+northwestern Argentina (Tucuman); Bolivia (San Jose); Peru (La
+Merced and the Ucayale River); Ecuador (Vinces); western Colombia
+(Tumaco, Cali, and Rio Frio); Panama (Sapo Mountains, Gatun, and
+the Chagres River); western Guatemala (Duenas, and Lake Atitlan);
+Oaxaca (Juchatengo); Nayarit (San Blas); and Sinaloa (Escuinapa,
+and Mazatlan).
+
+The subspecies, known as _Chloroceryle americanus septentrionalis_,
+is the only form to enter the United States. It ranges southward
+from Texas to Yucatan.
+
+_Casual records._--A specimen was taken at Decatur, Tex., north of
+the normal range in this State, on January 3, 1889. Dr. Elliott
+Coues reported seeing this species in September 1865 at points
+on the Colorado River, Ariz., between Forts Mohave and Yuma, and
+one was taken on the San Pedro River near Fairbanks on February
+13, 1910. One was collected on September 8, 1893, at Cajon Bonito
+Creek, Sonora, a few miles south of the New Mexico line. One was
+taken on the Santa Cruz River, Ariz., on October 1, 1938.
+
+_Egg dates._--Mexico: 24 records, March 5 to June 13; 12 records,
+March 12 to April 19, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Texas: 4 records, April 11 to June 15.
+
+
+
+
+                       Order CAPRIMULGIFORMES
+
+                 Family CAPRIMULGIDAE: Goatsuckers
+
+                 ANTROSTOMUS CAROLINENSIS (Gmelin)
+
+                         CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW
+
+                            PLATES 18–20
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+                CONTRIBUTED BY ALEXANDER SPRUNT, JR.
+
+Dusk falls gently over the salt marshes, which reach out from a
+shoreline where moss-bannered live oaks and stately pines rustle
+softly in the late March breeze. A faint fragrance of jessamine
+hangs in the air; the sleepy note of a cardinal echoes from a
+cassina thicket, while atop a tall palmetto a mockingbird salutes
+the coming night with a burst of melody. Silence comes and the
+stars appear, glinting in golden splendor through the purple gloom.
+
+Suddenly through the air comes another sound, a sharp, clear-cut,
+insistent chant. Splitting the silences, it strikes clappingly
+upon one’s ears, ringing with startling emphasis, unmistakable,
+thrilling and welcome. The first chuck-will’s-widow has returned to
+the Carolina low country, and spring is definitely back again!
+
+There is something about nocturnal birds that fascinate one
+strangely. Doubtless the cloak of darkness that shrouds their
+movements and activities has a great deal to do with it. One
+cannot but wonder at their comings and goings; how they pursue
+their hunting amid the gloom. Their voices too lend much to the
+fascination, for the notes seem a part of the night itself, just
+as the bodies of the birds themselves seem more like detached and
+living particles of darkness than of flesh and feathers.
+
+All my life I have lived amid the haunts of some of these furtive
+kindred of the dusk, but the chuck-will’s-widow above all seems
+to typify the mystery of the night and invests it with a sense of
+intangible yet satisfying tranquillity. It has always seemed to me
+that those beautiful lines, written of the cuckoo, might be even
+more applicable to the chuck-will’s-widow, for, in truth, much of
+the time it does not seem a bird at all, but simply “a wandering
+voice.” Without brilliant plumage or grace of form, it nevertheless
+possesses undoubted character, and long acquaintance with the bird
+only increases the interest that is bound to be aroused in any
+study of its life and habits.
+
+_Spring._--Generally speaking, the chuck-will’s-widow arrives in
+the South in March. There is some indication that a few birds
+spend the winter in southern Florida for C. J. Pennock (MS.)
+has stated that “in the Charlotte Harbor district a few at least
+appear to winter. February 26, 1926, one heard calling; February
+24, 1927, while camping, we heard one.” Arthur H. Howell (1932)
+states that it “winters in small numbers” and gives December
+and February dates. R. J. Longstreet’s opinion (1930) is that
+“the chuck-will’s-widow is a summer resident in north Florida
+and a permanent resident in south Florida.” Audubon considered
+the species a permanent resident in the State, and his idea was,
+according to Allen (1871), confirmed by “old residents,” though he
+himself states it “is not observed till about the first of March.”
+I am obliged to spend portions of every winter month in Florida,
+being constantly in the field throughout the southern Everglades
+and the Keys, but it so happens that I have yet to find the
+chuck-will’s-widow during this season. The wintering population is
+undoubtedly small and scattered.
+
+It reaches north-central Florida about March 18 (D. J. Nicholson,
+MS.) and appears in the coastal districts of southern Georgia a few
+days later (T. D. Perry, MS.). In South Carolina, about Charleston,
+it arrives anywhere from the third week in March to the first week
+of April. The males always arrive first, followed in a few days by
+the females.
+
+_Courtship._--Little time is lost by the chuck-will’s-widow, after
+its arrival from its winter home, in seeking a mate. Almost at once
+it undertakes the search, and it is at such times that the observer
+has an opportunity to see them actively in daylight. The courtship
+performance is an interesting one and, all things considered, is
+not difficult to observe. The outstanding characteristic is the
+strutting pomposity of the male. He sidles up to the watching
+female, his wings droop, the tail is widely spread, and he swells
+and swells until it really seems that the limit of inflation is
+reached and another fraction of distention would cause him to
+disintegrate like a bursting bomb. Various vocal efforts are
+indulged in meanwhile, accompanied by quick, jerky motions. Audubon
+(1840) has compared this phase of the proceedings to that of the
+domestic cock pigeon, while Arthur T. Wayne (1910) likened it to a
+turkey gobbler’s antics. This latter has always seemed to me most
+apt, for not only does the seemingly endless inflation remind one
+vividly of the turkey, but the motions also suggest this bird.
+
+After this period of intense and apparently exhausting display, a
+space of calm and quiet pervades the pair should the male have been
+successful in his suit, and he perches placidly beside her.
+
+_Nesting._--No semblance of a nest is constructed. The eggs
+are placed on the ground upon a carpet of dead leaves, and the
+sitting bird constitutes one of the finest examples of protective
+coloration that nature affords. Such dependence is placed in it
+that the closest approach is possible, and the bird flushes only
+when nearly trodden on. The mottling of the plumage is exactly like
+that of the variegated background of leaves, sun splashes, and
+shadow, and one may look directly at the bird without seeing it.
+Once the bird is flushed, however, it is perfectly easy to see the
+eggs, for they then stand out like huge pearls against the leaves,
+not having the similarity to the ground that characterizes the eggs
+of the nighthawk.
+
+Mixed oak and pine woods are usually the nesting haunt of the
+chuck. In the large live-oak groves, which occur over so much of
+the plantation country of the South, the species is abundant and
+shows a remarkable tendency to place the eggs in nearly the same
+spot year after year. As a rule there is little if any undergrowth
+about the eggs. When under the pines, this would not be expected,
+and in the oak groves the ground is always covered by a veritable
+carpet of leaves, through which no undergrowth appears. Thus the
+eggs can be seen from a considerable distance should the bird be
+off them.
+
+On May 8, 1926, I found two eggs on Folly Island, S. C., lying upon
+pine needles. Marking the spot accurately I returned the next year
+and on May 12, 1927, found two eggs within 5 feet of the spot used
+previously.
+
+M. G. Vaiden (MS.) writes from Rosedale, Miss., that he discovered
+a set of eggs on May 1, 1911. _Twelve years later_, on April 27,
+1923, he returned to the same locality and found two eggs within 10
+feet of the same spot! He states that the “trees were larger, the
+hillside washed into gullies, but otherwise about as formerly.”
+
+Walter Colvin (MS.), of Arkansas City, Kans., reports the first
+nesting of the species in that State, two eggs having been found
+in May 1923, near Arkansas City, Cowley County. Another nest was
+discovered the following year (1924) also in May. Probably the
+chuck had been nesting there for some time previous and was also
+discovered in Miami County, by Mr. Colvin’s son John, in 1929.
+
+Nesting observations from a variety of sources indicate that the
+chuck raises but one brood. However, if the eggs are taken, the
+bird will lay again and again until young are hatched. The late
+Arthur T. Wayne, of Mount Pleasant, S. C., once took in succession
+three sets from a pair near his home, and a fourth was laid,
+incubated, and hatched.
+
+The chuck brooks no tampering with the eggs whatever. If they are
+handled, or as much as touched in some cases, the bird removes them
+to what is considered a safer locality. This habit was noted long
+ago and gave rise to much dispute and speculation as to the method
+employed in the transportation. It has been definitely proved that
+the bird takes them in the mouth. Audubon (1840) describes it so
+well that his account is given herewith:
+
+     When the Chuck-will’s-widow, either male or female (for
+     each sits alternately) has discovered that the eggs have
+     been touched, it ruffles its feathers and appears extremely
+     dejected for a minute or two, after which it emits a low
+     murmuring cry, scarcely audible at a distance of more than
+     eighteen or twenty yards. At this time the other parent
+     reaches the spot, flying so low over the ground that I
+     thought its little feet must have touched it, as it skimmed
+     along, and after a few low notes and some gesticulations,
+     all indicative of great distress, takes an egg in its large
+     mouth, the other bird doing the same, when they would fly
+     off together, skimming closely over the ground, until they
+     disappeared among the branches and trees. But to what
+     distance they remove the eggs, I have never been able to
+     ascertain; nor have I ever had an opportunity of witnessing
+     the removal of the young. Should a person, coming upon the
+     nest when the bird is sitting, refrain from touching the
+     eggs, the bird returns to them and sits as before. This
+     fact I have also ascertained by observations.
+
+The first “apparent” recorded instance of the occurrence and
+nesting of the chuck in Ohio is recorded by E. S. Thomas (1932) and
+dated May 14, 1932. On May 21, 1932, the nest and two eggs were
+found and the female, with two eggs, was collected for the Ohio
+State Museum.
+
+My earliest nesting record for South Carolina was made on April 13,
+this being nearly two weeks in advance of the next nearest date.
+The eggs are laid somewhat sooner than usual in forward seasons,
+the above record being an illustration of such an instance.
+
+_Eggs._--[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The chuck-will’s-widow regularly lays
+two eggs, which are between oval and elliptical-oval and usually
+moderately glossy. Major Bendire (1895) considered these eggs as
+“among the handsomest found in the United States.” I cannot do
+better than to quote his description of them, as follows:
+
+     The ground color of these eggs is of such a subtle tint
+     that it is almost impossible to describe it accurately; it
+     varies from a rich cream, with a faint pinkish suffusion,
+     to a pale cream, and more rarely to pure white. They are
+     in most cases more or less profusely blotched, marbled,
+     and spotted with different shades of brown, tawny, fawn,
+     and Isabel-color, underlaid and mixed with lighter shades
+     of ecru drab, lavender, pearl gray, and pale heliotrope
+     purple. In an occasional specimen some of the markings take
+     the shape of irregular lines and tracings, like those of
+     the Grackles; in others they are fine and minute, obscuring
+     the ground color to some extent. In some specimens the
+     darker shades predominate; in others, the lighter; in fact,
+     there is an endless variation in the style of markings, but
+     in the entire series there is not a single specimen which
+     is not perceptibly marked.
+
+The measurements of 54 eggs average 35.56 by 25.57 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure =40= by 27.5, 38.1 by
+=28.2=, =32.9= by 25.1, and 36.2 by =23.1= millimeters].
+
+_Young._--Some notes of unusual interest in regard to the behavior
+of the adult at the nest, as well as the actions of the young
+birds, have been sent me by Herbert L. Stoddard, of Thomasville,
+Ga. These are transcribed herewith, and in the general lack of such
+knowledge they serve to illuminate something of the home life of
+this interesting species:
+
+“April 30 (1928), 7 a. m.: One egg has hatched and the chick is a
+queer little mite covered with a yellow-ochre down, and hops about
+like a frog in a very lively manner. When he is uncomfortably hot
+or chilled he gives a plaintive little pipe that can be heard
+_about 20 feet_.
+
+“May 1: Other chick hatched out this morning or during the night
+and eggshells were gone.
+
+“May 3: Chicks growing fast but still being brooded in same spot.
+Mother goes to sleep on a fence post after flushing, but as soon as
+chicks start to squeal from the heat, she becomes frantic and will
+nearly fly into my face. I bother her a few minutes at 3 p. m. each
+day, as I chase her well away, then duck into the blind and take a
+few feet of film as she comes back to the nest. Not much action,
+however, and she is a _wise fowl_. She knows perfectly when I am in
+the blind!
+
+“May 6: Found the nest spot empty today at noon but finally located
+the old bird (she has two patches of albinistic feathers in center
+of upper breast, so I know it’s the same individual that performed
+the incubation) brooding her two chicks about 30 feet south. Their
+eyes have been open from the first but are now a little deeper in
+color and are always half closed like those of the adult in daytime.
+
+“May 13: Have kept in rather close touch with the
+chuck-will’s-widow family recently. They are living under a growth
+of sparkleberry shrubs and have lived here within a radius of 6
+feet for the last ten days.
+
+“The place is pretty well marked by their mourning-dovelike
+excrement. When disturbed, the chicks hop off with elevated wings
+in a ‘mechanical toy’ sort of way. That is, their progress is
+marked by a series of rapid, toadlike hops until they are ‘run
+down’ (usually in 30 or 40 feet). The wings serve as balances.
+
+“The chicks have a little complaining whine that brings the mother
+in frantic haste. She flies noiselessly about, every now and then
+lying on the ground with her wings _widely spread and reached
+forward_, with the primaries pressed to the ground. In this queer
+position, she beats them a bit and opens and shuts her huge mouth,
+exhaling air audibly as she does so and occasionally uttering the
+queer, froglike croak. Altogether an odd performance. No evidence
+of a mate has been seen about this location.”
+
+_Plumages._--[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The young chick is completely covered
+with long, soft, silky down; on the upper parts the color varies
+from “ochraceous-tawny” or “light ochraceous-buff” on the head to
+“tawny” on the back; on the lower surface the color grades from
+“ochraceous-tawny” on the chest to “light ochraceous-buff” on the
+throat and belly.
+
+The growth of the juvenal plumage, in which the sexes are alike, is
+rapid. Ridgway (1914) describes it very well as follows: “Similar
+to the adult female in ‘pattern’ and coloration of tail, primaries,
+and primary coverts, but otherwise different; scapulars and middle
+wing-coverts ochraceous-buff, irregularly barred with black; pileum
+more grayish, with small spots, instead of streaks, of black; under
+parts barred with black on a light brownish buffy ground, without
+vermiculations, mottling, or spots, and band across lower throat
+indistinct or obsolete.”
+
+This plumage is worn but a short time, as a partial molt into a
+first winter plumage begins in July; I have seen a specimen that
+had nearly completed this molt on August 2; this plumage closely
+resembles that of the adult female, as the juvenal wings and tail
+are retained; I can find no evidence of a spring molt. Young birds
+apparently retain the first winter plumage, including the juvenal
+wings and tail, until the following summer; I have seen birds in
+this plumage during winter and as late as May in spring.
+
+Both adults and young have a complete annual molt, mainly in July
+and August. At this first postnuptial molt young birds become
+practically indistinguishable from adults, and the sexes become
+differentiated. Young birds in fresh fall plumage are darker and
+more richly colored than adults, with more “ochraceous-tawny”; the
+colors have faded some by spring.
+
+Adults have two recognizable color phases, a tawny phase, in
+which the ground color of the two central rectrices varies from
+“ochraceous-buff” to “ochraceous-tawny”, with deeper ochraceous or
+buffy colors in the scapulars and wing coverts; and a gray phase,
+in which the ground color of the two central rectrices is pale
+buff, or pale grayish buff, and the scapulars and wing coverts are
+paler and grayer.]
+
+_Food._--The chuck-will’s-widow, like its family relatives, is
+an insect eater par excellence. The semitropical nature of much
+of its range is highly conducive to an abundance of insects and
+other night-flying creatures that are the bulk and mainstay of its
+diet. The mouth of the chuck is enormous, a characteristic of the
+goatsucker tribe, and is provided with bristles that act as a sort
+of additional trap. The widely open mouth is as much as 2 inches at
+the greatest breadth.
+
+Prey is secured at low elevations, often only a few feet from
+the ground. The bird works the edges of woodlands bordering open
+fields and often makes sallies over the latter. The flight is
+silent, and the birds seem to be no more than gigantic moths.
+Beetles, “flying ants,” and moths make up a large bulk of the food
+in many localities. Small birds have frequently been found in the
+stomachs of this species. While seemingly incongruous, this is,
+after all, not difficult to understand when the conditions are
+considered. Many observers have concluded that this type of stomach
+content is taken by mistake; that the small, fluttering bird,
+confused by the darkness, is taken for a moth and snapped up by the
+cruising chuck, of course being swallowed whole.
+
+An alternative theory exists, however, and, if true, the
+bird-taking habit would be removed from the realm of the accidental
+and fall into purposeful, predatory effort. The late Edward H.
+Forbush pointed out that the “goatsuckers show an anatomical
+affinity to the owls. They have similar, soft plumage, noiseless
+flight, large eyes and nocturnal vision.” It is possible that,
+with this structural relationship, there are other phases of
+likeness between the chuck and the owls. It is the largest
+of the goatsuckers that occur in this country, and the other
+representatives of the family do not seem to indulge in small
+bird prey. Doubtless this is because of their considerably
+smaller mouths, but whatever the reason the chuck remains as the
+outstanding example of this procedure.
+
+That this habit is certainly not accidental sometimes is definitely
+proved by the observation recorded by Gerald Thayer (1899) in
+which he relates the instance of a chuck-will’s-widow pursuing and
+catching warblers near a ship off the Carolina coast. Hummingbirds,
+swallows, sparrows, and warblers have been among those birds found
+in the stomachs of the chuck, and the frequency with which this
+occurs lends color to the supposition that it is more intentional
+than accidental. More research is necessary on this subject.
+
+Even granting the truth of it, the economic status of the chuck
+is on the right side of the ledger and the great percentage of
+its activities are beneficial, for the noxious insects which it
+destroys are numerous. Miss Phoebe Knappen, of the United States
+Biological Survey, in answer to a request of the writer has very
+kindly furnished a summary of specific results in the stomach
+analysis carried out on this species in the laboratories of that
+Bureau. A full stomach from Oklahoma, without date and therefore
+not included in the tabulation below, contained the following:
+_Dendroica_ (sp.), 70 percent; Coleoptera (_Calasoma_, _Harpalus_,
+Carabidae, _Ligyrus_, _Strategus_, Scarabaeidae), 22 percent;
+Orthoptera (_Schistocerca_, _Nesconocephalus_), 8 percent.
+
+The remarkable percentage of bird remains shown by this stomach
+would seem a great argument for the support of predation by
+purpose. Seventy percent of the total food among the wood
+warblers! However, it seems also to be a most exceptional case, for
+nothing that even approaches it is found in the list below, which
+embraces a range of 45 stomachs from five States and one Canadian
+Province. The entire amount of the stomachs listed contained the
+remains of but _two_ birds!
+
+With reference to the Oklahoma stomach, I wonder whether there
+might be a seasonal variation in the bird-taking propensities of
+the chuck-will’s-widow in relation to migration. It would appear
+reasonable to believe that when there is high activity among birds
+traveling through a given area, such as would take place in the
+spring migration, the chucks of that locality would have greater
+opportunity in securing them. One would not have to incline to the
+predatory theory to accept this, for if there are a great many
+small birds passing through an area for a few weeks, the chucks
+in their night hunting would blunder across more birds than would
+be the case later in the season. If the take _is_ accidental, a
+higher percentage of accidents would then occur. If, on the other
+hand, the take is deliberate, then the chances of indulging that
+habit would be greater and would fall off later in the season. So,
+whatever impulse governs the matter, the migrations would result
+in more birds appearing in the diet. Unfortunately, the Oklahoma
+stomach was undated, so it is impossible to ascertain whether the
+bird secured its high percentage during a migration or not, but I
+incline to the belief that it was a spring specimen.
+
+To return to the analysis, Miss Knappen states: “The other 45
+stomachs taken in March (2), April (31), May (11), and November (1)
+were collected in Florida (37), Georgia (1), Mississippi (2), North
+Carolina (1), Ontario (1), and Texas (3). The annual percentages
+of different items in the food, which was entirely animal, equal:
+Carabidae, 3.64; _Phyllophaga_, 32.98; other Scarabaeidae,
+25.28; Cerambycidae, 4.49; Elateridae, 1.34; other Coleoptera,
+5.13; Lepidoptera (moths), 12.36; Odonata, 4.63; Aves, 7.21; and
+miscellaneous animals, 2.85.
+
+“The genera most persistently eaten were _Phyllophaga_ (May
+beetles) and _Anomala_. The birds consumed were 1 _Dendroica
+palmarum_ and 1 _Helminthophila_ sp., while the miscellaneous
+bracket includes various bugs, flies, a bivalve, and other animal
+material.”
+
+The insect content of these 45 stomachs totals more than 70 percent
+in but three classes (_Phyllophaga_, Scarabaeidae, and Lepidoptera)
+and other kinds make up considerably more than that. Birds are
+represented by only 7.21 percent, and both victims were warblers.
+One cannot but wonder at the single “bivalve,” an item that would
+certainly not occur to most students as being connected with a
+chuck’s diet.
+
+_Behavior._--Being as close kin to the whippoorwill as the chuck
+is, it cannot be expected that its habits will vary extensively.
+Inactive by day and a persistent hunter by night, it fulfills the
+usual characteristics pertaining to the family. Sitting motionless
+on a mossy log, a branch of some forest tree, or ensconced within
+a natural cavity, it dozes away the daylight hours. Some observers
+have found it sleeping in company with bats, in an obscure hollow.
+I have never found the chuck among such company, all my daylight
+observations being connected with the bird’s occupancy of some low
+limb, or on the ground itself.
+
+When flushed, it rises with easy, fitful wafts of silent wings,
+alternating the beats with periods of sailing. Frequently it
+describes a curve and swings back near the spot from which it was
+flushed. Fairly close approach is allowed, even after the bird has
+been disturbed and alighted again. Doubtless it puts a great deal
+of dependence upon the wonderfully protective coloration of the
+plumage.
+
+In the Carolina low country the chuck is very fond of roosting in
+the sandy roads so characteristic of the rural districts. Passing
+along at dusk, one may see the reflection of the eyes plainly
+in the glare of a car’s headlights. At times a roosting bird is
+disturbed under these conditions by day, and I have had them flush
+and come directly at the car, swerving only slightly aside to
+pass. One bird on Bulls Island, S. C., was flushed two or three
+times in an hour, as we had occasion to pass the same spot often,
+and once it flew by so closely that an extended arm might have
+touched it. This habit of frequenting the sand roads is shared by
+the whippoorwill when it is present in coastal Carolina during the
+winter months.
+
+Little or no distinction is made between these two birds in much of
+their range. The uninformed observer takes it for granted that any
+night bird that calls, except an owl, is a whippoorwill, and this
+seems the more strange in a section where the chuck is abundant and
+the whippoorwill comparatively uncommon, as in coastal Carolina.
+The latter calls but rarely during its winter sojourn in the
+Charleston area; indeed, I have heard it but twice in all my years
+of ornithological study. One of these instances was in January,
+the other early in March. When the whippoorwill is present in this
+area, the chuck is not, for the former leaves before the latter
+appears from the south. In spite of this fact and the overwhelming
+evidence of the chuck’s presence and comparative absence of that
+of the whippoorwill, the people of the low-country are far more
+familiar with the name of the latter and credit the call of the
+chuck to the other bird.
+
+The eyes of the chuck-will’s-widow reflect light admirably. Some
+years ago E. B. Chamberlain, of the Charleston Museum, and I
+carried out a series of experiments in “jack-lighting” amid the
+woods of Cumberland Island, Ga. It was a revelation in many ways.
+The night woods were literally twinkling and sparkling with eyes!
+The ground and low bushes gleamed with hundreds of points of light
+from the eyes of spiders; the lagoons reflected the ruby-red of
+many alligators, while here and there along the bank a wandering
+raccoon stared into the light beam or a trotting gray fox paused to
+sniff, one foreleg upraised like a pointer. Florida screech owls
+were seen perched atop low stumps, hunched and motionless, and
+although we could work up to within 3 feet of them, the take-off
+when it occurred was so utterly noiseless that not a whisper of
+sound ensued at even that close range. Dozens of deer were seen,
+their eyes, of course, reflecting the light perfectly, and even
+grazing horses and cows along the edges of the lagoons were as
+plainly noted.
+
+Now and then a very large pair of eyes close to the ground shone
+out. Coming closer, we could see a chuck, sitting like a stone,
+staring rigidly into the light. While one of us held the light,
+the other worked around to the side and came up on the bird from
+behind, and reaching out could pick up the staring bird with ease.
+We examined several in this way, while they uttered a hissing note
+of fear or anger. The birds struggled strongly while held and were
+very difficult to quiet.
+
+Though sharing with the other goatsuckers the characteristic habit
+of perching lengthwise, the chuck occasionally departs from custom
+and proves the ancient adage that exceptions make the rule. N. B.
+Moore (MS.) writes that he has seen it perch directly across a
+branch when the latter is an inch or more in diameter. He once “saw
+one perch on a greenbrier one-quarter inch in diameter as cleverly
+as any bird, though it sank suddenly under its weight for 7 or 8
+inches. The bird remained on it for 10 or 15 minutes.” It is likely
+that the chuck indulges in this more than one would ordinarily
+suppose. I have seen it but once, when a bird was flushed in
+daylight and flew to a small, gnarled oak, where it alighted among
+the outer twigs, perching distinctly crosswise. It had two young in
+the near vicinity.
+
+In the reference already made above to Thayer’s (1899) account of
+this species capturing warblers on a ship off the South Carolina
+coast, he noted that, on shipboard, the bird perched crosswise on
+the rigging at times. Another remarkable character was that this
+bird was seen, on flights out from the ship, actually to alight
+on the surface of the ocean! This is certainly phenomenal and
+constitutes behavior that is utterly at variance with the bird’s
+ordinary habits. One more instance of crosswise perching is noted
+by W. S. Long (1935); he saw a specimen near Lawrence, Kans., that
+indulged in this posture.
+
+The chuck-will’s-widow frequently roosts in the same spot day after
+day, and one may be fairly certain of surprising a bird regularly
+when once the roosting area is located. During migrations it
+occasionally is found in rather extraordinary situations, one of
+the most striking of these being noted by J. M. McBride (1933), of
+New Orleans. He writes that he watched one for a week, September 14
+to 21, 1933, occupy an unprotected branch of a hackberry tree just
+even with his second-floor window. It was to be seen daily on this
+branch from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m. His house was in the heart of the
+residential district of New Orleans.
+
+_Voice._--There is no doubt that the voice of the chuck-will’s-widow
+is its most interesting and outstanding characteristic. Indeed, it
+is the one thing that many ever know of the species. It is a bird
+easily heard but comparatively seldom seen; therefore, though the
+call may be a nightly sound throughout the summer, the author may
+be utterly unknown to many by sight. However, no one who lives
+within the range of the chuck can have failed to listen to the
+notes perforce, and only a deaf person can fail to be aware of its
+presence. Though the specific name of “vociferous” has been applied
+to the whippoorwill, it is equally true of the chuck-will’s-widow,
+if not more so, but the generic name of the latter is well chosen,
+for the mouth is certainly “cavelike.”
+
+The call of this species is well deserving of comment, particularly
+in view of the fact that there seems to be so much confusion about
+it in the recent literature. Why this difference of opinion should
+exist, and why certain positive statements have been made, are
+sources of wonder to me and to others who know the voice of the
+chuck intimately. How anyone could listen for only a few minutes
+to the call and then say that “the song of the chuck-will’s-widow
+is less vigorous than that of the whippoorwill; it consists of
+_three_ notes ... with a slight accent on the _first_ syllable” is
+beyond my comprehension. And yet more than one ornithologist has
+so stated. It seems significant that all those so describing it
+are northerners, that they know the chuck only by reason of short
+southern trips of a few days or weeks. Or, perhaps, they take the
+opinion of others who have as little information as themselves. If
+their experience with this bird covered any extended period, they
+could hardly fall into such error.
+
+The call of the chuck-will’s-widow is distinctly 4-syllabled
+(some observers say five at times), and therein lies one of the
+marked differences between it and the whippoorwill, which does
+have a 3-syllabled call. The accent is not on the first but on
+the third syllable; in other words, on the “wid” of widow. Few
+birds “say” their names as plainly. The _chuck_ is uttered on a
+lower tone than the rest but is distinctly audible at 300 yards or
+more. At some distance one might be excused for thinking the call
+3-syllabled, for it may sound like _will’s-widow_, but on still
+nights the first syllable is plainly heard even across broad bodies
+of water, as occur over much of the southern coast region.
+
+The notes are not limited entirely to the dusk of evening or night.
+The bird sometimes calls in full daylight, either on cloudy or
+bright days, and sometimes during rains. I have heard it at 1 p.
+m. on a bright, clear day. It is, of course, not the rule any more
+than is the cross perching sometimes indulged in, but it certainly
+occurs. However, it is during late evening and all through the
+night that the chuck really performs, and it sometimes calls
+through the entire period. In localities favored by the species,
+several birds may be calling at once, which results in a jumble
+and overlapping of notes. Herbert L. Stoddard writes that, never
+having heard a chuck-will’s-widow calling in the daytime, he was
+“greatly surprised to hear two calling back and forth at 11:30
+a. m. today (May 25, 1928). It was crystal clear and the sun was
+_hot_, but these two called over 5 minutes, exactly as they do in
+the nighttime.”
+
+In rapidity and frequency, there is much variation. A bird may
+utter a very few calls or very many. I have counted individual
+calls many times, and there seems to be no established custom or
+sequence. The usual interval between the notes is about 2½ seconds,
+when the bird is doing a string of them. I counted the calls of a
+bird just outside my window one night and it ran off 111 without
+“drawing breath” other than the short spacing between each, 2½
+seconds. The calls were uttered at the rate of 25 a minute, this
+series taking about 4½ minutes. One of my longest counts is 176
+calls successively uttered without a break. E. S. Dingle tells me
+that he has counted 300 consecutive calls. On the night of June 2,
+1939, at my home in St. Andrews Parish, Charleston, I heard a chuck
+that beat anything I have encountered yet. I had gone to bed; the
+night was warm and I was lying near a window, when a chuck started
+up about 50 yards away in one of the live oaks in my yard. I began
+counting almost automatically, and kept it up, idly wondering
+whether it would reach my former record. It did, and then some. I
+continued to count, and count. Finally, I got up and sat by the
+window, in order not to miss any of it. The calls were perfectly
+continuous, and uttered at the usual rate, although twice there was
+a slight break in perhaps as much as a second’s lateness between
+them. The bird shifted its perch twice, moving perhaps a few yards
+each time, but did not stop calling. The total was _eight hundred
+and thirty-four calls_ (834).
+
+The notes are clear-cut, insistent, and sharply enunciated with
+the exception of the first syllable. There is a ringing quality
+about them that is very striking, and one gets the impression of
+full-voiced effort. The head is moved noticeably when the call
+is uttered, and doubtless considerable muscular effort is put
+forth. Some writers have termed the notes “doleful,” “monotonous,”
+and “melancholy,” but to me they have never seemed anything but
+soothing and dreamily satisfying. Charles Torrey Simpson (1920)
+says that the chucks “make night hideous” with their “terrible
+chatter.” Thus do tastes differ!
+
+When it arrives from its winter quarters the chuck is particularly
+vociferous, and keeps this up until after the eggs are hatched.
+There is then a cessation followed by some renewed activity
+before departing for the south on the approach of fall. It must
+be very susceptible to cool weather, for it does not remain even
+as far south as Charleston until early in fall. The first part of
+September usually sees it gone, although individuals linger longer
+than that.
+
+Besides the regular, self-naming call, the chuck has another note,
+which is not well known and is very difficult to describe. It is
+not the hissing sound uttered when the bird is caught or handled
+but is given occasionally when about its hunting. Almost entirely,
+if not entirely, it is a _flight_ note; at least I have never heard
+it when the bird is sitting. It is inadequate to describe it as a
+“growl,” and yet that is the only word that seems to approach it.
+As one flies by in the gloom, this note is heard, and it is an
+eerie, utterly indefinite sound, possessing a strangely unearthly
+quality which impresses one with wonder that it comes from a bird.
+
+It is seldom if ever referred to in the literature but some have
+remarked upon it in correspondence to the writer. The late James
+Henry Rice, Jr., of Brick House Plantation, Wiggins, S. C., once
+had an army officer visiting him who remarked on this note, but Mr.
+Rice himself, being very deaf, was not aware of it, though he knew
+the chuck well. He asks, in a letter to Mr. Bent, whether anyone
+has noted what he termed “that clucking sound.” I should hardly
+describe it as a “cluck” but it may impress some as such.
+
+One other note has been commented on by those thoroughly familiar
+with the chuck. It is often given just as the bird is _flushed_
+and, like the one above, is very difficult to describe. It can be
+interpreted as a “croak” perhaps, and Dr. Eugene E. Murphey (MS.),
+of Augusta, Ga., calls it “froglike.” His allusion to it, as well
+as the utterances of the regular call as given in fall, is given in
+a communication as follows:
+
+“I imagine most field ornithologists are familiar with the froglike
+croak that the bird makes when flushed, and I am inclined to
+believe that this note is much more apt to be sounded when the
+bird has been flushed from the nest. One observation may be worthy
+of note, namely, that I have heard the chuck-will’s-widow singing
+as late as September 12 in Edgefleld County, S. C. When it comes to
+interpreting the quality of a bird’s song, it is impossible to get
+away from a personal construction, which, of course, is invalid in
+a scientific observation, but it seemed to me that on this occasion
+the song was very definitely less vehement and forceful, certainly
+less frequently reiterated than is the case in spring; in fact, the
+whole thing seemed to have a querulous and uncertain character,
+somewhat as if he were wondering why he should be singing at this
+particular time of year. I endeavored to collect the bird, but the
+rapidly gathering darkness made it impossible for me to secure
+it, although I was very close to it several times and saw it take
+flight. Unfortunately, it chose to fly toward the darkening east
+rather than the west where there was still an afterglow.”
+
+In commenting generally upon the continuity of the chuck’s calls
+during the early part of the season, Herbert L. Stoddard, of
+Thomasville, Ga., has sent me the following notes:
+
+“Spent the entire night of April 14, 1927, on the alert in the
+observatory at the quail pens on lookout for an owl which has been
+killing quail ... a brilliant moonlight night. Chuck-will’s-widows
+called _all night_, no 5-minute period between 9 p. m. and 5 a.
+m. elapsing without one to eight or ten calling. They have many
+guttural notes of different inflection, as well as the beautiful
+call note, a guttural, low-toned _waugh_ given in questioning tones
+being common. These notes are most frequently uttered when a pair
+of the birds are together.”
+
+_Fall._--The latest record in fall for the chuck-will’s-widow in
+lower South Carolina is September 28 (Wayne, 1910). The great
+majority of the birds have left some time before this date. Indeed,
+Dr. Murphey’s record mentioned above was a late one and impressed
+him markedly, as his account shows.
+
+The earliest arrival record for the whippoorwill for the same
+locality is September 15, 1928 (Edward S. Dingle, MS.). The latest
+whippoorwill record is for April 1, 1911 (Wayne, 1910). Thus, in
+some exceptional years there may be the slightest overlapping of
+the arrival and departure of the chuck and the whippoorwill, but
+in the main the one has gone when the other appears, and there is
+usually some little interval between the sojourns of the two.
+
+Referring to the fall migration in El Salvador, Dickey and van
+Rossem (1938) say: “Chuck-will’s-widows were seen as late as
+October 29 at Rio Goascorán, where they were more common than in
+any other locality. * * * Most were found well up in trees, once
+as high as a hundred feet above the ground, and so wild that
+collecting them was usually impossible. At Lake Alomega one flew
+from tree to tree through the high forest and at no time permitted
+an approach closer than about a hundred yards. * * *
+
+“The usual daytime locations were large, horizontal branches twenty
+feet or so from the ground and in rather heavy woods.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southeastern United States, the Caribbean region, Central
+America, and northern South America; casual north to Ontario and
+Nova Scotia.
+
+_Breeding range._--The chuck-will’s-widow breeds =north= to
+southeastern Kansas (Arkansas City and Independence); Missouri
+(Willard, Springfield, and Sulphur Spring); southern Illinois
+(Olney); southern Ohio (West Union); and southern Maryland
+(Point Lookout). =East= along the Atlantic coast to Florida (St.
+Augustine, Daytona Beach, Royal Palm Hammock, and Man-o-war Key).
+=East= to Florida (Man-o-war Key, Fort Myers, St. Marks, Lynn
+Haven, and Pensacola); southern Alabama (Spring Hill); southern
+Louisiana (St. Francisville and Urania); and southern Texas
+(Houston, San Antonio, and Kerrville). =West= to central Texas
+(Kerrville, Waco, and Commerce); eastern Oklahoma (probably rarely
+Norman and Copan); and southeastern Kansas (Arkansas City).
+
+_Winter range._--The winter range is not clearly defined, but
+at this season it has been found =north= to Cuba (Isle of Pines
+and San Pablo); the Bahama Islands (Andros Island and Nassau);
+the Dominican Republic (Catarrey and Samana); and Puerto Rico
+(Arecibo, San Piedras, and Vieques Island). =East= to Puerto Rico
+(Vieques Island); and northern Colombia (Medellin). =South= to
+northern Colombia (Medellin and Antioquia); Panama (Panama City
+and Divala); Costa Rica (Rio Sicsola and Candelaria); Nicaragua
+(San Juan del Sur); El Salvador (Lake Olomega and probably Barra
+de Santiago); and Guatemala (Guatemala City). =West= to Guatemala
+(Guatemala City); and western Cuba (Isle of Pines). It appears
+that occasionally individuals may spend the winter in Florida, as
+one was recorded from Orlando on December 1, 1885; one from Lake
+Jackson on December 5, 1911; and another from the same general area
+on December 28, 1903. One also was seen at Chenier au Tigre, La.,
+on January 2, 1934.
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of arrival are: Florida--Orlando,
+February 17; Melrose, March 3; Palma Sola, March 5; Daytona Beach,
+March 9; Merritts Island, March 12. Alabama--Prattville, April
+2; Barachias, April 3; Greensboro, April 5; Montgomery, April 6.
+Georgia--Savannah, March 15; Cumberland, March 25; St. Marys,
+March 28, South Carolina--Charleston, March 12; Frogmore, March 31;
+Columbia, April 6. North Carolina--Raleigh, April 10; Louisburg,
+April 17. Virginia--Lawrenceville, April 12; Bowers Hill, April
+26. Louisiana--Bains, April 2; Bayou Sara, April 11; Baton Rouge,
+April 18; New Orleans, April 28. Mississippi--Biloxi, April 9;
+Jackson, April 10. Arkansas--Delight, April 10; Monticello, April
+10; Fayetteville, April 14. Tennessee--Chattanooga, April 10;
+Knoxville, April 12; Belfast, April 18. Kentucky--Covington, April
+7; Bowling Green, April 25. Missouri--Valley Park, April 18;
+Monteer, April 23. Texas--Refugio County, March 17; Corpus Christi,
+March 18; Austin, March 21; Kerrville, April 8. Oklahoma--Tulsa,
+April 20. Kansas--Manhattan, April 26; Elmdale, April 29.
+
+_Fall migration._--Data on the autumn movement are not plentiful,
+but late dates of departure are: Oklahoma--Canadian River,
+September 5. Texas--Grapevine, September 20; Brownsville, October
+1; Corpus Christi, October 22. Arkansas--London, September 1;
+Delight, October 7. Mississippi--Bay St. Louis, September 25.
+Louisiana--New Orleans, September 21. Virginia--Lawrenceville,
+August 24. North Carolina--Louisburg, September 19; Raleigh,
+September 21. South Carolina--Summerton, September 23; Charleston,
+September 28. Georgia--Athens, September 6; Savannah, September 23.
+Florida--College Point, October 19; Pensacola, October 21; Punta
+Rossa, October 30.
+
+_Casual records._--Among records of this species north of its
+known breeding range are several for Maryland--one heard at North
+Beach on June 28, 1930; one heard at Clements on August 14, 1932;
+a mounted specimen in the collection of the Cambridge High School,
+taken at Fishing Creek sometime prior to 1933; and one recorded at
+Laurel on May 12, 1935. A specimen was taken at New Haven, Conn.,
+on May 17, 1889; another was captured at East Boston, Mass., on
+October 13, 1915; one was killed at Pictou, Nova Scotia, on October
+22, 1890; one was taken at Dayton, Ohio, on May 1, 1933, one was
+collected on Point Pelee, Ontario, on May 19, 1906; one was taken
+at Indianapolis, Ind., during April or May 1908; and one was
+obtained at Sugar Creek, in southeastern Iowa, on June 17, 1933.
+There are several records for Kansas north of areas where it is
+known to breed, among them being a specimen collected at Wichita
+on June 12, 1898; one taken at Hamilton on April 30, 1912; and one
+obtained at Lawrence on May 4, 1935.
+
+_Egg dates._--Arkansas: 11 records, May 15 to June 26.
+
+Florida: 53 records, March 7 to June 30; 27 records, March 20 to
+May 13, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Georgia: 28 records, April 25 to June 18; 14 records, May 7 to 24.
+
+Texas: 17 records, April 4 to June 16; 9 records, May 2 to June 5.
+
+
+
+
+              ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS VOCIFERUS (Wilson)
+
+                        EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL
+
+                            PLATES 21–23
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+                CONTRIBUTED BY WINSOR MARRETT TYLER
+
+Almost every man, woman, and child living in the wide breeding
+range of the whippoorwill knows the bird by name. Those who once
+hear it singing, reiterating its name perhaps a hundred times
+or more without a pause, cannot fail to realize that they are
+listening to a whippoorwill, but how many of this multitude who
+know the whippoorwill’s name ever saw the bird, or would recognize
+it if they did see it? Not, it may be presumed, one-tenth of 1
+percent.
+
+Yet the whippoorwill lived many long years in denser obscurity
+still, for, playing a part behind the scenes, so to speak, its
+lines were ascribed to another actor in the play; it was not
+recognized as a bird at all until the early part of the last
+century. Prior to this time the whippoorwill was supposed to be
+nothing more than the voice of the nighthawk, and even now in many
+rural districts the two birds are not clearly distinguished from
+each other. William Brewster (1895) says: “They are still very
+generally regarded by country people throughout New England as one
+and the same bird.”
+
+_Spring._--The whippoorwill starts northward from central Florida
+in the latter part of March. This northerly movement evidently
+represents a general migration from the southern and eastern Gulf
+States, and through them from points farther south. The bird
+arrives in the latitude of Boston, Mass., late in April or early in
+May, thus flying a distance of a thousand miles or more in 35 or 40
+days--a migration that corresponds closely, both in time of year
+and in speed of travel, with that of the chimney swift. Of this
+journey Wilson (1831) says:
+
+     In their migrations north, and on their return, they
+     probably stop a day or two at some of their former
+     stages, and do not advance in one continued flight. The
+     whip-poor-will was first heard this season [1811] on the
+     2d day of May, in a corner of Mr. Bartram’s woods, not far
+     from the house, and for two or three mornings after in the
+     same place, where I also saw it. From this time until the
+     beginning of September, there were none of these birds to
+     be found within at least one mile of the place; though I
+     frequently made search for them. On the 4th of September,
+     the whip-poor-will was again heard for two evenings
+     successively in the same part of the woods. I also heard
+     several of them passing, within the same week, between dusk
+     and nine o’clock at night, it being then clear moonlight.
+     These repeated their notes three or four times, and were
+     heard no more. It is highly probable that they migrate
+     during the evening and night.
+
+F. Seymour Hersey (1923) tells of a striking instance of nocturnal
+migration when a multitude of whippoorwills arrived suddenly at
+Lakeville, Mass., in the middle of the night.
+
+     In 1901 [he says], on the evening of May 4, about eight
+     o’clock, a single bird was heard singing. This was the
+     first arrival noted and no others were heard that evening.
+     At two o’clock the following morning, six hours later,
+     I was awakened by birds singing loudly everywhere. I
+     dressed and went out and for more than an hour the chorus
+     continued. There were numbers of birds about the house, on
+     the door-step and ridge-pole, others singing in the road
+     or from the stone walls along the road side, while still
+     others could be heard down in the pastures,--often eight
+     or ten were singing at the same instant. I walked down
+     the road for half a mile and the birds seemed equally as
+     abundant on neighbors’ farms. It seems probable that the
+     migration takes place at night as these birds had just
+     arrived.
+
+_Courtship._--Few observers have had the good fortune to watch the
+sexual activities of the whippoorwill. One must be very near the
+birds to see, in the semidarkness, the courtship in detail, and
+even should we catch sight of a courting pair--a rare happening--we
+may get but a glimpse of their actions, because, if they flit only
+a little way back into the gloom, they are lost to view, fading
+into the shadows.
+
+Frank Bolles (1912) tells of the following experience. He was
+hidden under a “narrow fringe of spirea bushes, 2½ ft. high only
+3 ft. from the stone”--a stone on which a whippoorwill sang every
+evening. He says:
+
+     It uttered its note about twenty or thirty times when to my
+     astonishment another whip, alighted near it, on the left
+     (W.) end of the boulder. One or two sounds like the soft
+     popping of corn came from the new arrival, and the first
+     bird, which had ceased its call, faced west and began a
+     strange, slow dance, advancing a step at a time towards its
+     mate, raising its body to the full length of its legs at
+     each step, thus making a sort of undulating approach. The
+     other bird remained where it alit, but seemed to be moving
+     its body up and down or else slowly pulsating its wings.
+     The first bird, which I think was the male, seemed to
+     continue its dance entirely around the female. As he passed
+     her, indescribable purring and popping sounds were made and
+     one of the birds flew lightly away--the ♀ I think. The male
+     resumed his first position, and remained silent. Then he
+     rose and circled in the air, catching an insect I thought,
+     for he came back at once to the spot on the rock which he
+     always covers. A moment later his mate seemed to call from
+     below the house, near the lake, and he flew, his white
+     feathers flashing as he spread his tail, and the strokes
+     of his wings making a distinct and quite loud sound as he
+     passed close above my head.
+
+Henry K. Coale (1920) reporting the observation of his neighbor,
+Moritz Boehm, says:
+
+     On different occasions, while the male was calling, he
+     saw the female going through some peculiar antics, but
+     in the dusk could not make out just what she was doing.
+     One evening, when he was sitting on the lower step, the
+     birds came up and performed within ten feet of him. He
+     kept perfectly quiet. The male called from a low branch
+     overhead, while the female strutted on the gravel path
+     below, with wings and tail outspread and head lowered, and
+     sidestepped back and forth, half way around to the right,
+     then to the left, all the time uttering a curious guttural
+     chuckle. This performance was kept up for ten or fifteen
+     minutes.
+
+Bendire’s (1895) account of the whippoorwill’s courtship is
+the best in the literature; it has become almost a classic,
+and ornithologists still deplore the regrettable incident that
+interrupted the observation.
+
+     While on a collecting trip in Herkimer County, New York,
+     with Dr. William L. Ralph, in June, 1893, I witnessed a
+     most amusing performance, which one may see perhaps once
+     in a lifetime. I happened to be in a little outbuilding,
+     some 20 feet in the rear of the house at which we were
+     stopping, early on the evening of the 24th, about half an
+     hour after sundown, when I heard a peculiar, low, clucking
+     noise outside, which was directly followed by the familiar
+     call of “whip-poor-will.” * * * Directly alongside of the
+     small outbuilding previously referred to, a barrel of sand
+     and lime had been spilled, and from the numerous tracks
+     of these birds, made by them nightly afterwards, it was
+     evident that this spot was visited regularly, and was the
+     trysting place of at least one pair. Looking through a
+     small aperture, I saw one of the birds waddling about in a
+     very excited manner over the sand-covered space, which was
+     perhaps 2 by 3 feet square, and it was so much interested
+     in its own performance that it did not notice me, although
+     I made some noise trying to fight off a swarm of mosquitoes
+     which assailed me from all sides. Its head appeared to be
+     all mouth, and its notes were uttered so rapidly that,
+     close as I was to the bird, they sounded like one long,
+     continuous roll.
+
+     A few seconds after his first effort (it was the male)
+     he was joined by his mate, and she at once commenced to
+     respond with a peculiar, low, buzzing or grunting note,
+     like “gaw-gaw-gaw,” undoubtedly a note of approval or
+     endearment. This evidently cost her considerable effort;
+     her head almost touched the ground while uttering it, her
+     plumage was relaxed, and her whole body seemed to be in a
+     violent tremble. The male in the meantime had sidled up
+     to her and touched her bill with his, which made her move
+     slightly to one side, but so slowly that he easily kept
+     close alongside of her. These sidling movements were kept
+     up for a minute or more each time; first one would move
+     away, followed by the other, and then it was reversed; both
+     were about equally bold and coy at the same time. Their
+     entire love making looked exceedingly human, and the female
+     acted as timid and bashful as many young maidens would when
+     receiving the first declarations of their would-be lovers,
+     while the lowering of her head might easily be interpreted
+     as being done to hide her blushes. Just about the time I
+     thought this courtship would reach its climax, a dog ran
+     out of the house and caused both to take flight.
+
+_Nesting._--The whippoorwill lays its two eggs on dry, well-drained
+ground, generally near the edge of a wood of small mixed
+growth--oak, beech, pine--where the floor of the wood is clear of
+dense underbrush and where the trees are not crowded together, but
+spaced far enough apart to cast an uneven shade. The eggs may lie
+on the open floor or under a small bush--not tucked away near the
+stems, but out in the shadow of its branches. The bird builds no
+nest, although a slight depression about the eggs may result from
+the presence of the parent there during incubation; for concealment
+it relies solely on the soft colors of the fallen leaves and the
+flickering light of the woodland.
+
+It is rare to find the eggs laid in a more open situation.
+
+Lewis McI. Terrill, in a letter to Mr. Bent, gives in detail the
+results of remarkably close observations on the home life of a pair
+of whippoorwills and their brood. His observations were made near
+St. Lambert, Quebec, in 1933.
+
+On May 14 Mr. Terrill came upon a pair of whippoorwills in a patch
+of deciduous trees, mainly young maple and birch. A week later he
+flushed the female “from a single egg lying on a bed of old leaves
+in a small glade” near the spot where he first saw the birds.
+“There was no depression whatever, and the egg appeared as if it
+had been casually dropped there.” The second egg was not laid until
+the 23d, indicating “that egg deposition takes place on alternate
+days.”
+
+Invariably at his subsequent visits Mr. Terrill found the female
+incubating or brooding, but while the young birds remained in the
+vicinity of the nest he saw the male near it only once (June 20).
+
+He says: “The male spent the day in a thicket over 400 yards away.
+I usually heard him singing from this direction in the early part
+of the evening; later he sang from a point nearer the nest; and
+finally from its immediate vicinity. I gather from this that he
+visited his family regularly at night.
+
+“On May 27 the eggs were resting in a noticeable depression made by
+the pressure of the bird’s body. One might almost call it a nest
+although no extraneous nesting material whatever had been added.
+The female was very consistent in her behavior, usually leaving the
+eggs when I was 10–15 feet away and flying to a dead branch 2 feet
+from the ground where she uttered a few protesting chucks, which
+resembled a call of the catbird and to a lesser extent the _chuck_
+of the hermit thrush.
+
+“On the occasion of the male’s visit (June 20) both birds were very
+worried, and their calls, especially that of the male, resembled
+the _whip_ note of his song, although much subdued. He sometimes
+called _whip-will_ when excited by the distress calls of the young.
+
+“When returning to the nest the female frequently hovered before
+alighting, often dropping to the ground a few feet from the nest.
+Even at that short distance she would not attempt to walk onto the
+eggs, but would fly up again, hover, and then alight directly on
+the nest.
+
+“The nighthawk, we may note, progresses differently. To be sure, it
+occasionally flies short distances when approaching the nest, but
+the final approach is by walking, or perhaps I should say creeping
+in a ‘Charlie Chaplin-like’ shuffle. The different methods of
+approach to the nest are, I think, indicative of the different
+habitats of two very similar birds. The woodland whippoorwill hops
+or flies to avoid obstructions, whereas the nighthawk can gain its
+objective without leaving the ground.
+
+“The female whippoorwill was still incubating on June 10, but on
+the 11th there were two young in the nest. The incubation period
+for the last egg laid was, therefore, at least 19 days, and
+possibly nearer 20.
+
+“The first definite movement away from the nest was noted on June
+18, when the female was brooding the young 50 feet away. On the
+19th and 20th she was respectively 70 and 85 feet from the nest.
+The female often alighted crosswise on a limb when excited, or
+for the purpose of facing me, but quickly assumed the lengthwise
+position.
+
+“June 21–22--Female brooding young 100 feet from nest.
+
+“June 25--One young bird flew 15 feet.
+
+“June 26--Older chick flew 26 feet when female was flushed. Younger
+bird still jumped, then squatted, but when I placed it on a branch,
+it flew 15 feet. Both young always alighted on the ground, but
+perched readily. This was the last I saw of the family.”
+
+Mr. Terrill’s report of this family of whippoorwills makes it clear
+that the male parent very rarely came near the nest at the times he
+was watching it. This accords with the experience of many observers
+at other nests. For example, H. E. Tuttle (1911) says: “The male
+Whip-poor-will I saw only once, and that was after the young were
+fully grown. He was very conspicuous in the dusk as he sat on a
+log, uttering rasping sounds in his throat and opening and shutting
+his tail, brilliantly marked with white at the edges. It was only a
+day or so after seeing the male bird that I lost sight of the young
+birds altogether.”
+
+But why should we expect the male whippoorwill to come to the
+nest in the middle of the night--the whippoorwill’s day? There
+is nothing to do there at night except to keep the eggs warm,
+or, after they hatch, to brood the young, and his mate can do
+that while she sleeps on the nest. So he sleeps a little way off.
+But when the dark comes--when his morning breaks--when the night
+insects begin to fly, and food abounds, and his hungry children
+cry, where is the male parent then? We do not know, but we may
+assume, as Mr. Terrill suggests, that he joins his family and aids
+in feeding the young.
+
+When a female bird is approached while she is incubating
+(Bendire says: “I believe the female attends to this duty almost
+exclusively”) the behavior varies a good deal in different
+individuals. In many accounts of her actions, she is reported to
+flop about on the ground, seemingly trying to lead the intruder
+away. Wilson (1831) reports that “in traversing the woods one day
+in the early part of June, along the brow of a rocky declivity,
+a whippoorwill rose from my feet, and fluttered along, sometimes
+prostrating herself, and beating the ground with her wings, as if
+just expiring.” On the other hand, H. E. Tuttle (1911) speaks of
+a bird, brooding young, which was “very fearless, allowing me to
+touch her back and making it necessary for me to shove her gently
+off the young when I wanted a glimpse of them.”
+
+Arthur C. Bent, in his notes, says that late in May he “flushed a
+whippoorwill from near a woodland path, where it apparently had
+been roosting regularly as evidenced by its droppings.” A few days
+later, not 25 yards from the path, he “flushed the whippoorwill
+from the ground and saw its single egg lying on the flat, bare oak
+leaves.”
+
+C. H. D. Clarke, writing to Mr. Bent from Ontario, Canada, points
+out how changes in the topography of a region may affect the local
+whippoorwills. He says: “The common denominator explaining the
+local distribution of this species is, I believe, to be found in
+its feeding and egg-laying habits. The whippoorwill feeds in the
+open, like the nighthawk, but unlike it, fairly near the ground.
+Although both birds lay their eggs on the ground, the nighthawk
+nests in the open, whereas the whippoorwill always nests among
+trees. Hence, as a breeding bird, it is found in glades and
+around the edges of woodlots. Many of the woodlots, however, in
+this vicinity are closely grazed by cattle at the present time, a
+condition that prevailed less commonly in the semipioneering stage
+of our country. The whippoorwill does not tolerate this change;
+it will not breed in the grazed woodlots and, as a consequence,
+has been reduced in numbers here. It also seems to avoid extensive
+areas of conifers, possibly because of the absence of hardwood
+litter on which to lay its eggs. The area at Frank’s Bay, in which
+the bird breeds very commonly, is a sand plain that was burned over
+about 25 years ago and has since grown up in many places to dense
+stands of poplar from 15 to 20 feet high. Here the whippoorwill
+has plenty of shelter in the dense poplar woods, an abundance of
+hardwood litter, and may cruise about over the treetops not far
+above ground.”
+
+_Eggs._--[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The two eggs of the whippoorwill are
+between oval and elliptical-oval in shape and become somewhat
+glossy when incubated. The ground color is usually pure white,
+but occasionally a faint creamy tint is perceptible. The markings
+consist of spots or small blotches of “pale Quaker drab” or “pallid
+Quaker drab,” scattered over the eggs more or less irregularly;
+an occasional egg has large, irregular blotches of this color.
+Overlying these pale gray markings, or scattered among them, are
+often many small spots or fine dots of various browns, such as
+“cinnamon-brown,” “tawny,” or “tawny-olive.” An occasional egg is
+almost immaculate.
+
+The measurements of 50 eggs average 29.0 by 21.3 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =31.5= by 21.0, 30.48 by
+=22.86=, =20.48= by 21.34, and 28.45 by =20.07= millimeters.]
+
+_Young._--The little whippoorwill chick, hatching out from an
+invisible egg, finds itself lying on the ground, with dead leaves
+all about. The dead leaves look like the chick, and the chick looks
+like the dead leaves; no one can tell them apart; practically
+the chick _is_ a dead leaf, and, although hatched, it is still
+invisible, just as it was when hidden in the egg.
+
+Some birds depend on speed for safety, or on agility or strength,
+but the whippoorwill relies chiefly on not being seen. Safety comes
+to the whippoorwill in dim light, half shadows, and the faint,
+confusing obscurity of dusk, and among these, on the borderland of
+invisibility, the whippoorwill lives all its days.
+
+Nests of the whippoorwill are found almost always by accident.
+The old bird starts up from near the observer’s feet, and a
+search--sometimes a long one--reveals the eggs or the young birds.
+For example, A. Dawes DuBois (1911) says:
+
+     The first nest was found on May 16, 1908, in a strip of
+     woods of medium size trees, thickly undergrown, on a high
+     bank of the Sangamon River [Illinois]. The ground was well
+     carpeted with dried oak leaves. Our first intimation of
+     Whippoorwills in this place was the sudden appearance of
+     an adult bird fluttering along the ground in front of us,
+     apparently with a broken wing. We stopped at once and while
+     my companion stood to mark the place, I followed the bird a
+     short distance. She fluttered along noiselessly, feigning
+     serious injury and leading me away from the nest as rapidly
+     as I could be induced to follow.
+
+     A search revealed the nest within a pace of the spot we
+     had marked. It contained one egg and the broken shell of
+     another which gave evidence of having hatched. Although
+     I stooped to examine the broken shell I did not see the
+     bird that had hatched from it until my companion called
+     my attention to it. The little fellow was crouched,
+     motionless, upon the brown leaves not six inches from the
+     broken egg-shell.
+
+H. E. Tuttle (1911) speaks thus of the young birds: “The newly
+hatched birds were very attractive-looking little chicks so long as
+they kept their mouths shut. They were a uniform buff color, which
+matched well with the leaves, and the instant their mother left
+them they each ran in opposite directions and squatted. In this
+maneuver the old bird seemed to aid them materially by the vigorous
+flip which she gave them as she rose, often tumbling them over on
+their backs.”
+
+J. G. Suthard writes to Mr. Bent from Muskegon, Mich., as follows:
+“On June 14, 1936, I flushed a whippoorwill from an oak-leafed spot
+on a steep hillside overlooking a large timbered swamp. I shortly
+discovered two downy young with their eyes only partly opened. They
+made no effort to escape and were silent when handled. The parent
+flew around several times, uttering a _whup-whup-whur_ note, and
+then perched on a dead limb of a nearby tree. One of the eggshells
+was about 6 feet below the nest on the hillside, and the feces of
+the young had not been moved by the parents. As this nest was only
+about 30 yards from the main highway, I returned several times
+between this date and June 24 to see if, owing to my disturbance
+of the young, the parents would move them. Each time I visited the
+nest the parent was brooding the young in practically the same
+spot.”
+
+Lewis McI. Terrill, in his study of nest life, quoted under
+“Nesting,” says that on June 12, before the young birds were two
+days old, “whenever the female was flushed, the nestlings hopped or
+jumped several inches with the suddenness and unexpected agility of
+‘jumping beans,’ then squatted in hiding posture in the manner of
+woodcock chicks. The entire movement was so rapid that it almost
+escaped notice.” He continues:
+
+“From the 13th to the 16th the female was brooding the young either
+in the nest or in the shade 2 or 3 feet away. On the latter date
+I heard one of the nestlings give a weak, complaining _whip_,
+which was answered by the mother 20 feet away. It attempted to
+follow her, progressing by little hops, but was in difficulty when
+it encountered heavy undergrowth where it was unable to hop. The
+smaller of the nestlings remained in the nest.
+
+“June 26--The older bird when placed lengthwise on a limb quickly
+turned about and perched crosswise, demonstrating youth’s objection
+to slavish custom! The older bird now frequently used the _whip_
+note, which appears to be the chief motif in the whippoorwill
+vocabulary. The younger bird still called in wheezy tones that I
+readily imitated by sucking my finger--so well that the mother bird
+frequently responded by flying to me and fluttering at my feet. The
+young at this date, nearly 16 days old, closely resembled their
+parents.”
+
+Terrill definitely established the incubation period of one of
+the eggs in the nest he observed as not less than 19 days, “and
+possibly nearer 20.” Burns (1915) gives the incubation period as 17
+days, and Audubon (1840) gives it as 14 days.
+
+_Plumages._--[AUTHOR’S NOTE: The downy young whippoorwill is
+thickly covered with long, soft, silky down, shading in color from
+“cinnamon” on the back to “pinkish cinnamon” on the chest, and to
+“light pinkish cinnamon” on the crown and abdomen; it matches the
+dead leaves on which it is hatched.
+
+The juvenal plumage begins to grow at an early age. Ridgway (1914)
+says that the young male is “similar to the adult male in ‘pattern’
+and coloration of lateral rectrices, as well as of primaries
+and primary coverts, but rest of plumage quite different, the
+wing-coverts and scapulars deep brownish buff or clay color, the
+former with coarse and irregular small spots of black, the latter
+with very large irregular spots of black, the under parts barred
+with dusky on a brownish buffy ground and, like most of the upper
+parts, without fine vermiculations, the pileum spotted instead of
+streaked with black, and the band across lower throat indistinct,
+more or less broken by dusky barring, and buffy instead of white.”
+The young female, he says, is “similar to the young male, but three
+lateral rectrices broadly tipped with ochraceous-buffy instead of
+having a large white distal area.”
+
+A young bird in juvenal plumage, nearly grown, collected in
+Massachusetts in July, is like the young male described above,
+except that the feathers of the interscapular region and the
+median wing coverts are from “ochraceous-buff” to “light
+ochraceous-bluff,” with a narrow shaft streak and a conspicuous
+subterminal small spot of black.
+
+During July and August the juvenal contour plumage is shed, the
+juvenal wings and tail being retained, and a first winter plumage
+is acquired, in which the contour plumage closely resembles that of
+the adult. This is worn until the following summer, when a complete
+molt produces the fully adult plumage. Both young and old birds
+have a complete annual molt between July and September.]
+
+_Food._--The earliest report on the food of the whippoorwill is
+that of Wilson (1831), who was the first writer to show that the
+whippoorwill and the nighthawk are different birds. He says: “Their
+food appears to be large moths, grasshoppers, pismires, and such
+insects as frequent the bark of old rotten and decaying timber.
+They are also expert in darting after winged insects.”
+
+Knight (1908) puts the following items on the whippoorwill’s
+bill of fare: “Their diet,” he says, “would seem to be entirely
+insectivorous and among the various things I have known them to
+eat are Sphinx moths of various species, _Actias luna_, _Samia
+cecropia_, _Samia columbia_, _Telea polyphemus_, and a great
+variety of species of Noctuidae, also grasshoppers, crickets,
+mosquitoes, caddis flies, and in fact almost any sort of insect
+available.”
+
+Bendire (1895) reports that “in the Western States, which are
+sometimes overrun by swarms of Rocky Mountain Locusts, it also
+feeds largely on these when abundant.”
+
+Forbush (1927) tells of the whippoorwill the following story which
+will endear the bird to all mosquito-haters. He says: “While I
+slept unsheltered nightly for a week in the Concord woods, rolled
+in my blanket, with only a head-net hung to a branch overhead to
+protect me from mosquitoes, I noticed each morning upon awaking
+just before daylight that something fluttered softly about my head.
+The sound was like that produced by a large night-moth, but soon
+I heard something strike the ground a few feet away, and then a
+well-known cluck convinced me that my visitor was a Whip-poor-will.
+The bird came nightly while I remained in the woods, and each
+morning before daylight it flew around my head-net until it had
+caught all the mosquitoes there.”
+
+Eaton (1914) says: “I have taken 36 full-grown moths from the
+stomach of a single Whippoorwill which was killed early in the
+evening, indicating that within an hour and a half he had killed
+and devoured these full-grown moths, each one of which contained
+hundreds of eggs.”
+
+Whippoorwills secure a large part of their food by capturing
+night-flying insects on the wing, but Ernest Ingersoll (1920)
+states that they also “have a way of balancing themselves near a
+tree-trunk or barn-wall, picking ants and other small provender
+off the bark; and even hunt for worms and beetles on the ground,
+turning over the leaves to root them out.”
+
+Francis H. Allen (MS.) says: “One evening I saw one take off from
+the branch of an oak for what was probably its first feeding flight
+of the night. It opened its mouth wide _before_ launching into the
+air.”
+
+_Behavior._--In order to study the whippoorwill at short range it
+is well to visit its haunts for a few evenings and learn how the
+bird we are to watch behaves when it wakes from its day’s sleep.
+Whippoorwills move about over a considerable territory when they
+come into the open for their daily session of singing and feeding,
+they follow a route, evening after evening, that varies little, and
+on the circuit there are stations--a stone wall, a low branch, or a
+certain spot on the ground--where they are almost sure to stop and
+sing for a while.
+
+If we seat ourselves near one of these stations where the light,
+which will be almost gone when the bird arrives, will favor our
+view, and where a dark background will obscure us from the bird,
+we shall be able to see the whippoorwill at short range, for if we
+sit motionless (no easy task, for mosquitoes will torture us) the
+bird will pay little attention to us. We must sit quiet and wait,
+following the song as it swings around the circuit, and we must
+watch the spot where the bird is about to alight, for, although in
+flight it looms big even in the dusk, when it comes to rest, with a
+flip of wings it becomes a bit of dead wood, a clod of earth, or
+vanishes altogether.
+
+On several evenings late in May 1914, at Wilton, N. H., I visited
+what appeared to be the whippoorwill headquarters--a dry wood of
+small deciduous growth bordering a sloping field, on one of which
+was a moist alder run that ran down to the edge of the wood. When
+I arrived, between sunset and dark, wood thrushes and veeries
+were singing, but before they quieted down for the night, the
+whippoorwills (from one bird to two or three) began to sing, always
+from the dry wood. They sang intermittently, and generally after
+each series of _whip-poor-wills_ their voices came from a different
+part of the wood. By the time the light was becoming uncertain
+(when one would have difficulty in reading print) one bird, leaving
+the wood, worked up the slope, passing the field either by way of
+the alder run or by a wood of larger growth and an apple orchard
+that bordered the higher sides of the field.
+
+On each of the first evenings when I visited the ground, one bird
+paused in the corner of the field where it joined the alder run,
+and sang a few times, and on two of these evenings I was able to
+approach the bird but not near enough to see it. The next evening,
+therefore, as soon as the bird that was singing in the wood began
+to change his position, I retired to this corner of the field to
+await him and sat down on a bank where my figure would not show
+against the sky. That evening was unusually dark and cloudy. The
+bird left the wood by the lower side, and at 7:50 I heard the song
+coming nearer and nearer through the alders behind me. Then, two
+minutes later, it came with startling suddenness from almost at my
+side. The bird sat on the bare ground at the foot of the bank not
+6 yards from where I sat. In bringing my glass to bear upon him,
+I disturbed him, I think, for he flew silently away. He alighted,
+however, on a rock and began to sing. He was now 12 yards from me
+and on a level with my eyes. His side was toward me, and he faced
+nearly in the direction from which he had just flown. He sat flat
+on the stone with his head thrown slightly backward and upward and,
+on alighting, immediately began to sing.
+
+The song at close range sounded like _cuck-rhip-oor-ree_, the
+final note accented and held longer than the other three, although
+the _rhip_ was louder and longer than the _oor_. The song was
+remarkably regular; twice, however, the bird increased the tempo,
+and once he doubled one note--either the _rhip_ or the _oor_. After
+a pause the _cuck_ was invariably the first note given when he
+continued his song.
+
+Even in the dim light the band of white across the throat
+was clearly visible, and twice during each repetition of the
+_cuck-rhip-oor-ree_ this band was drawn backward--slightly at the
+_cuck_, markedly during the final _ree_, when, I think, the beak
+was open wide. Later, when the bird more nearly faced me, these
+movements of the white band were less noticeable. The bird sat on
+the rock for three or four minutes, singing almost continuously. He
+sat absolutely still for the most part, but twice he moved backward
+about an inch, as if each time he took a single backward step.
+His departure, with no apparent cause, was noiseless and abrupt,
+breaking the song at _oor_.
+
+F. Seymour Hersey (1923), who watched with great care a
+whippoorwill making its nightly round, says: “The time taken to
+make this circuit varied from 25 to 30 minutes. I watched this
+bird from several places of concealment and ascertained to my
+satisfaction that it was the same individual that visited each of
+these places and that the order given above was not varied. The
+spot from which he sang was, in all cases, nearly the same, i. e.,
+within a very few feet of the place where he was seen on a previous
+evening.”
+
+Frank Bolles (1912) gives a remarkable picture, seen from almost
+within arm’s reach, of a singing whippoorwill. Mr. Bolles, who was
+hidden near a stone to which the whippoorwill came nightly, says:
+
+     Suddenly I hear a rather feeble whip, 12 times S. of me,
+     then silence and then a bird flies to the stone in front
+     of my face, coming low over the bushes and alighting with
+     its tall towards me. It squeaks or clicks three times, and
+     I fear it suspects me and is giving a slight alarm note,
+     but the next moment it begins the piercing _quip o’rip_
+     slightly raising its head and dipping its tail each time
+     it makes the sound. The head rises on the _quip_ and falls
+     on the _rip_. The wings do not move, nor the body save by
+     a slight tipping. I could see the bird’s outline perfectly
+     against the white background of the shingled barn on which
+     the moonlight fell fully.
+
+When the whippoorwill comes out in the dusk for its evening round,
+alighting on a stone wall, on the ground, or on a big horizontal
+branch high in a tall tree, we may sometimes catch sight of it
+against the sky, as it flies from one station to another. In the
+air the whippoorwill does not resemble the nighthawk at all. Its
+wings are broad and, compared to those of the nighthawk, short,
+and it moves them with an easy sweep, with none of the nighthawk’s
+jerkiness. When we see it flying steadily across an open field, it
+suggests an owl moving through the gloom on its broad, silent wings.
+
+Taverner and Swales (1907) give a remarkable description of the
+flight of a whippoorwill seen under such circumstances at Point
+Pelee, Ontario. They say:
+
+     One evening, just as the dusk was darkening into night,
+     a Whip-poor-will was heard near the camp. We stole out,
+     and the bird was located in a large bare walnut tree in
+     the open bush where, looking up against the still faintly
+     illuminated sky, it could be plainly made out, sitting
+     lengthwise, as is their fashion, on a rather large and
+     almost horizontal branch. It remained perfectly motionless
+     except for an occasional jerk of its white blotched tail,
+     when it gave vent intermittently to a guttural “gluck.”
+     These notes were repeated at irregular intervals of
+     perhaps half a minute, several times and then, without
+     start or warning, it launched away into the air, starting
+     off immediately at full speed, with a drop that carried it
+     in a large, even circle half way to the ground, and then
+     up on the same curve, to vanish in the gloom of the trees.
+     Then it appeared on the other side, swinging down on fixed
+     wings in great elliptical curves as though whirled from the
+     end of a cord, perfectly silent in flight and threading the
+     dusky mazes of the tree tops with the utmost confidence
+     and precision. Here and there it rapidly wheeled, without
+     an apparent stroke of the wing, now coming into view in
+     the lower arc of its great circling, and then vanishing
+     silently again on the upward sweep on the other side. As
+     suddenly as it started, it ceased in the middle of a swing
+     and, while the eyes vainly searched for the dark object
+     along the continuation of its course, it was seated again
+     on the branch from which it first sprang, silent and still.
+     This was repeated several times, and then it was joined by
+     another, and the two circled about like great soft, gliding
+     bats until the sky above grew so dark that their movements
+     could no longer be watched.
+
+Several writers mention the fearlessness of the whippoorwill, or
+perhaps its failure to recognize man as a danger. For example,
+Bendire (1895) quotes E. A. McIlhenny, who says: “These birds
+are very tame, for on two occasions, while sitting still in the
+twilight to observe the movements of some Owls, I have had them
+come so close that I could have caught them. On one occasion one
+lit on my knee, and another on my foot as it was extended before
+me.” And H. E. Tuttle (1911) says: “Once I watched two males
+fighting and singing at intervals on a fallen birch sapling. I
+was quite close to them,--within a yard--but they did not seem to
+regard me as dangerous, and when I tried to imitate the guttural
+noises they were making, they circled round my head so closely that
+one touched me with his wings. In the darkness I was probably no
+more than a charred stump.”
+
+C. W. G. Eifrig (1919) mentions “a unique experience” with a
+whippoorwill, which, displaying unexpected aggressiveness, darted
+repeatedly at his head.
+
+It has been surmised that the whippoorwill uses its capacious
+mouth to carry its eggs, and even its young, out of danger when
+its nest has been discovered. There is no satisfactory evidence
+that the bird employs its mouth in this way, but it has been seen,
+on two occasions at least, carrying a young bird through the air
+held between its legs. J. H. Bowles (1895) says: “I flushed a
+whippoorwill that rose with a baby bird clutched firmly _between
+her thighs_,” and Bendire (1895) quotes H. W. Flint as follows: “I
+once, and once only, saw a female (the male is never present at the
+nest) carry a young bird about a rod, but can not say she used her
+bill, and don’t think she did, but I am almost sure the claws and
+legs only were used, as the young was hugged close to the body.”
+
+The whippoorwill is fond of taking dust baths. When driving after
+dark we sometimes catch sight of one as it starts up from its bath
+on a country road, and, as it flies off and our headlights pick
+it up, the white tail feathers, if the bird is a male, shine out
+for an instant. Forbush (1927) says: “Mr. Stanley H. Bromley of
+Southbridge, Massachusetts, tells me that a farmer there placed a
+large tray of dry wood ashes on the ground, and whippoorwills came
+there at night to dust in it.”
+
+Wilson (1831) states: “The inner edge of the middle claw is
+pectinated, and, from the circumstances of its being frequently
+found with small portions of down adhering to the teeth, is
+probably employed as a comb to rid the plumage of its head of
+vermin.”
+
+_Voice._--If the whippoorwill “should sing by day, when every
+goose is cackling,” the song might lose some of its witchery;
+we do not know; the bird sings in the dark, or when darkness is
+coming on fast, and the singer is invisible or almost invisible
+among the shadows. The song at a little distance comes to the ear
+as a penetrating whisper of the bird’s name, repeated perfectly
+regularly, time after time with scarcely a pause between, at a
+rather rapid rate--about once a second. The fourth note, a _cluck_
+before the _whip-poor-will_, is heard usually only when the bird is
+fairly near us, although we may hear it at a distance of 200 yards
+under favorable circumstances. The syllable _will_ carries farthest
+of all the syllables.
+
+It is rare to hear any material variation in the song, but there
+are individual birds that regularly sing an unusual form, and
+sometimes a bird will introduce occasionally one abnormal phrase
+into his singing.
+
+Simeon Pease Cheney (1891), speaking from the point of view
+of music, says: “In the courageous repetition of his name he
+accents the first and last syllables, the last most; always
+measuring his song with the same rhythm, while very considerably
+varying the melody--which latter fact is discovered only by most
+careful attention. Plain, simple, and stereotyped as his song
+appears, marked variations are introduced in the course of it.
+The whippoorwill uses nearly all the intervals in the natural
+scale, even the octave. I have never detected a chromatic tone.”
+Describing altercations between two or more birds, he says:
+
+     These altercations are sometimes very amusing. Three
+     whippoorwills, two males and a female, indulged in them for
+     several evenings one season, in my garden. They came just
+     at dark, and very soon a spirited contest began. Frequently
+     they flew directly upward, one at a time. Occasionally one
+     flew down into the patch near me, put out his wings, opened
+     his big mouth, and hissed like a goose disturbed in the
+     dark. But, the most peculiar, the astonishing feature of
+     the contention was the _finale_. Toward the close of the
+     trial of speed and power, the unwieldy name was dropped,
+     and they rattled on freely with the same rhythm that the
+     name would have required, alternating in their rushing
+     triplets, going faster and faster, louder and louder, to
+     the end.
+
+The bird is remarkable on account of the regularity of its song and
+the great number of times it repeats the _whip-poor-will_ without a
+pause. From 50 to 100 repetitions are not uncommon. Forbush (1927)
+says: “John Burroughs, however, made a count which so far as I know
+exceeds all others. He records that he heard a bird ‘lay upon the
+back of poor will’ 1088 blows with only a rarely perceptible pause
+here and there, as if to take breath.”
+
+F. Seymour Hersey (1923) writes: “The Whip-poor-will sings most
+continuously from dusk till about 9.30 p. m. and from 2.00 a. m.
+till dawn. During the intervening hours only an occasional song
+is heard. The song season lasts from their arrival in spring
+until late July or early August. Then there is a marked falling
+off in the number of singing birds heard until toward the end of
+August or early in September an increase in the number of singers
+is again noted. The songs of these late birds often lack the
+energy that characterizes the spring performance but a good many
+continue to sing until they leave for the south. My latest singing
+bird was noted September 24, 1901.” These dates refer to eastern
+Massachusetts.
+
+Of the possibility of the female singing, he says: “June 15 a
+Whip-poor-will alighted on the fence and uttered its ‘chuck’ note,
+which usually precedes the regular song, repeating it a number of
+times but not giving a note of the usual ‘Whip-poor-will’ call. It
+also did the same while on the wing. This bird was supposed to be
+a female as no conspicuous light area was visible on the tail. If
+so, she was capable of singing the same as the male for I later
+heard and saw her sing, both from the fence and while on the ground
+in the middle of the road. She finally flew and was followed by
+another bird which may have been her mate.”
+
+Of the whippoorwill’s minor notes, we have seen above that the
+growling _gr-gr-gr_ or _gaw-gaw-gaw_ is presumably associated with
+courtship. I have never heard the note except when two (or more)
+birds were together, on or near the ground. This note suggests a
+little a note of the female woodcock, which is used under similar
+circumstances. The whirring _whup-whup-whirr_ is evidently an alarm
+note.
+
+A. Dawes DuBois (1911) mentions two other notes, evidently of
+alarm. He says: “She fluttered from the spot as she had done
+the previous day, but this time uttering a very low hissing or
+‘soughing’ sound,” and again, “She kept vigilant watch, however, at
+a short distance, moving about near the ground with a remarkably
+noiseless flight but uttering a ‘chip’ or ‘whit’ similar to that of
+a domestic chick.”
+
+If we are outdoors at the end of the day, when the sun has
+gone down and all the ways are darkened, if we are walking
+along a quiet country road fringed by woods and open fields,
+or, in a canoe, are drifting down a stream flowing slowly past
+farmland--pastures, stone walls, orchards--and if we listen, what
+do we hear? If it is summer, the bird songs are gradually fading
+away as the birds fall asleep, the robin chorus lessens when the
+light grows dim, and when it is almost dark a field sparrow may
+sing for the last time before night comes. If it is autumn we hear
+little bird song, only a short period of chipping and clucking
+before the birds settle for the night, and after that only the
+insects that will sing the night through. But let us listen. Was
+that a whippoorwill? Do we hear a whippoorwill, or do we imagine we
+hear one because the scene has changed to a world of shadows--the
+whippoorwill’s world--and association has brought the bird to our
+mind, and its song has come to our ears? The song is faint and
+comes from far away. Perhaps we did not hear it; perhaps there was
+no song to hear.
+
+This is a peculiarity of the whippoorwill’s song; it is so bound up
+with association that we are sometimes misled. It is the same with
+the bluebird when we listen for its song over the brown fields of
+March.
+
+_Field marks._--The whippoorwill and the nighthawk appear very
+much alike when sitting either on the ground or along a horizontal
+branch of a tree, for in such situations it is difficult to
+see the points where the two birds differ. The whippoorwill is
+bristly about the mouth; the nighthawk is not. The tips of the
+whippoorwill’s folded wings do not come to the end of the rounded
+tail, whereas the nighthawk’s wings project beyond the forked tail.
+The whippoorwill has a narrow line of white on the upper breast.
+The corresponding mark on the nighthawk is broader and includes the
+throat. Perhaps the best mark for diagnosis is the pale, barred
+sides of the nighthawk. For purposes of field identification this
+part of the whippoorwill may be said to be unbarred.
+
+In the air the distinguishing mark of the nighthawk is a
+conspicuous spot of white in the wing. The whippoorwill lacks this
+mark. The flight of the two birds (see above) is very different and
+identifies them at a glance.
+
+The chuck-will’s-widow, although similar to the whippoorwill in
+plumage, is a much larger bird.
+
+_Enemies._--The clearing away of a large part of the North American
+wilderness during the past two centuries or so has not materially
+affected the whippoorwill; it drove the bird back from the
+settlements a little way, farther and farther as the towns grew in
+extent and became the great cities of today, but at the present
+time, not far beyond the city limits, whippoorwills find miles
+and miles of country wild and secluded enough for their breeding
+purposes. Fifteen miles from the city of Boston, Mass., for
+example, as well as within a mile or two of many small towns in the
+State, the bird is still abundant, nesting on the dry wooded ridges
+and eskers.
+
+This ability to flourish as man advanced into the country, when
+so many birds failed to hold their own, may be accounted for by
+the habits and equipment of the whippoorwill, which, when it moves
+about, is “bescreened in night” and is so obscurely colored that we
+may say “the mask of night is on its face” even in the daytime, as
+it lies motionless on a carpet of dead leaves.
+
+If the bird should be discovered and attacked, we may imagine how
+often the whippoorwill, with its marvelous powers of flight, may
+escape hawk, owl, or fox.
+
+_Fall._--We rarely see whippoorwills in autumn, but as we hear them
+sing not infrequently at this season we know that they sometimes
+linger in New England almost to the end of September, a time when
+hard frosts are at hand, which will either kill the insects or
+hasten them into retirement.
+
+Taverner and Swales (1907) report an unusual gathering of
+whippoorwills on Point Pelee, Ontario. They say: “In our various
+September visits we have usually found them more or less common,
+but at that season they are much quieter, and seldom do more than
+call a few times in the early evening and then cease. Sometimes
+one will be heard again through the night, but more often not.
+September, 1905, beginning the 4th, we saw from one to six until
+the 13th, when a great flight of them appeared on the Point. That
+day, in the red cedar thickets near the extremity of the Point, we
+flushed thirty between twelve and half-past one in the afternoon.”
+
+_Winter._--George Nelson, who has known the whippoorwill for years
+in its winter quarters on the east coast of Florida, tells me
+that the bird is pretty evenly distributed in the country about
+Sebastian, frequenting chiefly the ridges and hammocks where,
+during the day, it rests on the ground or on the trunk of a fallen
+tree. Not infrequently, as Mr. Nelson has been driving after dark
+along U. S. Route 1, a bird has started up from almost beneath the
+wheels of his car and has flown off in the glare of the headlights.
+He says that the bird is not in song during winter, but just before
+it starts northward, late in March, it sings for a few evenings,
+and that its departure invariably coincides with the arrival of the
+chuck-will’s-widow.
+
+Each evening during my stay at Sebastian with Mr. Nelson in
+mid-February 1931, just as it was beginning to grow dark, a
+whippoorwill appeared in the dooryard, a clearing in a dense
+hammock on the shore of the Indian River. The bird perched
+lengthwise here and there on the thick limbs of a live oak,
+well up in the big tree, but clearly visible from the ground,
+and made frequent sallies out into the air, sometimes sweeping
+clear away from the tree, sometimes only flitting among its
+branches, returning either to the perch from which it had flown,
+or to another one. Presumably these sallies were made in pursuit
+of flying insects--there was a businesslike air in the bird’s
+behavior--but there was no sound of any snapping of the beak
+audible to me as I stood near the foot of the tree. Our first
+intimation that the bird had arrived from its day’s seclusion was
+the sound of a low _chuck_ repeated at short intervals. The bird
+gave this note from its perch and from the air; it was very similar
+to the introductory note in the whippoorwill song, but a little
+sharper. As the bird flew about, it sailed a good deal, wheeling
+around with some tilting from one side to the other, the wings held
+out straight and flat from the body with no, or very little, bend
+at the wrist joint. I was strangely reminded of the flight of a
+shearwater--the whippoorwill seeming to avoid the branches as the
+shearwater avoids the tops of the waves, tilting over them as it
+sails.
+
+This was when the bird was moving slowly, but at times it increased
+its speed and executed the most intricate maneuvers, appearing
+and disappearing among the branches, ever changing its direction,
+either sailing or flapping its wings, swerving sharply from side to
+side, heeling over till one wing pointed nearly to the zenith and
+the other to the earth, then snapping back to an even keel. It shot
+straight upward, dived head downward, and doubled back, twisting
+and gyrating with such rapidity that it seemed to be tumbling
+about in the air. The turns were so quick and the pace so reckless
+that the bird appeared in a frenzy and in danger of dashing itself
+against a limb of the tree, yet from the midst of these complicated
+evolutions it instantly righted itself and, with a flash of wings,
+settled flat and motionless on its perch.
+
+Although there was the appearance of a lack of caution in these
+mad dashes among the network of branches, we were convinced, as
+we watched, that the bird governed its movements with perfect
+precision, with the acme of coordination.
+
+The flight seemed silent; even when the bird passed within a few
+feet of my head, I heard no sound. It appeared to be alone, and
+after remaining for ten minutes or so, it flew off, and we heard or
+saw no more of it until the next evening.
+
+When we flashed a light on it, the eye gleamed back a bright orange.
+
+Mr. Nelson said that earlier in the winter the behavior of the
+bird had been different. It came about the house every evening for
+a while, visiting a small tree (_Assonia_) to which insects were
+attracted by big clusters of open flowers. This tree was about 10
+feet tall, with large leaves but plenty of open space between the
+branches. The bird went to the ground after each flight into the
+tree, and it appeared to Mr. Nelson that the insects, as they flew
+among the flowers, could best be seen against the sky from this
+point. The bird did not return to this tree after the flowers had
+faded.
+
+During a second visit to Florida, more than a month later, I saw,
+presumably, the same bird again. It acted exactly as it had before,
+perching, indeed, on the identical spot on the limb of the live oak
+that had been a favorite perch in February. On this occasion also
+only one bird visited the tree, and while feeding was silent except
+for the low chuck. On March 24, after the bird had been to the tree
+and had gone away, I heard him singing off in the hammock. This
+singing on his winter quarters indicated that he felt spring was
+here, and it was time to leave for his summer home in the north.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--United States and southern Canada east of the Rocky
+Mountains, south in winter to El Salvador.
+
+_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the eastern whippoorwill
+extends =north= rarely to central Saskatchewan (Prince Albert);
+southern Manitoba (Gypsumville, Lake St. Martin, Shoal Lake, and
+Winnipeg); northern Michigan (McMillan and Sault Ste. Marie);
+southern Ontario (Sudbury, Algonquin Park, and Ottawa); southern
+Quebec (Montreal and Sherbrooke); rarely northern Maine (Presque
+Isle); and rarely southern New Brunswick (Scotch Lake). The
+=eastern= limits extend southward from this point along the
+Atlantic coast to eastern Virginia (Ashland and Lawrenceville);
+hence southwest through the interior to North Carolina (Raleigh
+and Highrock); and Georgia (Young Harris and Atlanta). =South= to
+northern Georgia (Atlanta); northern Alabama (Lookout Mountain and
+Sand Mountain); central Arkansas (Clinto and Big Piney Creek);
+and Texas (Troup). =West= to eastern Texas (Troup); northwestern
+Arkansas (Rogers and Pearidge); eastern Kansas (Ottawa and Topeka);
+eastern Nebraska (Peru, Omaha, and Neligh); southeastern South
+Dakota (Vermillion); Minnesota (St. Cloud, Fosston, and Williams);
+southwestern Manitoba (Treesbank); and rarely central Saskatchewan
+(Prince Albert).
+
+Closely related subspecies, Stephens’s whippoorwill (_A. v.
+arizonae_), is found chiefly in Mexico, but in summer it has been
+recorded =north= to Arizona (Bradshaw Mountains, Sierra Ancha,
+Mount Graham, and the Chiricahua Mountains); New Mexico (Turkey
+Creek, Blank Range, and Fort Bayard); and southwestern Texas
+(Chisos Mountains).
+
+_Winter range._--The winter range of the _entire_ species is
+=north= to southern Sonora (Alamos); southern Texas (San Patricio
+and Port Arthur); rarely Louisiana (Baton Rouge); southern Alabama
+(Fairhope); northwestern Florida (Pensacola and St. Marks);
+and east-central South Carolina (Mount Pleasant). =East= to
+east-central South Carolina (Mount Pleasant); Georgia (Savannah);
+eastern Florida (Amelia Island, Orlando, Lake Worth, and Royal
+Palm Hammock); British Honduras (Toledo District); and Costa Rica
+(probably San Jose). =South= to Costa Rica (probably San Jose and
+Puntarenas); El Salvador (Rio San Miguel, Puerto del Triunfo, and
+La Libertad); Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); and southern Jalisco (Colima
+Volcano). =West= to Jalisco (Colima Volcano and Bolanos Volcano);
+probably western Durango (Salto); and southern Sonora (Alamos).
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are:
+North Carolina--Louisburg, March 19; Weaverville, March
+23; Raleigh, March 28. Virginia--Variety Mills, March 29;
+Lawrenceville, March 30. District of Columbia--Washington,
+April 1. Maryland--Mardela Springs, March 29; Cambridge,
+April 12. Pennsylvania--Williamsport, April 21; Berwyn, April
+22; Philadelphia, April 22. New Jersey--Vineland, April 11;
+Morristown, April 23. New York--Jay, April 14; Geneva, April
+25; Rochester, April 29. Connecticut--Jewett City, April 23;
+Hartford, April 23. Massachusetts--Boston, April 13; Taunton,
+April 20; Wilmington, April 26. Vermont--Wells River, April 25;
+St. Johnsbury, May 5; Rutland, May 7. New Hampshire--Charlestown,
+April 26; Tilton, May 2. Maine--Portland, April 26; Phillips, May
+2. Quebec--Montreal, April 25. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, May
+7. Mississippi--Suffolk, March 22. Arkansas--Delight, March 29;
+Clinton, March 30. Tennessee--Athens, March 24. Kentucky--Eubank,
+April 2; Bowling Green, April 6. Missouri--Palmyra, April 9; St.
+Louis, April 13. Illinois--Chicago, April 13; Port Byron, April
+23. Indiana--Fort Wayne, April 11; Bicknell, April 12; Lafayette,
+April 16. Ohio--Columbus, April 13; Wauseon, April 16; Youngstown,
+April 18. Michigan--Detroit, April 15; Sault Ste. Marie, May 3.
+Ontario--Ottawa, April 25; Toronto, April 28. Iowa--Keokuk, April
+11; Sabula, April 16; Iowa City, April 18. Wisconsin--Milwaukee,
+April 21; Madison, April 26. Minnesota--Lanesboro, April 17; Elk
+River, April 24; St. Vincent, May 11. Texas--Grapevine, April 7.
+Kansas--Onaga, April 19; Topeka, April 20. North Dakota--Larimore,
+May 20. Manitoba--Aweme, May 1; Raeburn, May 1.
+
+_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: Manitoba--Aweme,
+September 27. Minnesota--Elk River, September 23; Lanesboro, October
+2. Iowa--Keokuk, October 2; Sabula, October 4. Missouri--Concordia,
+October 3; Palmyra, October 12. Ontario--Ottawa, October 16; Point
+Pelee, October 17. Michigan--Sault Ste. Marie, September 23; Detroit,
+October 6. Ohio--Wauseon, September 20. Indiana--Bicknell, September
+21; Fort Wayne, September 22. Illinois--Port Byron, September
+19. Kentucky--Eubank, October 4. Tennessee--Athens, October 3.
+Arkansas--Delight, October 4. New Brunswick--Scotch Lake, September
+8. Maine--Phillips, October 6. New Hampshire--Ossipee, October
+2. Vermont--Wells River, September 14; Rutland, September 21.
+Massachusetts--Harvard, October 10. Connecticut--Hartford, October 18.
+New Jersey--Morristown, October 10. Pennsylvania--Berwyn, October 5;
+Philadelphia, October 11. District of Columbia-- Washington, October
+13. West Virginia--French Creek, October 2. North Carolina--Raleigh,
+November 6.
+
+_Casual records._--The whippoorwill has been recorded, either by
+its call or by the collection of specimens, at several points
+outside its normal range. One was taken at Port Collins, Colo., on
+September 14, 1903, and one was heard at Eastend, in southwestern
+Saskatchewan, on August 29, 1919. In North Dakota, two specimens
+have been obtained at Grafton, one on October 9, 1923, and the
+other on May 24, 1924, while it was recorded at Stump Lake in the
+spring of 1910 and also at Cando. It has been noted occasionally
+near Wichita, Kans., and one was noted at Harper, Kans., on May
+1, 1936. During the period July 5 to September 22, 1905, one was
+heard calling on Isle Royale, Mich., and in the summer of 1922 one
+was heard on the Cascapedia River, Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. In
+Puerto Rico a specimen was collected for Cory, probably in 1888,
+and Wetmore reported seeing a bird that he felt certain was this
+species on December 23, 1911, near the experimental station at Rio
+Piedras.
+
+_Egg dates._--Arizona: 12 records, May 3 to August 8; 6 records,
+May 22 to June 12, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Connecticut: 9 records, May 20 to June 18.
+
+Illinois: 39 records, May 9 to July 26; 20 records, May 18 to June
+17.
+
+West Virginia: 40 records, May 6 to July 7; 20 records, May 15 to
+June 3.
+
+
+              ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS ARIZONAE Brewster
+
+                      STEPHENS’S WHIPPOORWILL
+
+                              PLATE 24
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This southwestern race of the whippoorwill is found in southern
+Arizona and New Mexico, in southwestern Texas, and southward
+through the mountains of northern Mexico, being replaced by another
+subspecies farther south. Although it is common enough in some
+of the Arizona mountain ranges, it is oftener heard than seen.
+It sits so closely, is so inactive during the day, and is so
+protectively colored that it is easily overlooked. The use of a
+flashlight at night will often enable one to locate one of these
+birds by the “eye-shine,” even at considerable distance.
+
+William Brewster (1881), in naming this subspecies, described it
+as “generally similar to _A. vociferus_ but much larger; with the
+rictal bristles considerably longer; the gular crescent and a
+pretty well defined superciliary stripe, ochraceous; the lores and
+auriculars tawny ochraceous. The white of the tail barely tipping
+the outer web of the lateral tail feathers and on the others
+confined to a narrow apical space; the under tail-coverts nearly
+without barring.”
+
+Mr. Brewster’s type came from the Chiricahua Mountains,
+Ariz., where they were evidently common, for Frank Stephens,
+the collector, wrote to him: “I have heard several of these
+Whip-poor-wills singing at one time and am told that they were
+heard here last year. I hear _A. nuttalli_ every evening. They keep
+high up the mountain sides, while _A. vociferus_ affects the lower
+part of the cañons.”
+
+Harry S. Swarth (1904) says that this whippoorwill is a “fairly
+abundant summer resident” in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz.,
+“occurring principally between 5000 and 8000 feet; they may
+occasionally occur at a little higher elevation, but I have never
+seen any below the lowest altitude given.”
+
+A. J. van Rossem (1936) writes:
+
+     The vertical range of Stephens’s Whip-poor-will is not
+     limited to the higher mountains. Above 6000 feet in the
+     Santa Ritas many birds were heard on every occasion that we
+     stayed out after dark, but I also heard a whip-poor-will
+     several times at 5000 feet in the Atascos and Dr. Miller
+     collected a specimen at Peña Blanca Spring, Pajarito
+     Mountains, in June, 1931. These two localities are well
+     down in the Upper Sonora Zone.
+
+     I took, all told, six specimens of this common, though
+     seldom collected, whip-poor-will and saw or heard several
+     times that number. In the Santa Ritas they showed a decided
+     preference for groves of oaks and sycamores in the cañon
+     bottoms, and nearly all of those which were found at night
+     were feeding in the immediate vicinity of running water. A
+     pair to the mile seemed to be normal in most cañons which
+     contained water and it was obvious that each pair had its
+     own territory.
+
+_Spring._--Mr. Swarth (1904) saw the first arrival in 1903 “on
+April 28, and soon after their notes could be heard every evening,
+usually from some thickly wooded hillside, near the bottom of the
+canyon.” But Mr. Stephens wrote to Mr. Brewster (1881): “I heard
+the first Whip-poor-will about the middle of May. By June 1, they
+were as common as I ever knew them to be in the East. Sometimes I
+could hear three or four whistling at once.”
+
+_Nesting._--We did not succeed in finding a nest of Stephens’s
+whippoorwill in the Huachuca Mountains, but my companion, Frank C.
+Willard, had previously found one there on May 24, 1899; the nest
+was on the ground at the base of a bush, and the eggs were lying on
+a few dead leaves; it was at an elevation of about 6,000 feet.
+
+Mr. Stephens wrote to Major Bendire (1895): “The locality where
+I found the egg was a gulch near the summit of the Chiricahua
+Mountains, in a thick forest of yellow pine. The nest, if it can be
+called so, was a slight depression scratched in the ground, under
+the edge of a bowlder.”
+
+Dr. A. K. Fisher sent Bendire the following notes:
+
+     The Whip-poor-will’s note was not heard at Fort Bowie,
+     Arizona, during the last three weeks of May, 1894. When
+     we made camp at the mouth of Rucker Canyon, some forty
+     miles south of the Post, in the Chiricahua Mountains, on
+     the last day of the month, we heard a few, and a couple
+     of days later found the species abundant higher up in
+     the same canyon, among the pines (_P. ponderosa_). Here
+     at early dusk and at dawn their notes were heard almost
+     continuously, and numbers of birds were seen. On June 5 Mr.
+     Fred. Hall Fowler found a nest, if the slight depression
+     in the ground can be so designated, on a steep side hill
+     about 50 feet above the stream. It was situated under an
+     overhanging bush at the edge of a flat rock, and contained
+     two young, recently hatched, and the fragments of egg
+     shells from which they had emerged.
+
+Mr. Fowler wrote to Bendire concerning the same nest: “The eggs
+were deposited on a bed of oak leaves by the side of a large
+rock; there was no nest excepting the bare leaves, which had been
+hollowed out slightly.”
+
+Mr. van Rossem (1936) found this whippoorwill nesting in the Santa
+Rita Mountains, Ariz., of which he writes:
+
+     Though males, and sometimes, before eggs were laid, mated
+     pairs, were invariably found in the cañon beds, the two
+     nests discovered were on hillsides at least a quarter
+     of a mile from water. On the night of June 6, 1931, I
+     caught the red eye-shine of a whippoorwill some distance
+     away (estimated by daylight at 150 yards) and across a
+     steep-banked cañon. With no expectation of collecting
+     anything I followed the trail to a point where I estimated
+     the shine to have been, but could locate nothing and
+     supposed that the bird had gone. On my return to the
+     original spot the eye was seen in the same location as
+     before, and this time, after a little search, I found a
+     female sitting under the protection of a fallen spray of
+     leafless twigs which lay on a steep bank beside the trail.
+     Three of us had passed within five or six feet of this
+     sitting bird on two occasions the day before. The sitting
+     bird made no effort to escape and was picked up by hand.
+     There was one nearly fresh egg in the shallow depression in
+     the gravelly soil which served as a nest, and stuck to the
+     ventral plumage of the incubating female were several small
+     pieces of shell, showing that another egg had been laid and
+     somehow broken.
+
+_Eggs._--The two eggs laid by Stephens’s whippoorwill have been
+said to be pure, immaculate white, but this is not always the case.
+Mr. Brewster (1882) says of the egg sent to him by Mr. Stephens:
+“The egg is white with a dull gloss. At first sight it appears
+to be immaculate, but a closer inspection reveals a few faint
+blotches of the palest possible purple, so faint indeed that they
+might pass for superficial stains were it not for the fact that
+they underlie the external polish.” This egg measures 29.72 by
+22.10 millimeters.
+
+Mr. van Rossem (1936) says of the egg referred to above: “This
+single egg was by no means immaculate white, but was clouded
+and mottled with brown and lilac, mostly in the nature of
+semi-concealed shell markings. It was similar to but very much less
+highly colored than eggs of the eastern _vociferus_, however.”
+Another nest, found by him later, “contained one pure white egg and
+a newly hatched chick.”
+
+Philo W. Smith, Jr. (1900), received two sets of eggs, taken by O.
+C. Poling in the Huachuca Mountains, which “very much resemble in
+shape and color sets of the common Poor Will in his collection,
+being possibly a trifle larger, and one egg of each set has a few
+almost imperceptible pinkish spots on one end, the other egg in
+each set being unspotted.”
+
+There is a set of two eggs in the Thayer collection, taken in the
+Chiricahua Mountains, Ariz., on June 6, 1904, by Virgil W. Owen,
+that are decidedly spotted. These eggs are oval and only moderately
+glossy. The ground color is pure white, and both eggs are finely
+and irregularly marked with small spots and minute dots of “pale
+Quaker drab,” “pallid Quaker drab,” and very pale “clay color.”
+
+The measurements of 29 eggs average 28.8 by 20.8 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =30.9= by 21.8, 29.0 by
+=22.6=, =25.8= by 20.1, and 28.9 by =19.9= millimeters.
+
+_Plumages._--I have not seen the downy young of this subspecies,
+but the two newly hatched chicks, taken by Mr. Fowler, are
+described as “covered with light brown down, and were not more than
+1½ inches long.” Mr. van Rossem (1936) describes a newly hatched
+chick as “clothed with a very respectable covering of down--in
+color between ‘cinnamon’ and ‘orange-cinnamon’ of Ridgway.”
+
+I have not seen enough material to work out the molts of this
+race, but I suppose that they are not very different from those of
+the eastern whippoorwill. Mr. Brewster’s type was a male, which
+is described above. He later received an adult female from Mr.
+Stephens, of which he says (1882): “This specimen differs even
+more widely from the female, than does my type from the male of
+_A. vociferus_. The ochraceous of the lores, superciliary-stripe,
+and neck-collar, spreads over the entire plumage both above and
+beneath, giving it a tawny tinge which overlies and obscures the
+usual dark markings. On the shoulders, breast, lores and throat
+this color deepens to a fine reddish-chestnut, and elsewhere it
+replaces the ashy, dirty white and other light tints of the eastern
+birds. In its general coloring the plumage strikingly resembles
+that of the brown phase of _Scops asio kennicotti_.”
+
+Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928) says that the young male is “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.”
+
+_Behavior._--The food, feeding habits, and general behavior of
+Stephens’s whippoorwill are apparently similar to those of its
+eastern relative. Mr. van Rossem noticed a peculiarity that I
+have not seen in the eastern bird, of which he writes: “A, to
+me, surprising circumstance, was the marked erectability of the
+feathers above the eyes. Both of the sitting females carried these
+tufts constantly erect the entire time they were under observation.
+A male seen from directly in front alternately raised and flattened
+them. On one previous occasion, when night hunting in El Salvador,
+I had observed the eastern subspecies (_vociferus_) to have
+markedly erectile tufts; in fact until I picked the bird up I was
+certain that I had shot some small ‘eared’ owl. About 45% from
+the horizontal was the maximum elevation, though when viewed from
+directly in front the tufts appear nearly vertical.”
+
+_Fall._--Mr. Swarth (1904) says that, in the Huachucas, “they seem
+to remain rather late in the fall, as at the end of August their
+notes were heard as frequently as ever, and I have a female taken
+by H. Kimball on September 29, 1895. An adult male secured on
+August 29, 1902, had not yet quite completed its moult.”
+
+
+             PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI NUTTALLI (Audubon)
+
+                         NUTTALL’S POORWILL
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Nuttall’s poorwill is the best known and the most widely
+distributed race of this species, occupying a wide range in western
+North America, from southern Canada to Mexico and from the Great
+Plains to eastern California. Major Bendire (1895) says of its
+haunts:
+
+     In some of its habits it differs considerably from the
+     preceding species of this family which are almost entirely
+     confined to the denser woodlands; the Poor-will, however,
+     although frequently found in similar localities, is
+     apparently equally as much at home on the open prairie and
+     the almost barren and arid regions of the interior, which
+     are covered only here and there with stunted patches of
+     sage (_Artemisia_) and other desert plants. The climate
+     does not seem to affect it much, as it inhabits some of
+     the hottest regions of the continent, like Death Valley,
+     in southeastern California, as well as the slopes of the
+     Rocky and Blue mountains, in Oregon, where it reaches
+     altitudes of from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. I have heard the
+     Poor-will in Bear Valley, Oregon, in a locality where frost
+     could be found every month in the year.
+
+Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1932) writes: “At times poorwills are found
+in growths of low forests, but they are more often encountered in
+regions where dense clumps of brush are scattered over otherwise
+open ground, as is common in desert and semiarid localities, or in
+brush-grown, rocky canyons, where the ground is rough and strewn
+with bowlders.”
+
+Referring to the Huachuca Mountains, in Arizona, Harry S. Swarth
+(1904) says: “I found the Poor-will quite abundant during the
+summer months in the foothill region and in the lower parts of the
+canyons; but though most numerous below 5000 feet they were by no
+means restricted to these parts, for I saw or heard some in all
+parts of the mountains occasionally up to an altitude of nearly
+10,000 feet.”
+
+George F. Simmons (1925) designates its haunts in Texas as “high,
+gravelly flats or bits of plateau grown with post oak timber and
+with occasional moist spots; gravel patches dotted with catsclaw
+bushes, located in post oak growth on slopes and flat tops of
+hills; high prairies on rough ground along the terraces of valleys;
+bare ground on rocky hillsides; among shrubbery or on semi-arid
+flats.”
+
+_Nesting._--The nesting of the poorwill is a very simple affair.
+The two eggs are laid on the bare ground, without any semblance of
+nest building; a slight hollow may be scraped in the bare earth,
+or the eggs may be laid on hard gravelly ground, or even on a
+flat rock. The exact spot chosen for a nest site may be in full
+sunlight, but oftener it is at least partially shaded by some
+bush, often a greasewood bush or a bunch of sagebrush, or some
+other bunch of vegetation. The only eggs taken by Major Bendire
+(1895) were “laid on the bare ground under a small grease-wood bush
+(_Obione_) and were fully exposed to the sun,” near Tucson, Ariz.
+Prof. D. E. Lantz wrote to him from Kansas, regarding the nesting
+habits of the poorwill in that region, that “with one exception the
+eggs taken were laid upon bare patches of gravel or on low, flat
+rocks, and placed usually near a bunch of weeds or a tuft of grass.
+The exception was a set found on the bare ground in an alley in
+Manhattan City. This alley was in constant use and it was strange
+that the eggs remained for so long a time undisturbed, for when
+taken incubation had begun in both eggs. The Poor-wills usually
+keep to the vicinity of steep hills and old dead grass. They seem
+to return to the same locality from year to year to breed.”
+
+E. S. Cameron (1907), reporting from Montana, says: “On June 26,
+1907, Mr. M. M. Archdale flushed a Poor-will from her two white
+eggs on a steep hillside in some rough pine brakes at his ranch
+near Knowlton. In this unfrequented place the eggs were fully
+exposed on the bare earth amidst the pines. On June 28, we went
+together to the place intending to photograph the eggs, but they
+had been already removed by the bird.”
+
+_Eggs._--The two eggs of the poorwill are generally said to be
+pure white, but Bendire (1895) says that the color is not pure
+white and that “on close inspection it can readily be seen that
+it is a delicate cream, with a faint pinkish tint which does not
+perceptibly fade. Eggs in the collection taken more than twenty
+years ago still plainly show this peculiar tint. The eggs are
+unspotted as a rule, but an occasional specimen shows a few faint,
+darker shell markings around one end, which are barely perceptible
+to the naked eye, and which fade considerably in time.”
+
+In shape the eggs vary from oval to elliptical-oval; and they are
+only moderately glossy. The measurements of 50 eggs average 26.3
+by 19.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure
+=28.9= by 19.8, 27.5 by =21.6=, =22.1= by 19.3, and 24.6 by =18.1=
+millimeters.
+
+_Young._--The period of incubation does not seem to be definitely
+known. Dr. Wetmore (1932) says: “Both birds are said to assist in
+incubation. When disturbed about the nest, they tumble about and
+with widely opened mouths make a loud hissing sound terrifyingly
+like the hissing of a snake.”
+
+Robert B. Rockwell writes to me that he found a female with two
+young “as large as an ordinary week or ten days old chick. They
+were squatting perfectly motionless on the ground, about a foot
+apart, each in the shadow of something. Their feathers were quite
+well developed. They made no move when I picked them up, but opened
+their eyes when I put them down again.”
+
+_Plumages._--Elmer C. Aldrich (1935) describes the downy young of
+the dusky poorwill, less than a day old and about 2½ inches long,
+as covered with a rich buff down. Ridgway (1914) describes the
+downy covering of a young _nuttalli_ as “vinaceous-buff, paler on
+underparts.” Two small partially downy young in my collection are
+showing the growth of the first plumage on the forehead, crown,
+nape, back, and scapulars; these feathers are dull buffy white,
+minutely sprinkled with grayish, and have small spots and narrow
+bars of black; the new feathers on the underparts and flanks are
+dull white, indistinctly barred with dusky; the wings are less than
+one-third grown, and the tail is just sprouting.
+
+Ridgway (1914) says of the young in juvenal plumage: “Not
+essentially different from adults, but markings in general less
+sharply defined, especially on underparts, and throat patch buff
+instead of white.”
+
+I have been unable to learn anything about the molts of either
+young or adults, but Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1908) says that a
+specimen in juvenal plumage, “taken August 22, shows many feathers
+of the full adult plumage in the throat and breast. The juvenal
+plumage is characterized by having the throat patch buff and the
+back conspicuously mixed with cinnamon-rufus.”
+
+A young male, collected by Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) in Brewster
+County, Tex., on May 25, was in the midst of the postjuvenal
+molt; “the crown is uniform gray, without any suggestion of a
+dark central patch, the feathers being only lightly speckled with
+black. * * * The chest lacks entirely the black patch and band,
+the feathers being lightly and indistinctly tipped with tawny and
+whitish.”
+
+The so-called frosted poorwill (_nitidus_) is now regarded as
+merely a color phase of _nuttalli_.
+
+_Food._--The food of the poorwill consists, so far as it appears
+by the data available, entirely of insects, mostly the smaller,
+night-flying species, such as moths, beetles, chinch bugs, and
+locusts. Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that “in one stomach, 80 per
+cent of the contents was grasshoppers and locusts.” Many of these
+insects are caught on the wing in the capacious mouths of these
+birds, but many are also picked up on the ground.
+
+Dr. R. W. Shufeldt (1885) noticed a poorwill “apparently amusing
+himself by making short jumps of two feet or more up in the air,
+then resting on the road to repeat the performance in a moment or
+so. Another was going through similar capers on the broad walk.
+They seemed to be perfectly oblivious to my presence, and, indeed,
+some children further along were trying to catch them with their
+hands.” He shot one of the birds, and “was much surprised to
+find in its mouth some four or five quite sizable moths, and the
+upper portion of the oesophagus was filled with a wad of a dozen
+or fifteen more. Fully half of these were yet alive, and two or
+three managed to fly away when freed from the bodies of their
+more disabled companions. This, then, is what the bird was up to;
+instead of flying about as a Nighthawk does, taking his insect prey
+in a conspicuous manner upon the wing, he captures it in the way I
+have described above.”
+
+A. Brazier Howell (1927) writes:
+
+     August 28, 1926, I was sitting near midnight, on the
+     observation platform of the California Limited as it
+     stopped at Needles, California. It was with much interest
+     that I then noted at least three poorwills (_Phalaenoptilus
+     nuttalli nitidus?_) hawking about a powerful arc light in
+     the railway yards close by. The observation point of one
+     of these was upon the top of a board fence well within the
+     circle of illumination; of the others, some point out of
+     my direct vision and just beyond the fence. One after the
+     other, until my train left ten minutes later, they would
+     flutter up in their quest for insects, not just somewhere
+     near the light but apparently right against the glass
+     globe which inclosed the arc, returning each time to their
+     respective stations for observation.
+
+Mrs. Bailey (1928) says: “When hunting for food the Poor-will
+skims swiftly and noiselessly close over the ground with irregular
+turnings and windings and rests between, and when its catch
+contains hard indigestible parts like the wing coverts of beetles,
+ejects them in the form of pellets, as do the hawks and owls,
+kingfishers, and others of similar food habits. A road through a
+forest with its abundant flies and insects is said to be one of its
+favorite hunting grounds.”
+
+The stomach of one taken by Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) on May 25
+in Brewster County, Tex., was crammed with four large June beetles
+(_Phyllophaga_ sp.) and a large army ant (male _Eciton_ sp.).
+
+_Behavior._--Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that a poorwill, wounded by
+Mr. Bailey, exhibited a surprising method of defense; he “opened
+his mouth wide and hissed and blew and flopped about on the ground,
+always facing the enemy. Blowing like a blow snake and opening and
+shutting his mouth, he was enough to terrify all minor enemies.”
+
+Referring to the eye-shine, common among the Caprimulgidae,
+Mrs. Bailey quotes Dr. Bergtold as saying: “While motoring at
+night through a particularly dark canyon, I noticed far ahead in
+the illuminated road, two small glowing pink spots which were
+extinguished when a bird flew from the road on the near approach of
+the car. The bird alighted again, some distance ahead in the road,
+when the pink spots reappeared and were identified as the bird’s
+eyes; it was shot and proved to be a Poor-will.”
+
+Dr. Wetmore (1932) says that poorwills “rest during the day on
+the ground, though after night, when feeding or calling, may seek
+higher perches on stones or posts or on low branches. On one
+occasion I saw one by bright moonlight calling from a bush, where
+it perched crosswise on a small limb, like any ordinary bird,
+though ordinarily they rest lengthwise of branches, like others of
+their family.”
+
+Dr. Elliott Coues (1874) says: “Like others of its family,
+Nuttall’s Whippoorwill is oftener heard than seen. When flushed
+from its retreat in the daytime, among the shrubbery or tall weeds,
+it rises hurriedly with wayward flight, dashes a few yards, and
+re-alights. There is something about it at such times that strongly
+recalls the Woodcock, and the bird is quite as difficult to shoot
+on the wing.”
+
+_Voice._--The call of the poorwill is generally recorded as a clear
+pronunciation of its name, but many observers have noted a third
+syllable, audible at only a short distance, making the complete
+song sound like _poor-will-low_, or _poor-will-ee_, when the bird
+is near, or _poor-will_ when farther away, or even _p’-will_ when
+still farther away. Mr. Simmons (1925) writes it _puih-whee-ee_.
+
+Dr. Coues (1874) says: “This cry is very lugubrious, and in places
+where the birds are numerous the wailing chorus is enough to excite
+vague apprehensions on the part of the lonely traveler, as he lies
+down to rest by his camp-fire, or to break his sleep with fitful
+dreams, in which lost spirits appear to bemoan their fate and
+implore his intercession.”
+
+Some other writers give a less unpleasant impression of the song;
+for instance, Dr. Wetmore (1932) says: “Near at hand these calls
+are harsh, but with distance the first two assume a pleasant,
+somewhat melancholy cadence.” And Mrs. Bailey (1928) writes: “When
+we were camped on the edge of a canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains,
+at dusk while the bats were flying down in the canyon, up along the
+edge came the Poor-wills so near that we could hear their syllables
+distinctly--_poor-will´-uck, poor-will´-uck_. Sometimes two would
+call antiphonally, faster and faster till they fairly tripped over
+each other. The call as it is often given is a delightfully soft,
+_poor-will´, poor-will´, poor-will´-uck_, which like the delicious
+aromatic smell of the sagebrush clings long to the memory of the
+lover of the west.”
+
+Henry W. Henshaw (1875) says that “their notes are most often
+noticed in early evening, and again just before dawn, but not
+infrequently their song is heard through the entire night. * * *
+When flying, they emit a constantly repeated clucking note, which
+is, I think, common to both sexes. * * * The males continue their
+notes till very late in the season; for I frequently heard them
+during the first part of October, and even as late as the 17th.”
+
+_Field marks._--In superficial appearance the poorwill looks very
+much like a small whippoorwill, and its behavior is similar. It
+also somewhat resembles a partly grown young nighthawk, but its
+behavior is different; whereas the nighthawk flies about high in
+the air in pursuit of its prey, the poorwill hunts on or near the
+ground, flitting about like a large moth on silent wings; the
+poorwill is more strictly nocturnal in its activities than the
+nighthawk; furthermore, it exhibits no white patch in the wing,
+while flying, but shows white tips on the lateral tail feathers.
+Its note is, of course, characteristic.
+
+_Winter._--The poorwill retires from the northern portions of its
+range late in fall and spends the winter near, or beyond, our
+southern borders. Dr. Coues (1874) reports, in some notes from
+Ogden, Utah, that “it lingers at its summer home till the autumn
+is far advanced, as we found it at Ogden as late as October 6,
+quite far up the slope of the mountains, in the midst of a driving
+snow-storm--the first of the season--the snow having then already
+accumulated to the depth of several inches.”
+
+In Arizona, New Mexico, and central Texas it is usually absent from
+late in October to early in April. It apparently winters more or
+less regularly in southern Texas, though its main winter range is
+in Mexico.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Central and western United States, and southern British
+Columbia, south to central Mexico.
+
+_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the poorwill extends
+=north= to southern British Columbia (Kamloops and Okanagan
+Landing); Montana (Billings and Terry); northwestern South Dakota
+(Slim Buttes); north-central Nebraska (Long Pine Canyon); and
+southwestern Iowa (Pottawattamie County). =East= to southwestern
+Iowa (Pottawattamie County); eastern Kansas (Blue Rapids,
+Onaga, Lawrence, and Clearwater); central Texas (Kerrville, San
+Antonio, and Somerset); eastern Coahuila (Sabinas and Saltillo);
+and probably Morelos (Cuernavaca). =South= to probably Morelos
+(Cuernavaca); southern Sonora (Alamos); and southern Baja
+California (San Jose del Cabo). =West= to Baja California (San Jose
+del Cabo, Miraflores, Triunfo, Pozo Grande, San Fernando, Santo
+Domingo, La Joya, San Telmo, and probably Todos Santos Islands);
+California (San Diego, Escondido, Ojai Valley, Santa Cruz Mountain,
+San Geronimo, Covel, and probably Yreka); Oregon (Brownsboro,
+Bridge Creek, and probably Netarts); eastern Washington (Crab Creek
+and Cheney); and British Columbia (Summerland and Kamloops).
+
+_Winter range._--The species is probably resident in the southern
+part of its range and during the winter season is found =north= to
+southern California (Berryessa Station, Paicines, Death Valley, and
+Laguna); rarely southern Arizona (Tucson); and southern Texas (El
+Paso, rarely Kerrville, Laredo, and Falfurrias).
+
+The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been
+separated into four currently recognized geographic races.
+The typical subspecies, Nuttall’s poorwill (_P. n. nuttalli_)
+occupies all the United States portion of the range except that
+part of California west of the Sierra Nevada. The dusky poorwill
+(_P. n. californicus_) is found in western California from the
+northern part of the Sacramento Valley south to northwestern Baja
+California; the desert poorwill (_P. n. hueyi_) is restricted
+to the lower Colorado River Valley, southwestern Arizona, and
+northeastern Baja California; and the San Ignacio poorwill (_P. n.
+dickeyi_) is found in Baja California south of latitude 30° N.
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival are: Texas--
+Kerrville, February 4; San Antonio, February 27. Kansas--Manhattan,
+April 7; Onaga, April 7. New Mexico--Chloride, March 31; State
+College, April 7; Rinconada, April 10. Colorado--Beulah, April
+29; Denver, May 9. Wyoming--Laramie Peak, May 2; Lingle, May 3.
+Montana--Terry, May 16. Arizona--Tombstone, March 20. Utah--Kobe
+Valley, May 23. California--Piedra, March 5; Daggett, March 12;
+San Clemente Island, March 30; Lassen Peak, April 16. British
+Columbia--Okanagan Landing, April 22.
+
+_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: British
+Columbia--Okanagan Landing, September 20. California--Daggett,
+October 21; Los Angeles, October 25; La Verne, October 28;
+Garnsey, November 2. Arizona--San Francisco Mountain, September
+29. Montana--Big Sandy, September 4; Bighorn River, September 19.
+Wyoming--Powder River, September 9; Clear Fork, September 19.
+Colorado--Beulah, October 8. New Mexico--State College, October 30;
+Sierra Hachita, November 24. South Dakota--White River, September
+27. Kansas--Onaga, September 27. Oklahoma--Kenton, September 26.
+
+_Egg dates._--Arizona: 5 records, May 2 to August 2.
+
+California: 42 records, March 22 to August 8; 21 records, May 6 to
+June 25, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Colorado: 5 records, May 26 to July 27.
+
+Texas: 11 records, April 29 to June 20.
+
+
+            PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI CALIFORNICUS Ridgway
+
+                           DUSKY POORWILL
+
+                            PLATES 25–27
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The goatsuckers are now in their proper place in the A. O. U.
+Check-list, showing their relationship to the owls, which they
+strikingly resemble in several characters. The poorwills are
+conspicuous in this respect; they are more strictly nocturnal
+in their activities than some of the owls, for which they are
+well adapted; the eyes are very large, suggesting those of owls;
+the mouth is very broad, but some of the owls have broad mouths
+also; the plumage is fully as soft as that of the owls; and their
+flight is noiseless, like that of most night-flying birds. The
+Caprimulgidae are not predators on vertebrate animals, although the
+chuck-will’s-widow has been known to eat birds; but they all live
+on animal food; and many owls live largely on insects.
+
+The dusky poorwill does not enjoy so extensive a distribution as
+its inland relative, _nuttalli_, but perhaps it is equally as well
+known throughout its range in California.
+
+_Nesting._--The steep slopes and ridges of the foothills and the
+sides of canyons seem to form the favorite nesting haunts of this,
+as well as other poorwills. Elmer C. Aldrich (1935) gives a very
+good description of a locality in Tuolumne County, Calif., where a
+nest was found on July 5, 1934:
+
+     The altitude was about 5600 feet, and the general
+     vegetation of the area consisted of yellow pines, incense
+     cedars, white firs, black oak islands, a few species of
+     ceanothus, and a little manzanita, with mountain misery
+     covering most of the open hillside. The immediate location
+     of the nest was in a little circular clearing about fifteen
+     yards in diameter, surrounded by young yellow pines closely
+     knit together by small, interwoven branches. The clearing
+     contained three manzanita bushes and one ceanothus bush.
+     The greater part of it was strewn with long dead pole-like
+     logs, which appeared to be one of the basic requirements
+     for the Poor-will’s protection. The entire north side
+     of the opening was bordered by a large decayed log of a
+     diameter of three feet, which, because of the common use by
+     the Poor-will, came to be called “the log.”
+
+     The nest was found when we were coming from the north and
+     upon advancing four yards after stepping over this log.
+     When the adult flushed from the nest the observer’s foot
+     was but eighteen inches from the site. The bird flew across
+     the clearing into the edge of the dense forest, where it
+     lit on a small log and watched without movement for fifteen
+     minutes while pictures of the two light buff eggs were
+     obtained.
+
+Dr. William L. Holt writes to me that he found a nest near Banning,
+Calif., on June 13, 1909, on the bare ground on the north side of
+a sandy hill, nearly bare of vegetation. J. E. Patterson has sent
+me two excellent photographs (pls. 25, 26) of poorwills’ nests.
+The one taken in Stanislaus County, Calif., on June 23, 1934, was
+on the ground in open timber; the other, taken in Mariposa County,
+Calif., on June 21, 1933, was on the ground in a fire deadening on
+a hillside; both were in the Transition Zone.
+
+A. J. van Rossem (1920) found a nest on April 18, 1919, a very
+early date, on the side of a canyon, where there was a heavy growth
+of wild lilac and white sage; “no attempt whatever seemed to have
+been made at constructing a nest, the eggs lying on the bare ground
+among pebbles, etc., in the shade of some dense brush that bordered
+upon a small open space.” The nest has also been found on bare
+rock, but is usually, at least partially, shaded by some bush,
+loose brush, brakes, or weeds. The birds are very apt to return to
+the exact spot to nest each year.
+
+_Eggs._--As a rule the eggs of the dusky poorwill, two in number,
+are similar to the eggs of other poorwills, but van Rossem and
+Bowles (1920) write:
+
+     In a majority of the descriptions that are given for eggs
+     of the various forms of the Poor-will, the color is stated
+     as white, without markings, sometimes with a pinkish tinge.
+     However, such was by no means the case with the set of
+     eggs under discussion. Before blowing, the ground color
+     was a strong salmon pink; but this, after blowing, turned
+     to a clear, glossy, pinkish white, strongly suggesting
+     eggs of the Merrill Pauraque (_Nyctidromus albicollis
+     merrilli_), although the pink of the Poor-will eggs showed
+     a closer approach to salmon. Around the larger ends was a
+     rather dense wreath of lavender and dusky spots and dots,
+     making the eggs look exceedingly like the marked eggs of
+     some small petrel. * * * In the course of time many of the
+     smaller dots have faded out, leaving only a comparatively
+     few spots and dots to show where the heavy wreath was
+     once located. The strong pinkish tinge has also very
+     largely gone, in spite of the fact that the eggs have been
+     carefully kept from exposure to the light.
+
+The measurements of 40 eggs average 26.3 by 19.4 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =28.4= by 20.0, 27.7 by
+=21.1=, =24.2= by 18.2, and 24.9 by =17.0= millimeters.
+
+_Behavior._--Poorwills are notoriously close sitters, but the
+pair studied by Mr. Aldrich (1935) were unusually tame. He was
+repeatedly able to approach cautiously to within 3 or 4 feet of
+the incubating bird; once, at night, eight observers managed to
+approach within 2 feet, while the bird sat tight all the time.
+The next morning, “when we were but three feet from the nest, the
+bird’s large clear white spots on the tail identified it to be the
+male that was doing the incubating. Many pictures were taken, some
+as close as ten inches, without the slightest sign of fear on the
+part of the sitting bird. * * * Experiments were made to find the
+extent of his ‘bravery’ by touching him. While touching the head
+the first time he flattened out his wings and spread the fan-like
+tail over the tips of them showing all the tail spots. The large
+head was then brought far back on the shoulders, the cavernous
+mouth opened extremely wide showing the pink interior, and a low
+guttural hiss was emitted at short intervals.”
+
+Later in the same day, at 2 p. m., he flushed the female from the
+nest and sat down 5 yards away to watch her return; “exactly ten
+and one-half minutes marked the reappearance of the same bird. She
+had flown from behind the log nearly to the top where she could
+barely look over and observe the surroundings. Immediately she
+started swaying from side to side very slowly and rhythmically for
+about five seconds before walking to the top of the log, each step
+in synchronization with the swaying. Here she paused for about
+twenty seconds, and then flew a few yards, within two and one-half
+feet of the nest, where she began swaying again. The rest of the
+distance to the nest was accomplished by this slow walking-swaying
+process, and she did not seem to get anxious and speed up as she
+came closer. Two short stops were made on the way.”
+
+The dusky poorwill is tame and unsuspicious at other times also.
+Rollo H. Beck (1897) watched one at short range while it was
+catching insects on a road and finally succeeded in putting his hat
+over it, though it escaped; he says: “After watching it a while I
+crawled up within four feet and had a chance to watch it in the
+bright moonlight. It would fly perhaps twenty or thirty feet into
+the air after insects and return again within four or five feet
+of me. One time it flew up and evidently picked an insect off the
+leaf of a wild cherry tree, fluttering for several seconds in its
+endeavor to do so. It several times flew by me after food and
+returning would fly within a foot or so of my head and alight just
+in front of me.”
+
+_Voice._--H. Gordon Heggeness writes to me of the song of the dusky
+poorwill as he heard it in the Sequoia National Park: “Sometimes
+early in the morning the poorwill would be heard--the calm, liquid
+notes carrying far on the cool air. On August 12, 1935, a poorwill
+began singing back of my cabin at 2:30 a. m. His most pleasing
+notes were heard continuously for the next half hour.”
+
+Grinnell and Storer (1924) write: “It is heard most persistently at
+dusk of evening or in the early morning; but near Pleasant Valley
+on the morning of May 23, 1915, one of these birds suddenly broke
+out at 10 o’clock and uttered its _poor-will-o_ 85 times (by count,
+within 2 or 3) at intervals of two or three seconds.”
+
+R. H. Lawrence wrote to Major Bendire (1895) that, according to
+his hearing, “the words ‘Pearl-rab-it’ give a fair idea of its
+call”; and that “when startled it gave quickly, two or three times
+in succession, a low, soft note, like ‘pweek, pweek, pweek,’ which
+could only be heard a few yards away.”
+
+
+                PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI HUEYI Dickey
+
+                          DESERT POORWILL
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Donald R. Dickey (1928) described and named this pale race of the
+poorwill from a fine series of specimens collected in the valley of
+the Colorado River by Mrs. May Canfield and Laurence M. Huey. As to
+its subspecific characters, he says that it is “nearest in color
+to the light type of _Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nuttalli_ (Audubon),
+which Brewster named _nitidus_ and to which he gave the eminently
+fitting vernacular of the Frosted Poor-will, but averaging very
+much lighter. The backs of _hueyi_ are pinkish tan, almost devoid
+of the silver frosting characteristic of more eastern birds, and
+with the size of the dark dorsal ‘owl’s eye’ marking greatly
+reduced, in many cases practically obsolete; under parts lighter
+throughout, with the dark band below the white collar narrower and
+of lighter tone, and with narrower barring of sides and flanks.
+Tail lighter and less contrastingly barred above and below.”
+
+The 1931 Check-list gives the range of this race as the valley of
+the lower Colorado River, in southeastern California, southwestern
+Arizona, and extreme northeastern Baja California.
+
+A. J. van Rossem (1936) took four poorwills near Bates Well, in
+south-central Arizona, that were somewhat intermediate between
+_hueyi_ and _nuttalli_, though nearer the latter; this locality
+probably indicates the approximate area of intergradation between
+the two races. “All were collected in an arrowweed-mesquite
+association along the borders of the dry stream bed. Conditions,
+both as to habitat and temperatures, closely approximated those
+found along the Lower Colorado River Valley, beyond the confines of
+which _hueyi_ has not been detected.”
+
+This poorwill probably does not differ materially in its habits
+from neighboring races of the species.
+
+
+              PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI DICKEYI Grinnell
+
+                        SAN IGNATIO POORWILL
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Three races of the poorwill are found on the peninsula of Baja
+California. The present form ranges from about latitude 30°
+southward to the Cape region; the dusky poorwill (_californicus_)
+extends its range southward in the northwestern portion to about
+latitude 30°, chiefly on the Pacific slope; and the desert poorwill
+(_hueyi_) is found in the extreme northeastern portion.
+
+The San Ignatio poorwill is a small, dark race. Dr. Joseph
+Grinnell, who described and named it, says (1928) that it is
+“similar to _Ph. n. californicus_ in degree of general darkness but
+decidedly smaller, and with black areas on the individual feathers
+of scapulars, top of head and chest greatly reduced, in this
+respect resembling _hueyi_; terminal white of lateral rectrices
+greater in amount than in _californicus_; light portions of general
+color scheme much darker than in _hueyi_ or _nuttallii_, tinged
+with clay color rather than ‘frosted’--in this respect darker
+even than in average _californicus_; dark barring on posterior
+lower surface much more extensive and heavier than in _hueyi_ or
+_nuttalli_.”
+
+William Brewster (1902) referred the poorwills of the Cape region
+to the race he named the frosted poorwill (_Ph. n. nitidus_),
+based on a pair collected by M. A. Frazar in the Sierra de la
+Laguna. Mr. Frazar said that on the mountains the poorwills did
+not begin singing until about the middle of May. “Their note is
+a _pow-wè-hoo_, the first syllable given long, the accent on the
+second, and the last little more than a retraction of the breath.
+They were almost invariably in large oaks and very seldom on the
+ground. A female shot June 6 was undoubtedly mated and would have
+laid soon.”
+
+Nothing seems to be known about the nesting or other habits of this
+poorwill.
+
+
+              NYCTIDROMUS ALBICOLLIS MERRILLI Sennett
+
+                         MERRILL’S PAURAQUE
+
+                              PLATE 28
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Merrill’s pauraque is the largest subspecies of a widely
+distributed species of goatsucker that ranges throughout Mexico,
+Central America, and northern South America, and that has been
+divided into six subspecies. Our pauraque extends its range from
+northern Mexico into the valley of the Rio Grande and northward
+through the Gulf coast of Texas to Nueces, Aransas, and Refugio
+Counties. The vernacular name, pauraque, pronounced “pou-rä´-kā,”
+is derived from a fancied resemblance to one of its notes. The
+Mexican name, cuiejo, pronounced “coo-ya-ho,” has a similar origin.
+
+This bird was first introduced to our fauna by Dr. J. C. Merrill,
+who took the first specimen at Fort Brown, Tex., on April 1, 1876.
+The subspecies was first described and named by George B. Sennett
+(1888), who gives a full account of its plumages at different ages
+and says of its relation to other races of the species: “This form,
+when compared with others of the species from Southern Mexico,
+Costa Rica, Panama, Guiana, and Brazil, can be distinguished, first
+by the prevailing gray color on upper parts, where the others have
+brown, rufous or cinnamon; second, by its large size, exceeding the
+large southern Brazilian form in length of wing and equalling it in
+length of tail; third, by the males having the outer tailfeather
+generally without white, and the white when it does occur being
+much restricted, while in more tropical and South American forms
+the rule is that males have much white on inner web of outer
+tailfeather.” This third point seems open to question, as this
+character seems to be very variable, possibly owing to age.
+
+D. B. Burrows, in some notes sent to Major Bendire (1895) says:
+“During the winter the birds may be flushed from the dense thickets
+in the bottom lands, but as the nesting season approaches they
+leave these close retreats and seek more open ground.”
+
+Mr. Sennett (1878) says of their haunts: “I saw them occasionally,
+singly and in pairs, about the thickets and open chaparral, and
+once in the canebrakes close to the woods.” Again (1879) he says:
+“They breed in the more open places among the cactus and scattered
+bushes along with _O. texensis_--Texas Nighthawk. On dark days I
+flushed them from thickets in the chaparral, or from copses near
+the bottom lands on the edges of the woods.”
+
+_Nesting._--Mr. Sennett’s nests “were found in open brush, on the
+bare ground. One of them was partly concealed by the branches of a
+low bush 6 or 8 inches from the ground.”
+
+Mr. Burrows wrote to Major Bendire (1895): “I have never found the
+Pauraque nesting in the dense thickets, where they hide during the
+winter. They seek the more open ground, the high, level spots near
+the river, or up some arroya, among scattering bushes and pear
+cactus, but never on the rocky hills, where the Texan Nighthawk is
+frequently found. In one instance a nest was found at the edge of
+a cultivated field. The eggs are placed on the bare ground, with
+no attempt at nest building, and usually at the foot of a clump of
+bushes. The bird, when flushed from the nest, quietly darts off and
+drops to the ground but a short distance away.”
+
+Dr. James C. Merrill (1878) writes: “On the 15th of May, 1876, I
+found a set of eggs near camp at Hidalgo, and on returning in about
+fifteen minutes to secure the parent, who had disappeared among the
+thickets, I found that she had removed the eggs, although they had
+not been touched.”
+
+_Eggs._--The pauraque lays two very handsome eggs, quite unlike
+the eggs of any other species in the family. They vary in shape
+between oval and elliptical-oval, with a decided tendency toward
+ovate or elliptical-ovate, one end often being slightly more
+pointed than the other. The shell is smooth, with little or no
+gloss. The ground color varies from “light ochraceous-salmon” to
+“pinkish buff”. Some eggs appear to be nearly immaculate, but in
+most cases they are more or less evenly covered, some sparingly
+and some profusely, with small blotches, spots, or dots of pale
+“clay color,” pale “cinnamon,” or, more rarely, with deeper shades
+of “cinnamon-rufous”; often there are underlying blotches or spots
+of “ecru-drab” or “light cinnamon-drab.” Occasionally the markings
+are concentrated around the larger end, but usually they are quite
+evenly distributed.
+
+The measurements of 50 eggs average 29.80 by 22.36 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =35.10= by 23.10, 31.50 by
+=24.64=, =27.18= by 20.57, and 28.96 by =20.32= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--In his unpublished manuscript on the birds of the
+Caribbean lowlands of Central America, kindly lent me, Alexander
+F. Skutch devotes considerable space to his studies of the care
+and feeding of the young of the local race of the pauraque
+(_Nyctidromus albicollis albicollis_). As the habits of the
+different races of this species probably do not differ materially,
+it seems pertinent to include here some of his remarks on this
+subject. He says that “during the day male and female take turns
+on the eggs, relieving each other every two or three hours. The
+male is usually found incubating in the early morning. At night,
+I have found only the female covering the eggs.” Other species of
+goatsuckers have been reported as moving their eggs to a place
+of safety after being disturbed, but he found no evidence that
+this species does so, saying: “I have given pauraques all kinds
+of incentives to move their eggs to a safer place, but they have
+never shifted their positions even a few inches as a result of my
+interference. The case was quite different when I moved the eggs
+from the spot which the birds had selected as their nest.” In this
+case, he had moved the eggs twice, once only a few inches and once
+a foot away from an area infested by fire ants; but each time the
+parents moved them back again to their chosen spot; the result was
+that, as soon as the eggs began to hatch, the chicks were destroyed
+by the ants. He did not see how the eggs were moved; probably they
+were pushed along with the feet and body, as the nighthawk has been
+seen to do.
+
+Both parents took turns in brooding the young throughout the day,
+relieving each other at intervals of two or three hours, as they
+did on the eggs. As the young were fed in the dusk or deeper
+darkness of evening, it was only after several trials that he
+was able to see the performance clearly. He writes: “It was dark
+now, but at the critical moment I pushed the button of a powerful
+flashlight. The mother was resting on the ground in her customary
+position, looking toward me with eyes that shone like rubies in the
+beam of light. The little ones stood on tiptoe in front of her,
+their necks stretched up, bringing their heads on a level with her
+mouth. One was being fed while the other waited impatiently for its
+turn. Though her _mouth_ was so big she could easily have swallowed
+her nestling whole, her little _bill_ was inserted into its widely
+open mouth, just as with a hummingbird, and with distended throat
+and convulsive movements of the body she regurgitated into it the
+insects she had captured. When she had given sufficient to the
+first one, she paused with head erect, clearly much alarmed by the
+light, but the second continued its silent importunities and the
+parent yielded despite her fears, feeding it in the same manner.
+Then she went off to hunt more insects.
+
+“Presently one of the parents entered the thicket again, but
+instead of going to the youngsters it settled on the ground
+behind the blind, fully 20 feet from them, and began the low
+croaking-clucking call, which draws them as the magnet draws
+the floating needle. The two- and three-day-old bantlings drew
+themselves up and began hopping bravely toward the voice, peeping
+as they went through the darkness. Directly in their path was a
+young banana plant, which I had felled in clearing a place for the
+blind. The large, slippery leaves lay in a tangled mass that loomed
+above them; the Alps formed no more insurmountable obstacle to the
+advance of Hannibal’s army than this confusing barrier to the young
+pauraques. Dauntless as the renowned Carthaginian, they pushed
+resolutely onward, lured by the continued calls. I completely
+lost sight of them in the obscurity, but for many minutes their
+weak cries emerged from the dark mass. At length they descended
+victorious into the plains of Italy, and henceforth their path,
+although not free from obstacles, was comparatively easy. Finally
+they found a haven beneath their parent’s sheltering wings.”
+
+On this and previous occasions Mr. Skutch discovered that the
+young pauraques were perfectly capable of locomotion, even at an
+early age, in response to warning calls from their parents. He saw
+no evidence that the adults ever carried them in their capacious
+mouths, as other species of the Caprimulgidae have been reported
+to do, or assisted them to move in any other way. He says that
+“during the day male and female take turns on the eggs, relieving
+each other every two or three hours. The male is usually found
+incubating in the early morning. At night, I have found only the
+female covering the eggs.”
+
+_Plumages._--The downy young pauraque is as unique among the
+Caprimulgidae as are the eggs. It is completely covered with fine,
+soft down, leaving nothing exposed but the tip of the bill and the
+feet. The colors are rich and contrasting; the forehead, crown,
+and nape are “pinkish buff”; the lores, cheeks, and auriculars are
+“mikado brown”; the back and rump are “sayal brown,” with a central
+band of “pinkish buff”; the chin and throat are pale “pinkish
+cinnamon,” and the remainder of the under parts are “pinkish buff.”
+
+Ridgway (1914) describes a female nestling, not yet fully grown,
+as follows: “General color of upper parts pale brownish gray,
+very minutely vermiculated or stippled with darker; pileum and
+scapulars with scattered roundish and subtriangular small spots
+of black; interscapular region clouded or blotched with black;
+under parts light grayish buff, narrowly barred with dusky on
+chest, more broadly barred with the same on throat, breast, and
+sides, the abdomen and under tail-coverts immaculate; thighs
+uniform light fawn color; remiges and rectrices (not fully grown)
+apparently as in adult female.” Of a young female, fully grown, he
+says: “Primaries and rectrices as in adult female; pileum spotted,
+instead of streaked, with black, the spots mostly of broadly
+triangular form; back also heavily spotted, or blotched, instead of
+streaked, with black; scapulars without buff margins; barring of
+under parts much less sharply defined, less dark in color; throat
+band light dull buff, barred with blackish.”
+
+Mr. Sennett (1888) says of the young male: “White wing-patch of
+male mixed with buff; white on tail not so sharply defined, nor
+does it extend so near to base as in mature birds. The outer
+tail-feathers are barred and streaked with brown and buff. White
+throat-patch smaller and barred sparingly with black and buff. In
+this immature stage the sexes are not easily determined aside from
+the difference in the white tail-patches; in the males the white
+on second feather from outside is never less than 2.5 inches long,
+while in the females the corresponding patch is about one inch in
+length.”
+
+The above descriptions evidently refer to the juvenal, or first
+plumage, which is largely replaced in summer, July and August, by a
+first winter plumage. In this the contour plumage is much like that
+of the adult, the spots on the crown and back being replaced by
+streaks; but the juvenal wings and tail are retained; the sexes are
+much alike in this plumage but can always be distinguished by the
+amount of white in the tail.
+
+I have seen birds in this plumage in October, December, and March,
+from which I infer that it is worn until the first postnuptial molt
+the following summer. Mr. Sennett (1888) thought that “at least
+two years must elapse before the perfect plumage is attained”; but
+it seems more likely that the first postnuptial molt produces a
+plumage that is practically adult, except for some dusky mottling
+on the tips and edges of the white tail feathers, and some buffy
+intrusion of the white wing patch, which may indicate that the
+full purity of these white areas is not attained at the first
+postnuptial molt.
+
+Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say: “Young birds which have assumed
+the postjuvenal plumage may be distinguished from adults by
+the narrower, more pointed, and usually impurely colored tail
+feathers and by the buffy edgings and mottlings on the tips of the
+primaries. The juvenal primaries which are worn until the bird
+enters the second fall (first annual) molt, are from 5 to 10 mm.
+shorter than those of adults. Males, at least, breed the first
+spring as shown by dissection of several specimens. The annual molt
+of adults takes place in August and September.”
+
+There are two distinct color phases in the adult plumage, a
+gray-brown phase and a tawny phase, mainly recognizable in the
+coloration of the upper surface. Ridgway (1914) says of the former,
+“pileum, hindneck, and interscapular region grayish brown,” and of
+the tawny phase, “general coloration of upper parts much more tawny
+or ochraceous, the general color of the pileum varying from fawn
+color to mars brown or russet.”
+
+_Food._--Bendire (1895) says that “the food of Merrill’s Pauraque,
+like that of the rest of the _Caprimulgidae_, consists mainly of
+night-flying insects, such as moths, beetles, etc. The crop of a
+specimen shot by Mr. H. P. Attwater, near Rockport, Texas, was
+filled with fireflies, _Photinus pyralis_?”
+
+On several occasions, Mr. Burrows (Bendire, 1895) observed a
+pauraque “perched upon the extremity of a low, dead limb, or on the
+top of a bush. At these times I found that the bird was watching
+for food, and at intervals would leave the perch, dart off a short
+distance as if in pursuit of an insect, and as quickly return, in
+very much the same manner that the Whip-poor-will is accustomed
+to do. I believe that these birds are strictly insectivorous; but
+I have never made an examination of the stomach except in one
+instance. The stomach of this bird, killed in January, showed parts
+of the feet and wings of beetles and other insects.”
+
+Three stomachs examined by Cottam and Knappen (1939) contained
+parts of ant lions, stink bugs, soldier bugs, locusts, click
+beetles, tiger beetles, ostomid beetles, twig borer, carrot muck
+beetle, long-horned beetles, and traces of butterflies, moths,
+bees, or wasps. Beetles made up 89 percent of the whole food.
+
+_Behavior._--Mr. Burrows (Bendire, 1895) writes:
+
+     During the daytime the birds were commonly found on the
+     ground at the foot of a growth of bushes or among fallen
+     branches, and I have occasionally found them perched,
+     nighthawk-fashion, upon a low branch not more than a foot
+     from the ground. When closely approached, they dart quickly
+     forward in a zigzag course, dropping as suddenly to the
+     ground. This flight is short, usually not more than 50 or
+     80 feet, and when settled they commonly remain perfectly
+     quiet until again flushed. They have a peculiar way of
+     turning or facing about as they strike the ground, so that
+     they can better watch the approaching danger. They lie so
+     close that it is with great difficulty that they can be
+     detected, unless the spot is carefully marked. In a number
+     of instances, where the bird seemed to feel that it was
+     observed, I have had them go through a peculiar bowing
+     movement, resembling that of the Burrowing Owl, except that
+     the body is raised from its completely prostrate condition.
+
+The pauraque has a relatively longer tarsus than our other members
+of the goatsucker family; hence it is more active on its feet. Dr.
+Frank M. Chapman (1896) observes: “I was surprised to learn how
+rapidly these birds can run. On one occasion two lit within a few
+feet of me when it was light enough to distinguish their movements.
+They crouched close to the earth, sometimes running quickly and
+with unexpected ease for a few steps, then turned their heads
+sharply from side to side as though looking for insects. They would
+also spring suddenly fifteen feet into the air to catch a passing
+insect.”
+
+_Voice._--Dr. Merrill (1878) writes: “Their notes are among
+the most characteristic night sounds of the Lower Rio Grande,
+and are constantly heard at evening during the summer months.
+They consist of a repeated whistle resembling the syllables
+_whew-whew-whew-whew-whe-e-e-e-e-w_, much stress being laid upon
+the last, which is prolonged. The whole is soft and mellow, yet
+can be heard at a great distance. The preliminary _whews_ vary
+somewhat in number, and late in the season are often omitted
+altogether.”
+
+Mr. Burrows wrote to Major Bendire (1895): “At the approach of the
+breeding season and as early as the middle of March the peculiar
+whistle of the Pauraque becomes general, and along the lower Rio
+Grande, where they are common, it may be heard on all sides. * * *
+The birds begin to call as the dusk of evening comes on. The
+commonest call is a long-drawn ‘ko, whe-e-e-e-e-w’, much prolonged,
+and raised to a high pitch toward the last. This is repeated often
+and with great energy, and on a still night may be heard at a long
+distance. At other times the first syllable is omitted. Again it
+is varied by a repetition of the first syllable, as ‘ko, ko, ko,
+ko-whe-e-e,’ the first syllables repeated deliberately, and the
+last not so long-drawn and suddenly cut short.” He also refers to a
+short _put, put_ note, resembling one of the notes of a wild turkey.
+
+The name of the pauraque is said to have been derived from a
+fancied resemblance to one of its notes; the same is true of its
+Mexican name, cuiejo.
+
+_Winter._--The pauraque is a permanent resident in southern Texas
+and farther south, and even as far north as the Nueces River. Mr.
+Burrows found it “to be fairly common” during the winter and spring
+of 1894. He met with it during the winter in Starr County, southern
+Texas, and says: “When the nesting season is over the birds
+remain quiet, and their peculiar whistling note is not heard with
+regularity, and yet, on very warm nights during each of the winter
+months, I have occasionally heard them. During the winter the birds
+may be flushed from the dense thickets in the bottom lands.”
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--Southern Texas and northeastern Mexico; not regularly
+migratory.
+
+The range of Merrill’s pauraque extends =north= to southern Texas
+(Refugio County and Aransas County). =East= to Texas (Aransas
+County, Corpus Christi, Rio Hondo, and Brownsville); eastern
+Tamaulipas (Aldama, Altamira, and Tampico); and Veracruz (Mirador
+and Jalapa). =South= to central Veracruz (Jalapa); and Puebla
+(Metlaltoyuca and Tehuacan). =West= to southeastern Puebla
+(Tehuacan); western Tamaulipas (Santa Leonor and Rio Cruz); and
+Texas (Lomita, Neuces County, San Patricio County, and Refugio
+County).
+
+Closely allied races of this bird are found in Central and South
+America.
+
+_Egg dates._--Mexico: 9 records, March 22 to June 22.
+
+Texas: 66 records, March 5 to June 26; 33 records, April 15 to May
+16, indicating the height of the season.
+
+
+                  CHORDEILES MINOR MINOR (Forster)
+
+                         EASTERN NIGHTHAWK
+
+                            PLATES 29–33
+
+                  CONTRIBUTED BY ALFRED OTTO GROSS
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The nighthawk, because of its piercing calls and the extraordinary
+evolutions and gyrations of its flight, attracts many persons, even
+the casual observers who ordinarily pay no special attention to
+birds. A bird so unique and striking, one that during its breeding
+season plays such an important role in our experiences out of
+doors, is destined to be the recipient of many common names.
+
+Long before the white man came to America the nighthawk was well
+known to the Indians, and we find it taking a prominent place in
+their myths and traditions. Apparently the notes of this bird
+appealed most, since the names chosen by the various tribes were
+usually graphic allusions to the calls or to the characteristic
+booming noise heard during the courtship season. To the tribes
+along the Connecticut River this booming was the sound of the Shad
+Spirit announcing to the shoals of shad, about to ascend the river,
+of their impending fate. The nighthawk was known to the Seminoles
+of Florida as “Ho-pil-car.” In the Milicite Indian Natural History
+there is the name “Pik-teis-k wes,” and according to W. W.
+Cooke (1884) the Chippewas not only had the name “Besh-que” for
+the nighthawk but recognized it as a species distinct from the
+whippoorwill, to which they gave the name “Gwen-go-wi-a.” That the
+Chippewa Indians differentiated these two species is all the more
+remarkable when we recall that this distinction was confused by
+Catesby and the American ornithologists of the next 50 years who
+followed him. It was Alexander Wilson who first noted that they
+were distinct species.
+
+When the first European settlers came to our coast they compared
+the nighthawk and the whippoorwill with the nightjar of their old
+homes, and hence we find this name in the earlier ornithological
+writings used as a synonym for the American bird. In certain
+districts of England and Scotland the nightjar is called the
+goatsucker, a name that originated from the queer superstition that
+this bird with its enormous mouth sucked the teats of goats. Like
+the name nightjar the name goatsucker also crossed the Atlantic, as
+is manifested by such names as long-winged goatsucker and Virginia
+goatsucker to be found in the older books and papers dealing with
+American birds. The name goatsucker is still applied to the order
+and family but is seldom used today in designating the species.
+
+In parts of the United States, especially in the South, nighthawks
+are known as bats, since the birds are usually seen at dusk
+when their erratic flight resembles somewhat that of the common
+mammal. This resemblance linked with the bellowing or booming
+sound produced by the wing feathers during the courtship plunge
+has given source to the commonly used name bullbat. Audubon (1840)
+used the synonym Virginia bat and stated that the French Creoles of
+Louisanaknew the nighthawk by the metaphorical French name “crapau
+volans,” or flying toad. In the Bahamas, as well as in certain
+localities of America, a common local name is “pick-a-me-dick,” a
+crude imitation of one of its notes. The name mosquito hawk was
+well earned by one individual that, according to the Biological
+Survey, had eaten 300 mosquitoes. Other names sometimes applied to
+the nighthawk but less frequently than some of those previously
+mentioned are pisk, pork and beans, will-o’-wisp, burnt-land bird,
+and bird hawk.
+
+The commonly accepted name nighthawk probably originated because
+of the bird’s resemblance to the smaller hawks when observed in
+flight. However, it has sometimes proved to be an unfortunate
+choice, since to the layman it suggests a bird of the true hawk
+type. This name on occasions has been a source of trouble to an
+innocent bird as illustrated in the following cases. According to
+B. H. Warren (1890) the Pennsylvania Game Commissioners, in their
+interpretation of the Scalp Act of 1885, took the stand that they
+were obliged to allow bounty on all nighthawks because they were
+known as hawks. Mr. Warren also states that there is a somewhat
+prevalent idea that nighthawks are destroyers of young poultry, the
+name doubtless having given origin to the absurdity. The following
+clipping taken from the Portland (Maine) Press is another example
+of the way the name has misled well-meaning persons. “The Press
+building acquired a new claim to distinction yesterday as the haunt
+of wild fowl when janitor Phillip Ward, upon making an ascent to
+the roof, discovered two hen hawk’s eggs there. Apparently some
+bird of the genus so despised by farmers had found the top of
+Portland’s skyscrapers the right kind of a nesting place, and had
+laid her plans to hatch a few juvenile hen hawks up there. Janitor
+Ward’s unexpected arrival put an end to such plans, however, and
+farmers may rest assured that the breed of distasteful birds who
+pillage their chicken yards is two the less.” Arthur H. Norton,
+director of the Portland Society of Natural History, investigated
+the story and found the victim to be an innocent nighthawk. Adverse
+criticisms of the name nighthawk have been numerous but the name
+although inappropriate is destined to persist.
+
+_Spring._--The vanguard of the nighthawks in the spring migration
+reaches Florida and the Gulf States about the middle of April.
+There have been March arrivals reported, but these are exceptional.
+Large flocks, some of them numbering thousands of individuals,
+have been seen during May. Many of these southern records may be
+representatives of the southern form, _Chordeiles minor chapmani._
+
+It is not necessary to search the isolated retreats away from the
+habitations of man for the first nighthawk arrivals. In fact, they
+are more likely to appear in the midst of our populous cities and
+towns, where they may be seen flying high above the graveled roofs
+that later are to be the scene of their nesting activities.
+
+_Courtship._--The courtship of the nighthawk is an ardent and
+amorous performance on the part of the male. He may be seen at
+twilight or early dawn uttering his sharp _peent_ calls as he flies
+in wide circles sometimes hovering or soaring in the air high above
+the proposed nesting site. At more or less regular intervals he
+swoops down often within a few yards of his mate. Just as he seems
+about to dash into the ground he makes an abrupt upward turn, the
+vibrating primaries producing the well-known boom. After these
+preliminary aerial performances the male alights on the ground or
+graveled roof near the resting passive female. He now stands on his
+feet instead of resting his body on the ground. His tail is widely
+spread like a fan and wagged from side to side while the body is
+given a peculiar rocking motion. The throat is frequently puffed
+out, displaying a large white patch, which is ordinarily concealed
+when he is at rest. Synchronized with the throat distension is the
+uttering of guttural croaking notes. In producing these notes the
+bird holds the beak tightly closed, so that the throat membrane
+is distended by the pressure of the air emitted from the lungs.
+Under these conditions the sound waves originating at the syrinx
+beat against the tense membrane, producing notes of a striking
+and peculiar resonant quality. These notes are not uttered under
+ordinary conditions and constitute a very important part of the
+courtship.
+
+The female, as far as outward manifestations are concerned, does
+not seem to be at all impressed by these extraordinary antics.
+The male at times in seeming desperation flies directly over the
+female uttering a sharp _peent_. He may then circle the female
+several times but even to this she seems unmoved. At times, when
+he approaches too near, the female will take a short flight,
+alighting a few yards away. The male follows and the performance
+described above is repeated. Eventually the courtship terminates in
+copulation.
+
+The aerial evolutions of the male, including the downward plunges
+and “booming,” are continued throughout the nesting period, but
+after the young are hatched his effervescent energies are directed
+in part to securing food for his offspring. With regard to the
+courtship of the nighthawk, Charles W. Townsend (1920b), who gave
+the subject of the courtship of birds careful study, stated:
+“The rapid headlong plunges of the nighthawk may be classed as a
+display of motion, a form of the dance. Incidentally, and perhaps
+accidentally at first, a loud booming sound is produced by the
+rush of air through the wing feathers. This instrumental music is
+now the important feature, although the dance is by no means a
+negligible one.”
+
+_Nesting._--The nesting site, according to the procedure of a pair
+of nighthawks studied by me at Brunswick, Maine, is chosen by the
+female. A banded female returned to the same nesting site on the
+graveled roof of the high school building for four successive
+years, although the males, during at least two seasons, were
+different individuals.
+
+The nighthawk is solitary in its nesting habits, though there have
+been instances where the nests of this species have been placed
+very near together, approaching a gregarious tendency. For example,
+E. A. Samuels (1872) states that on “a ledge of rocks back of
+the settlement known as Wilson’s Mills, which seemed a favorite
+breeding-place for these birds, and, in the space of every four
+or five rods, a female was sitting on her eggs.” B. H. Warren
+(1890) writes that he has found several nighthawks breeding within
+a few yards of each other. A similar case of this kind was noted
+at Gardner, Maine, where five pairs of birds nested in a very
+restricted area of an old deserted dock. I am inclined to believe
+that the existence of a good nesting site rather than a social
+tendency is the more important factor in causing these birds to
+nest in proximity. In general, each pair of birds has a relatively
+large nesting territory, which is vigilantly guarded. I have never
+noted any marked tendency of the birds to flock together until
+after the nesting season prior to and during the migrations.
+
+The nests of the nighthawk located on the ground are found in a
+diversity of situations as far as the surroundings are concerned.
+It prefers gravel beaches or open barren areas of rock or soil
+unobstructed by tall shrubbery or trees. It never builds a nest in
+the seclusion of a forest. In regions where forests abound it nests
+in places where vegetation is sparse or preferably where forest
+fires have left a barren waste. C. F. Batchelder (1882) found the
+nighthawk frequenting burnt lands in the region of the upper St.
+John River near Fort Fairfield, Maine, and it has also been found
+to be common in the burnt lands of the Restigouche Valley, New
+Brunswick. R. W. Chaney (1910) found a nest in a burnt-over area
+near a partly burned log in Mason County, Mich. I found three nests
+of the nighthawk in a burnt-over area near the Biological Station,
+Douglas Lake, northern Michigan, and C. E. Johnson (1920) saw two
+young on a scantily moss-covered and stick-strewn rock outcrop in
+Lake County, Minn., in a district previously burnt over. It has
+been noted that in regions that have been burnt over the nighthawk
+population increases; hence the burning of timber land, which is
+so destructive to many species of birds, is not a hindrance but
+possibly an aid to the general welfare of the nighthawk.
+
+The nighthawk has also been found to breed in cultivated areas.
+I. E. Hess (1910) noted its nesting in plowed fields in central
+Illinois, and T. G. Gentry (1877) states that old stubble fields
+are frequently selected as nesting sites. H. J. Rust (1911)
+has reported the western nighthawk in cornfields in Idaho and
+California. The Texas nighthawk, according to Sharp (1907), is a
+common inhabitant of the vineyards of San Diego, Calif., where
+the eggs are placed on the ground under or near the vines. Nests
+have also been found in potato fields and even in gardens near
+the houses of man. C. B. Ressel (1889) reported the eggs of the
+nighthawk placed upon the loose soil thrown up by the woodchuck
+(_Marmota monax_), indicating that barren places even though they
+are composed of loose soil may be preferred to sites covered with
+vegetation, twigs, or other debris.
+
+In Virginia, according to H. H. Bailey (1913), the nighthawk often
+departs from its usual ground nest to a place on a stump, fence
+rail, or tops of drifts formed on the islands off the Virginia
+coast. Nests on stumps have been reported from various localities.
+I have found nests on the flat surface of top rails of fences in
+central Illinois; one of these nests was 8 feet from the ground. V.
+Max Kemery (1925) reports an unusual nesting site between the rails
+on a railroad track that was in daily use. The bird would fly when
+the cars or engine approached but returned as soon as the train had
+passed. Another unique nesting place that has come to my attention
+is an old robin’s nest located in a tree near Farmington, Maine.
+This nighthawk, according to Mr. Jewell (1908), nested in this
+unusual site for five successive years, the tree being destroyed by
+fire at the end of that time.
+
+The nighthawk in increasing numbers is availing itself of nesting
+sites provided by the graveled roofs of our cities and towns. In
+certain sections of the country this tendency is so marked that
+nighthawks are now seldom seen remote from graveled roofs during
+the nesting season, according to Lynds Jones (1909). The chimney
+swift, a not distant relative of the nighthawk, long ago forsook
+its primitive nesting sites in hollow trees, and today we no
+longer associate them with such places. Occurring simultaneously
+with the destruction of the giant forest trees was the erection
+of chimneys in connection with the homes of civilized races. The
+chimney swift, deprived of its original nesting site, was quick to
+make the radical but necessary change. Doubtless this adaptability
+to a changing environment has been an important factor in the
+preservation of the species. Chimneys have been used in America
+for centuries, but the graveled roof on which the nighthawk builds
+its nest is a comparatively recent development. It was not until
+the middle of the nineteenth century that the mansard and the flat
+type of graveled roofs were introduced. It was not long after
+these first roofs were built that the nighthawks discovered the
+possibilities of a new and admirable type of nesting site. As
+early as 1869 W. P. Turnbull wrote that the nighthawk was often
+seen high in the air above the streets of Philadelphia and that
+their nests were frequently found on the roofs of the warehouses
+of the city. Louis A. Zarega (1882) reported finding them breeding
+on a roof on the north side of 71st street, Philadelphia, in June
+1882. In 1870 and 1871 Dr. T. M. Brewer (1874) found a number of
+instances of this bird nesting on the flat mansard roofs of Boston,
+and a few years later it was discovered nesting on the flat roofs
+of Montreal, Canada, by William Couper (1876). In 1879 a pair
+of the birds built a nest on a roof in the heart of the city of
+Cleveland, Ohio, and a few years later E. Sterling (1885) observed
+three pairs nesting on a slate roof of a large building near his
+study. Since 1880 there are innumerable records of nighthawks that
+have deserted the rural districts to take up their residence in
+the city. Today roof-nesting sites of the nighthawk seem no more
+unusual than the nests of the chimney swift built in our sooty
+chimneys. It is difficult to determine the factors that have been
+instrumental in this radical change, for unlike the case of the
+swift’s hollow trees, there are just as many rocky knolls, pebbly
+beaches, and barren fields as there were prior to the appearance of
+the flat-roofed buildings. Although certain insects such as flies
+and mosquitoes are abundant about our cities I do not believe that
+the food supply has an important bearing on this question, as has
+been maintained by certain observers. Even in the small country
+villages, wherever there are graveled roofs there is the usual
+quota of nighthawks. In these villages the environment, as far as
+food for the nighthawk is concerned, is not different from regions
+isolated from civilization.
+
+W. E. Saunders (1917) states that the young after their first
+flight often land on the ground and he asks the question: “What
+chance of survival is there for a young nighthawk on a city street
+or vacant lot?” Mr. Saunders believes that the nighthawk has
+steadily decreased in numbers since the bird has taken up its abode
+in the city and states further that immigration is the only thing
+that keeps up the city population. To the contrary my observations
+of the past 25 years in Maine indicate that the birds are not
+only maintaining but are increasing their numbers. Furthermore,
+the mortality of the birds that nest on roofs is much less than
+among those that choose nesting sites on the ground. In the latter
+place the birds are constantly exposed to the ravages of predatory
+animals including the cat. In the country hundreds of young birds
+meet with a tragic end without any of us being the wiser, while
+in the city such cases are more likely to be brought to our
+attention. On the city roof there is freedom from natural enemies.
+In the study of a large number of nighthawk families I have noted
+relatively few young that left the nesting roof prematurely, and it
+has been a common experience to see them return to the roof many
+times after the initial flight. One bird, the account of which is
+related in a subsequent division of this paper returned to the roof
+every day until it went south on its migration at the age of 52
+days. Many of the birds that nest on the roofs are never disturbed
+by human beings during the entire nesting period, and under such
+circumstances the young do not leave the security of the roof until
+they are able to fly well. It is obvious that the young of parents
+that nest on roofs are the ones most likely to survive, and they
+in turn will nest in similar situations the following seasons. It
+seems reasonable to suppose that after the habit is established
+natural selection and heredity play an important part in the
+general departure from the old to the new nesting environment.
+
+No attempt is made by the nighthawk to construct a nest, and no
+materials are added to those already present on the nesting site
+chosen by the birds. The eggs may be in a slight depression,
+but no material is excavated or removed by the bird except that
+incidentally shoved aside by the incubating bird.
+
+_Eggs._--Normally two eggs are laid, and there is seldom a
+departure from this number. In a letter dated January 20, 1936, F.
+W. Rapp, of Vicksburg, Mich., writes that he found a nest of the
+nighthawk containing three eggs on May 22, 1889.
+
+The eggs are elliptical-ovate or elliptical-oval, one end being
+slightly smaller than the other. The shell is strong, closed
+grained and moderately glossy. The ground color varies from pale
+creamy white to shades of cream olive-buff and olive-gray. The eggs
+are marked and speckled with shades of slate, black, drab, smoke
+and lilac gray, and tawny-olive, and some of the eggs have shades
+of pearly gray, lavender, and plumbeous. In some eggs the markings
+are fine and uniform in size, almost obscuring the ground color; in
+others they are less numerous but larger and more prominent. There
+is an endless variation in the details of the markings and colors,
+but the eggs in general exhibit a coloring that blends effectively
+with their surroundings.
+
+The average measurements of 81 eggs in the United States National
+Museum are long diameter 29.97, short diameter 21.84 millimeters.
+The largest egg of the series measured 33.53 by 22.86 and the
+smallest 27.68 by 20.57 millimeters. The average capacity of
+nighthawk eggs, according to Walter Hoxie (1887), is 0.448 cubic
+inch.
+
+The eggs do not necessarily remain in the position in which
+they are first laid, especially when the nesting site is on a
+comparatively level surface such as that provided by graveled
+roofs. During the period of incubation of two nests under daily
+observation, the eggs were gradually moved for a distance of 5 to 6
+feet. This shift in position comes about by the habit of the female
+pulling or pushing the eggs under her breast, thus moving them a
+short distance each time she settled on the eggs. As the direction
+of the bird’s approach was more or less constant, the eggs were
+moved in the same general direction. This resulted in a distinct
+trail being formed, giving an appearance that one would expect to
+see if a giant snail had traveled over the graveled surface and
+forced the larger pebbles to one side. B. H. Warren (1890) writes
+that the eggs of a nighthawk in one instance were moved 200 feet by
+the bird, which carried them in her mouth. I have never been able
+to verify this extraordinary behavior of a nighthawk transporting
+an object as large as an egg in its mouth.
+
+The following experiment is of interest as it suggests an
+interpretation of the manner in which a nighthawk locates its
+eggs. One evening when the female nighthawk was away feeding I
+moved the eggs to a place on the graveled roof about 6 feet from
+their original position. When the bird returned she alighted in
+the accustomed place and waddled up to the spot where she had
+left the eggs. No eggs being there, she went by a few inches,
+turned around, and recrossed the spot. This was repeated several
+times, and finally much bewildered she flew away. The eggs were
+in plain view yet were not discovered. Fearing she might desert
+her nest, I returned the eggs. In about 10 minutes the female
+returned, alighted in the usual position and without hesitation
+went directly to the eggs. This experiment was repeated on this and
+other birds with essentially the same results. It is evident that
+some factor such as a hypothetical sense of location or orientation
+is important, whereas sight plays a minor role for the nighthawk
+in locating its eggs. The same factor is probably important to
+the nighthawk in finding its way over thousands of miles during
+migration and its ability to arrive punctually not only in the same
+State and the same town but to the identical nesting site.
+
+_Incubation._--Both the male and female have been reported as
+sharing the duties of incubation. George H. Selleck (1916) states
+that the male nighthawk incubated the eggs during the daytime,
+whereas the female took charge of the nest at night in the case
+of a pair of birds he observed at Exeter, N. H. Dr. A. A. Allen
+(1933) states that the male takes his place on the eggs in the
+evening while the female is away feeding. Forbush (1927) states
+that both male and female share in incubation. On the other hand,
+J. H. Bowles (1921), who made an intensive study of the nighthawk,
+records only the female incubating the eggs. T. G. Gentry (1887)
+states that incubation “is the exclusive labor of the female”
+but that the young are cared for by both parents. It is evident,
+if the above statements are all true observations, that there is
+considerable individual variation in the behavior of the male in
+regard to incubation. In my own intensive studies of several pairs
+of nighthawks that nested on graveled roofs at Brunswick, Maine, I
+have never seen the male incubating the eggs. In the case of one
+nest under daily observation the birds were subject to study day
+and night by a relay of observers for a considerable part of the
+incubation period. The same held true for a pair of nighthawks
+studied in northern Michigan. Furthermore, visits made to numerous
+nests revealed in those cases that only the female was incubating
+the eggs, although the male was often very near to the female or to
+the eggs. My observations agree with the statement of Gentry that
+the female does all the incubating, but the male in most instances
+assists in caring for the young.
+
+The behavior of the birds in relation to the nest and eggs and
+correlated with the time of day, the weather, environmental
+conditions, and the activities of other birds can be illustrated by
+field notes taken on June 20, 1921. These notes are representative
+of observations taken throughout the nesting season. The nest under
+consideration was located on the graveled roof of a two-story
+high-school building at Brunswick, Maine, a village of about
+7,000 inhabitants located on the Androscoggin River. There are
+numerous giant elms and other shade trees along its streets, and
+the spacious yards and gardens present an environment attractive to
+a large number of birds. The times given throughout the following
+notes are eastern daylight saving:
+
+June 20, 1921. 2:50 a. m. Cloudy, moon hidden by clouds, clear near
+the eastern horizon where the stars shine brightly. Entered the
+blind on the roof at 3 a. m. Female incubating the eggs. Her eyes
+were wide open when viewed with the flash light.
+
+3:20 a. m. The female has been quiet during the past 20 minutes but
+has now shifted her position and is facing northeastward directly
+toward the first faint light of dawn. (Daily observations revealed
+that the nesting bird usually faced the sunrise in the morning and
+the sunset in the evening. In other words, she oriented herself
+toward the source of light preceding the times she anticipated
+leaving the nest to feed. It became evident through repeated
+experimental tests that her leaving the nest was considerably
+influenced by the factor of the intensity of light.)
+
+3:24 a. m. The male gives a loud _peent_ call as he awakens on his
+perch in the elm tree. (The elm stands in the school yard and some
+of its branches extend over the roof wall. The male’s favorite
+perch was on a large horizontal limb just above the level of the
+roof. When he was through with his activities in the morning or
+evening he usually retired to this limb. He generally perched
+lengthwise on this limb, but it was not rare for him to depart from
+the conventional nighthawk position and perch crosswise to the
+limb.)
+
+3:40 a. m. Light growing brighter in the east, the female can be
+seen without the use of the flashlight. She sits with her eyes
+closed, but from time to time she opens them, then raises her head
+and peers around, as if testing the intensity of the light prior to
+her leaving the nest.
+
+3:42 a. m. The male nighthawk alights on the roof and gives a sharp
+_peent_ call, followed by a series of guttural _awk-awk-awk_ notes.
+
+3:44 a. m. The male shifts his position to the roof wall but
+continues the guttural calls, each time displaying his conspicuous
+white throat patch.
+
+4:04 a. m. The male leaves the roof wall and alights on the
+graveled surface within 8 inches of the female. He utters a single
+sharp _peent_ note, then continues with the striking guttural _awk_
+calls. The female shows no outward signs of being impressed by the
+ardent attentions of her mate.
+
+4:08 a. m. The male leaves the roof but soon returns and is
+joined by a second male. Female leaves her nest and flies toward
+the males, and all leave under great excitement, uttering sharp,
+piercing calls. The female lent a hand in driving away the strange
+male.
+
+4:10 a. m. The female returns and pulls her eggs beneath her in the
+usual manner.
+
+4:14 a. m. The male alights on the roof about 30 feet from the nest
+and utters a series of _awk_ calls in rapid succession, as if much
+excited as the result of his combat.
+
+4:30 a. m. The male is chasing a strange nighthawk and, as he
+pursues he utters a series of _yap-yap-yap-yap_ calls in rapid fire
+succession, a note I have not heard before.
+
+4:33 a. m. The male is now going through his hair-raising dives
+and producing the so-called boom notes, which to me resemble
+_swo-o-o-onk_, with the accent on the last syllable.
+
+4:46 a. m. The sun has not yet risen. The male nighthawk flies to
+his perch in his favorite elm tree, and thus end his activities for
+the morning.
+
+9:00 a. m. The nighthawks have been quiet since 4:46 a. m. For the
+greater part of the time the female has been motionless, with her
+eyes closed, but at intervals she opens her eyes wide in response
+to some unusual disturbance. She did not leave to feed, as is usual
+for her to do each morning.
+
+9:10 a. m. The female shifted her position and turned her eggs.
+I left the blind at 9:15 a. m. and my place was taken by student
+observers, who took notes in relays until my return in the evening.
+They reported no activity on the part of the male. He remained on
+his perch in the elm throughout the day. The female did not leave
+the nest but merely shifted her position slightly from time to
+time in adjusting her eggs. When the heat was excessive she panted
+vigorously in order to adjust her body temperature.
+
+7:30 p. m. When I arrived at the roof the sun was shining on the
+nesting female. Her eyes were opened as I approached the nest but
+were again closed after I had entered the blind.
+
+8:05 p. m. The first _peent_ call of the nighthawk is heard from
+the male nighthawk, perched in the elm tree near the school
+building, where he had retired at 4:46 a. m.
+
+8:09 p. m. Male leaves his perch in the elm. Simultaneously another
+nighthawk appears from the elms farther down the street.
+
+8:46 p. m. The male alights near the nesting female.
+
+8:47 p. m. The female, facing toward the western sky, opens her
+eyes wide and turns from side to side. With this preliminary action
+repeated several times, she leaves the nest. The male remains
+within a few inches of the nest but makes no attempt to incubate
+the eggs. He merely serves as a guard while the female is away.
+
+8:48 p. m. The male leaves the roof for a moment, uttering the
+sharp _peent_ calls, and then returns to take up his position near
+to the nest.
+
+8:50 p. m. The female returns to the nest after being away only
+three minutes. The male was quiet while on the roof alone, but as
+soon as the female returned he started his guttural notes.
+
+8:58 p. m. The male takes leave without any ceremony and flies to
+his perch in the elm tree.
+
+9:01 p. m. The female leaves the nest quietly.
+
+9:22 p. m. No nighthawks have been seen or heard during the past 20
+minutes. The female unannounced returns, after her quest for food,
+to brood her eggs for the remainder of the night.
+
+Activities began again at 3:14 a. m. the next day, and the program
+was in all essentials similar to that recorded for June 20.
+Although a large series of such observations were made the male
+never was seen to incubate the eggs, but he regularly visited the
+nesting female each morning and evening. Sometimes, especially in
+very cloudy weather, the male left the elm tree during the day and
+flew about uttering the usual _peent_ calls. He was never seen on
+the roof during the middle of the day.
+
+The female was always faithful to her task regardless of a parching
+sun or torrential downpours of rain. At one time the thermometer
+placed on the graveled roof reached 130° F., although it was only
+98° F. in the shade on the street level. At such times her enormous
+mouth was wide open, and she panted incessantly. The female’s
+presence was needed to protect the eggs from the excessive heat
+fully as much as it was to supply warmth during the cool evenings
+when the temperature sometimes dropped as low as 45° F. If the
+female should leave her eggs when the temperature rises as high as
+130° F. the embryos inside of the eggs would be killed in a few
+minutes.
+
+It was common for the heat to melt the tar beneath the gravel so
+that it oozed to the surface of the pebbles. Milton Goff (1932)
+relates an interesting experience of a nighthawk that nested on a
+school roof at Rockford, Ill. One of the two eggs became firmly
+embedded in some tar melted by the sun. The female was unable to
+move the egg after nine desperate attempts made during the course
+of two hours.
+
+_Young._--In 1922 the nighthawks arrived at Brunswick, Maine, on
+May 15. On June 3 the first egg was laid and was marked No. 1. It
+was not incubated the first day. On June 4 the second egg was laid
+at 11:05 a. m. and marked No. 2. The laying of the second egg was
+observed. It was seen when it first appeared and watched until it
+emerged from the cloaca two minutes later. The egg was moist at
+first but quickly dried in the warm air, after which the female
+turned around and tucked it under her breast. Incubation began
+immediately after the second egg was laid.
+
+On June 23, 1922, egg No. 1 was pipped at 8:30 a. m. and at this
+time the peeps of the confined embryo could be heard distinctly.
+At 11:00 a. m. the chick had emerged. The egg shells of the first
+egg were removed about noon. The female took them in her beak and
+dropped them during flight at a point about a hundred yards from
+the building. Egg No. 2 was pipped at 2 p. m., and at 3 p. m.
+portions of the shell were broken away. The female seemed little
+concerned about the first chick but lavished all her attentions
+on the unhatched bird. At times she elevated her body, peered
+at the egg, and responded to the calls of the embryo with an
+assuring note. She frequently rocked her body over the egg as if
+to assist in removing the shell. At 6 p. m. the shell was cracked
+latitudinally and soon thereafter the cup of the larger end was
+slightly lifted. At 6:30 p. m. the young was completely freed
+from the shell, which broke away in two parts. As the shell
+membrane dried the two cups closed again forming a complete empty
+shell case. At this time the first young was being brooded while
+the second, in a wet bedraggled condition, awkwardly and weakly
+wavered its head beneath the bill of the female. The faint peeping
+notes uttered by the youngster were answered with guttural purring
+notes of the proud and triumphant mother. After the down of the
+second youngster was dry it joined its fellow under the breast
+of the mother. The egg shell was not removed until the following
+morning. The incubation period for this set of eggs was definitely
+established to be 19 days.
+
+The next day the female attempted to brood the young continuously.
+One of the young, however, persisted in its attempts to break away
+from parental care in spite of the warning notes of its mother.
+In one instance the mother dragged the one young under her body
+until within reach of the unruly youngster, which was quickly and
+violently tucked under her breast with something of an attitude of
+rebuff.
+
+On the second day the young frequently appeared in the open and at
+such times often pecked at the mother’s beak as if recognizing it
+to be the door of a well-filled cupboard. The young had not yet
+been fed, as they were still dependent on the yolk provided by the
+egg and stored in their bodies at the time of hatching. The female
+remained with the young throughout the day, whereas the male did
+not make his appearance until 8:50 in the evening. He announced
+his arrival with a sharp call as he landed on the roof. His call
+was immediately answered by the female, whereupon he made his way
+to the nest and without ceremony or delay delivered the first food
+received by the young.
+
+I was not prepared to see the male feed the young because the
+male of the preceding summer (another individual) never assisted
+in the care of the young. This striking difference in individual
+behavior emphasizes the point that it is not safe to generalize on
+observations of a single individual.
+
+The next morning the female was brooding her young, and being
+accustomed to my daily presence she allowed me to reach under
+her breast to remove the young without exhibiting the least bit
+of fear. A female nesting on another roof when visited for the
+first time scooted away hurriedly, fluttered helplessly on the
+roof, enacting a perfect imitation of a crippled bird, a ruse to
+attract my attention away from her young. When I followed her she
+quickly flew away. On subsequent visits this bird stood her ground,
+elevated her wings in an upright position, and hissed at me in
+defiance of my approach.
+
+The following notes are from observations made of the young that
+were hatched on the high-school roof the preceding year (1921).
+The female of that year was the same bird that nested there in
+1922. The identity of the female was established by banding and
+also by a slight deformity of the maxilla, the tip of which was
+broken off. The males of the two broods were different individuals.
+
+The young were fed during the early morning before sunrise and
+again in the evening after sunset. During the heat of the day, when
+the temperature frequently went soaring above 110° F., the young
+kept well concealed under the breast of the brooding bird in close
+contact to her abdominal air sacs. When the temperature was less
+torrid the young peeked their heads through the feathers and often
+came out entirely. At such times they sometimes amused themselves
+by picking at the mother’s beak and rectal bristles. If the
+annoyance became too great the female would thrust her head beneath
+her breast. The young then proceeded to pick at the feathers of her
+crown and nape.
+
+The female left the nest regularly about 8:30 p. m. (daylight
+saving time) to obtain food for herself and young. In the case of
+this brood the female delivered all the food required by the young.
+The food was delivered by the process of regurgitation. The beak
+of the female was thrust well into the large and widely distended
+mouth of the young when the transfer of food was made. After
+feeding, the adult brooded her young in the earlier stages of their
+development.
+
+For the first three days the young remained near the spot where
+they had been hatched, but on the fourth day after a heavy rain
+they had moved to a slightly raised portion of the roof, which
+was free from excessive dampness. The female never left the young
+during a rain at this stage of their growth, even if it meant
+depriving them of food. The male regularly visited the roof early
+in the morning and again in the evening throughout the breeding
+season, but he was never seen to deliver food to the young. The
+male was usually stationed on the roof when the female was away
+and thus served as a watchdog in her absence. More than once
+he was called upon to chase away a strange nighthawk that had
+inadvertently alighted in his territory on the high-school roof.
+
+On the fifth day (June 29) the young had wandered to the southern
+end of the building where the shadow of the roof wall protected
+them from the direct rays of the burning sun. The heat during the
+middle of the day was frequently excessive. On July 7, when the
+young were 13 days old, a thermometer placed on the gravel of the
+roof registered 140° F. The heat was too much for one of the young,
+which succumbed and was found dead near the middle of the roof.
+Its fellow nestling, hidden in the shadow of the roof wall and
+behind a clay ventilating pipe, escaped death but was in a serious
+condition. A sponge soaked with cold water was placed near the
+youngster, whereupon it ignored its parent to enjoy the comfort
+provided by the cool sponge. This act probably aided the survival
+of the young nighthawk through the remainder of the record-breaking
+hot day.
+
+As the nighthawk grew older he became very aggressive and
+pugnacious and never hesitated to pester his mother whenever he
+was hungry. At times he seemed mischievous. It was not a rare
+experience to see him crouch under his mother’s breast and then by
+standing up quickly and rigidly topple his mother so that she was
+forced to extend her wings to keep from falling over. During the
+period of the rapid growth of the wing feathers the youngster was
+continually extending and stretching his wings as if to relieve the
+uncomfortable feeling caused by growing pains.
+
+When the young nighthawk was three weeks old he was able to make
+short flights from one place to another on the gravel roof. At this
+stage of his growth he had become so large that it was difficult
+for the female to cover him adequately while brooding. This was
+strikingly demonstrated on the evening of July 17, when he was
+23 days old. The mother had left him alone on the roof while she
+was away on her regular evening search for food. It was so cool
+and damp that the young bird uttered notes that clearly indicated
+discomfort. I placed him in a woolen bag, and this, combined with
+the warmth of my hands, was very satisfying, as indicated by his
+change to notes of contentment. He remained there in comfort until
+his mother alighted on the roof and gave the characteristic call
+note, announcing supper. The little nighthawk struggled out of
+my bag and ran directly to his mother to be fed. After he was
+gorged with insects, the female attempted to brood him, but to
+her apparent dismay he rushed back to the woolen bag, clearly
+recognizing that I could do a much better job at brooding.
+
+On July 19, when the nighthawk was 25 days old, I discovered that
+he was no longer solely dependent on his parent for food. I found
+him busily engaged catching some white moths that had collected
+about a drain pipe of the roof. He was flying this way and that,
+catching the moths with great delight. As I sat there watching I
+chanced to pull a small handkerchief from my pocket, whereupon
+he dashed at the white object with the ferociousness of a tiger.
+Evidently to the nighthawk this was some giant moth large enough to
+provide for an entire meal.
+
+The female now made frequent attempts to entice the young bird away
+from the roof by first offering food but flying away before it was
+delivered. The youngster would follow her in extended flights but
+invariably returned to the roof.
+
+On July 24, when the bird was 30 days old, the female was
+photographed with the young for the last time. Thereafter she
+forsook her offspring for a roost in the nearby elm tree. She then
+visited the roof only for short intervals at feeding times. On
+each successive day the young bird took longer and longer flights,
+and each day I anticipated it would be my last opportunity to
+photograph and to observe him. Much to my delight he continued to
+return, seeming to enjoy my companionship.
+
+On August 15 he left with the other nighthawks of the vicinity on
+their migration to the south. This unusual experience of having the
+bird return to the roof gave me an unprecedented opportunity to
+make a continuous set of daily observations and measurements of a
+nighthawk living under normal natural conditions up to the time it
+was 52 days of age. By this time the growth of the juvenal plumage
+was completed and exchanged in part for the first winter plumage.
+
+_Plumages._--On the first day the young are able to stand upright
+and are very active from the time of hatching. The eyes are open,
+iris bluish black; skin darkly pigmented darker above than below;
+bill “pale mouse gray”; tarsus and toes brownish drab. Down present
+on both dorsal and ventral parts of the body. Down of the ventral
+tracts pale gray shading to “pallid neutral gray” on the belly;
+chin gray, malar stripes and patch on the throat “dark mouse gray,”
+approaching black. Upper parts mottled and marbled, made up of
+patches of pale gray and “dark mouse gray.” In the region of the
+nape and scapulars the down has a distinct “pale olive-buff” tint.
+At the base of the beak the down has a tinge of buff. A circular
+area about the anus, the outer part of the shanks, and fore arm
+have patches of darker colored down. Patterns of dark and white
+vary considerably in different young. The average length of the
+down on the various parts of the body varies as follows: Crown 9,
+base of bill 4, region over eye 6, throat 12, belly 15, wing 11,
+and region of anus 8 millimeters.
+
+On the third day the color of the bill has changed to a “deep
+neutral gray,” and the tarsus and toes become a dusky drab. Down
+at the base of the beak, scapular region, and irregular patches of
+the back has faded from the colors present in the day-old chick to
+a “tilleul buff.” Iris is now a clear brown instead of the bluish
+black of the freshly hatched chick.
+
+At the age of 10 days the tarsus and toes are “deep Quaker drab,”
+bill “dark neutral gray,” eyelids “light neutral gray.” Exposed
+portions of the eyes are noticeably greater. Down of the back much
+worn and matted down, the feather papillae in the region of the
+crown, wing coverts, scapulars, and rump now more conspicuous than
+the down. The tips of the feathers of the back are unsheathed and
+exhibit a black and cinnamon color. The color pattern of the back
+is completely lost since the appearance of the feather papillae
+and their unsheathed tips. The papillae of the tail feathers are
+only 8 millimeters long and as yet do not show through the down.
+The feather papillae of the head and tail are the last to unsheath.
+
+In chicks 13 days old the “pinkish cinnamon” of the tips of the
+feathers of the dorsal tracts has faded to a “pinkish buff,” and
+some of the feathers approach a “tilleul buff.” Freshly unsheathed
+feathers of the crown are “pinkish cinnamon.” Black markings have
+faded to a “fuscous-black” or “dusky neutral gray”; yellowish
+color of the breast feathers of the younger stages now faded to
+gray tinged with yellow. The juvenal plumage is rapidly replacing
+the natal down in all parts of the body. The yellowish-gray breast
+feathers are barred with “dusky neutral gray.” As previously noted,
+one of the two birds died from exposure to great heat at this time
+and the remaining descriptions are based on one bird.
+
+At the age of 15 days the down is ragged in appearance but is still
+prominent on the breast, sides of the head, wing coverts, and
+region of the tail. The down is worn off the feathers in the region
+of the crown and scapulars. Feathers of all tracts of the juvenal
+plumage are partially unsheathed. When the young are handled there
+are numerous particles of the feather sheaths that scale off. The
+wings exhibit a marked development. The tips of the under tail
+coverts recently unsheathed are ivory colored. The down persisting
+at the tips of the feathers comes off with the slightest pull. The
+pupil of the eye appears bluish black and the iris has changed to a
+“Van Dyke brown.”
+
+When 17 days old the sixth primary has now proceeded with
+unsheathing so that the white patch is 13 millimeters in extent.
+Tarsus and toes are “blackish plumbeous,” bill is a “dusky purplish
+gray,” eyelids are “dark olive-gray”; otherwise the markings are
+similar to those of the 15-day-old bird.
+
+When 20 days old a relatively small amount of down remains, but
+a few filaments can be seen on the tips of some of the crown
+feathers, sides of neck, and breast. Feathers of the wings are
+growing fast and are so heavy from the large amount of blood and
+large sheaths that the wings rest on the surface of the roof,
+the bird being unable to support them. The wings are frequently
+outstretched, apparently to relieve the uncomfortable sensation
+produced by rapid growth of the feathers. Bristlelike feathers now
+appear around the base of the beak. The fifth primary is grown so
+that the white patch is beginning to unsheath, and the base of the
+fourth primary shows white area on sheath, which is destined to
+form part of the white patch on the wing of the fully grown young.
+The white on the sixth primary made its first appearance in the
+17-day-old chick.
+
+At this age the crown is “dusky neutral gray” or black, the
+feathers tipped, barred, and spotted with “vinaceous-buff”; some
+of the tips approach “avellaneous.” The feathers of the upper parts
+are dark, or dusky, neutral gray variously mottled with shades of
+gray and “avellaneous” many of the feathers tipped with “pinkish
+buff.” Auriculars “light cinnamon-buff” and black, tipped with
+lighter shades. Primaries and secondaries blackish warm gray,
+some of the feathers having an olivaceous-black appearance. All
+the remiges are tipped with “tilleul buff” or “vinaceous-buff.”
+Some of the secondaries and inner primaries spotted with
+“vinaceous-buff.” Coverts of primaries unspotted “blackish mouse
+gray” or black. Coverts of secondaries spotted with “tilleul buff”
+and “vinaceous-buff.” Lesser wing coverts variously mottled with
+colors mentioned above. Feathers of the breast barred with “dark
+mouse gray” and shades of gray and white. Throat and chin with a
+crescentic band of feathers, which are barred with dark gray and
+white, the white predominating. Band of feathers along the edge of
+mandible extending below the eyes to the auriculars “neutral gray”
+and marked with “vinaceous-buff.” Under tail coverts “cartridge
+buff,” narrowly barred with black. Middle of the belly a heavy mat
+of down. Eyelids “light olive-gray,” tarsus deep metal gray.
+
+At 25 days the down has been lost, except that of the middle of the
+belly and small patches on the legs above the heels.
+
+At 28 days the colorings are about as described for the 20-day-old
+chick, but the colors are subdued and faded because of exposure
+to the intense sunlight. The down is now entirely replaced by the
+feathers of the juvenal plumage. Although the outer primaries
+are only partially unsheathed, the young bird is capable of long
+flights and frequently leaves the roof, but invariably returns.
+
+At 30 days the secondaries and the primaries, except the outer
+ones, are now unsheathed. The barred feathers lining the wings are
+now in process of unsheathing.
+
+At 35 days the prevailing color of the upper parts is
+olivaceous-black, glossed with greenish, but this base color is
+very much broken by irregular markings, spotting, and marbling of
+buffy gray and whitish; many of the larger spots approach a light
+vinaceous-buff, which is especially evident on the crown. Spots of
+the crown are larger than those of the back. The throat patch now
+is clear white, an indication of its sex.
+
+At 40 days, all the primaries except the outer two are completely
+unsheathed. The white patch of the second to fifth unsheathed, that
+of the first is 11 millimeters.
+
+The bird, although able to fly as well as an adult, returned to
+the roof each day and allowed me to make daily measurements and
+weighings without the least resistance. It never attempted to run
+or fly away when I approached to pick it up. When I arrived on the
+roof wall it gave a series of calls, which seems to be a sign of
+recognition. The bird placed before me in a natural sitting pose
+measured 187 millimeters from the tip of the bill to the tip of the
+wings. Distance from level of the crown to the board on which it is
+seated is 90 millimeters. Tip of tail to front of toe in natural
+position 150, and tip of folded wing to toe 165 millimeters.
+
+The bird at this age is very active and vivacious and captures all
+its own food. It offers no difficulty for me to capture it for
+measurements and poses perfectly for photographs.
+
+On Monday, August 15, there was a great flight and departure of
+nighthawks, and after that date the nighthawk was seen no more.
+Presumably it went southward on its migration. The bird was 52 days
+old, and I had an unexcelled opportunity to observe the bird up to
+the time of the completion of its growth.
+
+The completed juvenal plumages of both sexes is similar to that
+of the adult female except that the throat patch is not so well
+defined; in some it is replaced by blackish and buffy bars. The
+barring of the underparts is more extensive and the coloration in
+general is paler than that of the adults. There are whitish tips on
+all the primaries.
+
+The postnatal molt has already been described in detail under the
+account of the young. There is a partial molt that does not include
+the wings and tail in September. There is a partial or complete
+prenuptial molt in spring when the young attain the plumage of the
+adult. The adults have a complete postnuptial molt before they
+return for their nesting activities the following year. I have not
+been able to ascertain the time of the postnuptial molt.
+
+Albinistic phases of plumage, in which there is an absence of dark
+pigment, may appear in any species of birds. W. A. Strother (1886)
+reports a perfect albino taken at Lynchburg, Va.
+
+_Food._--The nighthawk is insectivorous in its eating habits. Since
+the major part of the insects it destroys are destructive to useful
+vegetation or are otherwise adverse to human welfare, the nighthawk
+ranks high in the list of birds beneficial to man.
+
+The nighthawk captures the insects chiefly during its flight. The
+birds sweep up in their capacious mouths all types of insects from
+the large moths and beetles to the tiniest of flies and mosquitoes.
+Some of the stomachs examined have contained no less than 50
+different species of insects, and some of the smaller insects are
+at times represented by thousands of individuals.
+
+One of the most conspicuous elements of the food is flying ants.
+In the examination of 87 nighthawk stomachs, the United States
+Biological Survey reports that ants comprised nearly one-fourth
+of the total food eaten by the birds. In 24 of the stomachs the
+number of ants ranged from 200 to 1,800, and in all the stomachs
+examined there were not less than 20,000 ants (Beal, 1897). In
+the stomach of a nighthawk that met with accidental death at
+Brunswick, Maine, on August 20, 1925, there were 2,175 ants.
+The mass and weight of these insects were so great that they
+constituted a serious handicap and probably a factor in the bird’s
+untimely ending. Charles Drury (1887) obtained a specimen in August
+that contained 320 insects, chiefly winged ants. W. L. McAtee
+(1926) found more than one hundred carpenter ants (_Camponotus
+herculeanus_) in one nighthawk stomach. In most all instances the
+ants captured are the mating winged individuals, which fly in
+immense swarms during the late summer. These ants are killed at a
+time when they are preparing to propagate their kind, and hence the
+death of every female means the destruction of thousands of the
+next generation.
+
+According to examinations of the United States Biological Survey
+(Beal, McAtee, and Kalmbach, 1916) beetles comprised one-fifth
+of the food eaten by 87 nighthawks examined. May beetles, dung
+beetles, and others of the leaf-chafer family were in greatest
+numbers. Beal (1897) reported finding the remains of 34 May beetles
+(_Phyllophaga_) in a single nighthawk stomach, in another 23, and
+in a third 17. In the stomach contents of one specimen no less
+than 17 species of beetles were identified. Chester Lamb (1912)
+reports that all nighthawks collected by him had eaten enormous
+quantities of beetles. Thomas G. Gentry (1877) reports eight
+species of beetles in food examined by him. McAtee (1926) reports
+various leaf chafers, sawyers, wood borers, bark beetles, weevils,
+and plant lice in the food eaten by nighthawks in the course of
+his study of the relation of birds to woodlots in New York State.
+In the examination of hundreds of droppings of nighthawks obtained
+from various nesting sites chiefly at Brunswick, Maine, a large
+percentage of the identifiable remains consisted of parts of
+various species of beetles.
+
+Nighthawks, especially in the Middle West, have been known to eat
+a considerable number of grasshoppers and locusts. According to
+Ernest Harold Baynes (1915) seven Nebraska specimens were found to
+have eaten 348 Rocky Mountain locusts; five specimens collected in
+Indiana reported by A. W. Butler (1898) had eaten 9 grasshoppers,
+19 beetles, 23 Heteroptera, and 4 Neuroptera. B. H. Warren (1890)
+reported that grasshoppers were an important element of the food
+eaten by nighthawks collected in Pennsylvania. F. E. L. Beal (1897)
+states that one nighthawk contained the remains of 60 grasshoppers.
+A male killed on July 7, 1882, was reported by Everett Smith (1883)
+to have “an ichneumon fly, a black cricket, about twenty small
+grasshoppers, and many small, hard insects” in its crop.
+
+Flies, plant lice, and mosquitoes frequently form an important
+element of the food of the nighthawk. A nighthawk examined by the
+Biological Survey had eaten more than 300 mosquitoes, and E. H.
+Forbush (1907) reports finding 500 mosquitoes in the stomach of one
+bird. McAtee (1926) reports that he found 650 plant lice in the
+stomach of a single nighthawk. Phoebe Knappen (1934) found stone
+flies in 21 nighthawks. The insects were chiefly adults but also a
+few larvae, nymphs, and eggs were present.
+
+In the South various observers have noted that the nighthawk is
+an important factor in the control of the cotton-boll weevil. F.
+H. Herrick (1901) writes of a nighthawk that had been feeding on
+fireflies; the wide open mouth of an adult observed feeding its
+young was brilliantly illuminated like a spacious apartment all
+aglow with electricity. F. H. Carpenter (1886) relates a unique
+experience with nighthawks that darted at the artificial flies
+on his line when he was casting for trout. It is not an unusual
+experience to see nighthawks after dusk flying about electric
+lights of city streets (Knowlton, 1896) or about campfires of
+remote districts where they capture myriads of insects attracted by
+the lights.
+
+During the migration nighthawks frequently fly near the ground and
+at such times may take advantage of any insects that appear in
+their path. During an afternoon late in August I observed a flight
+of several hundred nighthawks near Urbana, Ill. As I sat in a car
+alongside a large meadow I noticed that the birds were ravenously
+feasting on grasshoppers. Some of the birds lingered long enough to
+capture half a dozen of the insects before passing on to make place
+for other nighthawks in the migrating procession. A. Dawes DuBois,
+of Excelsior, Minn., relates a similar experience he had in the
+vicinity of Salt Creek, Logan County, Ill., as follows: “At dusk
+on the evening of May 22, 1913, as I walked along a cloverfield,
+we witnessed an assemblage of nighthawks in pursuit of low-flying
+insects. They skimmed over the clover like swallows; and their
+dusky forms were so numerous that they seemed to be weaving an
+intricate pattern in the gray twilight. They were so intent on
+their bountiful repast that they paid no heed to our presence, but
+sometimes darted past us only a few feet away.”
+
+Nighthawks not only capture food on the wing, but they also have
+been observed to drink, in the manner of swallows, as they skim
+near the surface of the water of lakes and streams. F. Stephens
+(1913) observed a nighthawk drinking from a watering trough. This
+bird dropped its lower mandible into the water, rippling the
+surface of the water as it passed along. A. Dawes DuBois writes
+of the following experience he had at Springfield, Ill., on July
+29, 1923: “Mr. R. B. Horsfall and I were walking along the margin
+of a small pond when a nighthawk swooped down, touched the surface
+of the water and rose again; but we could not tell whether it was
+scooping up a floating insect or a drink of water.”
+
+_Voice._--The nighthawk has no claim as a singer, but nevertheless
+its notes are of great interest and attract fully as much attention
+as the voices of our more gifted songsters.
+
+The loud piercing calls uttered by the nighthawk during flight are
+simple yet, like all bird notes, extremely difficult to represent
+in written words so as to enable a reader unfamiliar with them to
+gain a clear conception of their character and quality. This fact
+is at once emphasized if we compare the interpretations of a few
+of the many authors who have attempted a written version of its
+calls. For example to C. G. Abbott (1914) it sounds like a “grating
+‘beedz, beedz,’” and to Charles Bendire (1895) it is a querulous
+and a squeaky note resembling “aek-aek, aek-aek” or “speek-speek,
+speek-speek.” W. E. Grover describes this note as a sharp “mueike”;
+and E. H. Forbush (1907) states that “the note is s-k-i-r-k or
+s-c-a-i-p-e, a little like the call of Wilson’s snipe,--rather a
+startling squeak when heard close at hand.” W. L. Dawson (1903)
+interprets the note as “mizard, mizard,” and E. H. Eaton (1914)
+describes it as a “loud nasal ‘peent, peent.’” N. S. Goss (1891)
+writes that its voice is a “squeak” or a “pe-up” note, and Arkansas
+Hoosier (1890) states that “the note is best produced by speaking
+the word ‘beard’ in a whisper.” To G. R. Mayfield (1921) the call
+is a shrill “B-e-e-r-b” and to H. Nehrling it is “Brirrr-brirrr.”
+H. Tullsen (1911) interprets it as a sharp penetrating “Spe-eak,”
+and H. H. Bailey (1913) thinks it sounds like “Queek-queek.”
+
+There was probably only the slightest variation in the notes of the
+different nighthawks as heard by the authors mentioned above, yet
+how strikingly different are the interpretations as represented
+in the written or printed words. The note described above is the
+one most frequently heard, and it is uttered independently of the
+seasons. It is the note that announces the arrival of the nighthawk
+in spring, and it is the call uttered at the time the nighthawks
+are congregating in fall in preparation for their departure to the
+south. I have been unable to ascertain whether this call is heard
+at their winter home in South America.
+
+Frequently, during the courtship season, the males in their
+competition for a mate vigorously pursue each other. At such times
+both birds utter a series of sharply accented calls recorded in my
+field notes as resembling _Dick-a-dick-a-dick-dick-dick-dick-dick_,
+given in rapid succession.
+
+There is another note of the nighthawk very different in character,
+an aeolian sound, produced by the rush of air through the primaries
+of the wings at the termination of the extraordinary downward
+plunge executed during the courtship season. In order to see
+this performance and to hear this peculiar and unique note to
+the best advantage it is necessary to visit the vicinity of the
+nesting site. Alexander Wilson (1828) described this note as a
+“loud booming sound very much resembling that produced by blowing
+strongly into the bunghole of an empty hogshead.” E. H. Eaton
+(1914) offers a modification of Wilson’s description in stating
+that the note is like that produced “by blowing across an empty
+bottle.” T. G. Gentry (1877) describes it as a sound resembling
+that “produced by a tense cord set in vibration by a sudden gust
+of wind.” T. Jasper (1878) states that it is a hollow whir like
+the rapid turning of a spinning wheel, and F. A. Hartman (1914)
+describes it as a “guttural ‘woof.’” The note reminds W. A. Stearns
+(1883) of the sound produced by a bellowing bull. In my field notes
+I have described this note as a muffled _wr-r,r,r,r,r-oonk_, but
+sometimes more nearly approaching _sw-r,r,r,r-ooonk_, the last
+syllable decidedly accented and produced with great resonance.
+There is nothing about this note suggesting an explosive boom or
+bellowing.
+
+It has long ago been well established that this peculiar note
+is not a vocal sound but one produced by the vibration of the
+primaries. As keen an observer as Alexander Wilson (1828) stated
+that it is “produced by the sudden expansion of his capacious
+mouth.” Others shared Wilson’s view or thought that it was a sound
+produced by the syrinx. After one has observed the performance it
+can be readily understood how such an erroneous interpretation
+was made by the earlier observers. The plunge takes place so
+quickly that it is only by repeated observations made under the
+most favorable conditions that the observer is convinced that the
+primaries are involved. Audubon (1840) was the first to arrive at
+a correct explanation. He writes that the source of the singular
+noise is “the concussion caused, at the time the bird passes the
+centre of its plunge by the new position of its wings, which are
+now brought almost instantly to the wind, like the sails of a
+ship suddenly thrown back.” This observation with variation of
+its details has been made by numerous subsequent observers. J. B.
+Canfield (1902) gives a description of the performance as follows:
+“He suddenly paused and came soaring toward me like an arrow. About
+fifty feet in front of me his wings were lowered below his body,
+throwing them forward with the flight feathers spread wide apart
+* * * His speed was so great that the flight feathers vibrated like
+a loosely-stretched rubber band when snapped with the fingers. This
+performance was repeated in front, back, and beside me twelve times
+in all, never more than fifty feet away, and as near as fifteen.
+In all cases the wings were in the same position, and his mouth
+never open.” F. A. Hartman (1914) writes, “It is very evident that
+the mouth plays no part, otherwise the sound would be produced at
+other times [than on the downward glide]. * * * The bird threw its
+wings far to the front at the end of his downward glide, so that
+the uppermost quill feathers were pointed exactly in the direction
+of his glide. Going at such headlong speed, these quill feathers
+when thrown edgewise to the air vibrated strongly, causing the
+‘woof’.” Alden H. Miller (1925) while at Camp Lewis, Wash., during
+June and July succeeded in attracting nighthawks within 10 feet of
+himself by merely waving his hat in the air. He noticed that if
+the wings, during the downward plunge, were held in the upturned
+V-shaped position, a normal pose when soaring, no boom was heard,
+but when the wings were bent downward near the end of the dive the
+boom sound was produced. The intensity of the sound, according to
+Mr. Miller, is more or less proportional to the speed attained.
+The main explosive boom seems to be preceded by a brief, lesser
+vibrating sound, which bursts forth into the full bellow. Both
+parts seem to have a distinct element of pitch, but the latter part
+is lower, with greater resonance and depth of quality.
+
+The sound produced by the wings described above is a part of the
+courtship performance and is usually produced near the nesting
+site. After the young no longer require the constant attention of
+both parents, the male loses the glamour of romance and performs
+less frequently and soon after ceases almost entirely until the
+courtship season of another year. However, birds migrating in
+August sometimes “boom.”
+
+Another note associated with the courtship season is a guttural
+call uttered only when the male is at rest and in the presence of
+the female. It may be described as an oft repeated _auk, auk, auk_
+or _awk, awk, awk_. This note is produced by the syrinx, but as it
+is uttered the bill is tightly closed and the gular membrane is
+tightly distended each time the note is produced. The distension
+is caused by the expulsion of air from the respiratory system. The
+distended membrane, although feathered, acts as a resonator and
+modifies the note, giving it a peculiar quality. Such a mechanism
+is present in other birds. It is especially highly developed in the
+prairie chicken, in which large lateral vocal sacs are present that
+give the “booming” notes of this grouse great carrying power.
+
+The notes of the female nighthawk are simple calls uttered in
+response to the those of the male or of the young. She may utter a
+purring, pacifying note when brooding the young, but often these
+notes are so weak that they cannot be heard by the observer unless
+he is stationed very near in a blind.
+
+_Game._--Today we do not think of the nighthawk as a game bird,
+yet 60 years ago large numbers of them were killed by gunners and
+sportsmen, especially in the Southern States. M. G. Elzey, writing
+on September 18, 1876, stated: “Bull-bats (nighthawks) are the best
+of the minor game of this country for sport or table; have been
+very abundant and in superb condition here (Blacksburg, Virginia)
+for the past two weeks. I have killed several hundred. On one
+occasion took out 28 cartridges and brought in 23 birds besides 2
+which fell out of bounds and were recovered by boys. Killed 17 in
+succession. The bats are quite as fat and better game than the reed
+birds.” Dr. E. Sterling (1885) wrote: “Their rapid and irregular
+flight makes them a difficult mark for the young sportsman to
+practice on, as he never fails to make a target of them when the
+opportunity offers. I can now understand the object for which this
+bird was created.” Dr. F. M. Chapman (1888), writing of conditions
+at Gainesville, Fla., stated, “‘Bat’ shooting is here a popular
+pastime, great numbers being killed for food, and in August, when
+the birds have gathered in flocks, favorite fields may be occupied
+at nightfall by as many as a dozen shooters.” Stockard (1905)
+lamented the fact that the birds “are foolishly slaughtered by
+pseudo-sportsmen who shoot them merely to watch the bird’s graceful
+fall or to improve their skill as marksmen.”
+
+The practice of killing nighthawks was stopped through laws and
+by educational methods initiated by the National Association of
+Audubon Societies. William Dutcher (1902), in writing of conditions
+in Florida, stated, “It is believed, on very satisfactory evidence
+that the new law has stopped to a large degree the disgraceful
+practice of shooting ‘bull-bats’ or Nighthawks (_Chordeiles
+virginianus_) for sport.” Bird-Lore for September-October 1903
+published the following note: “The Night-hawk, or Bullbat, has been
+so long considered a legitimate target for shotgun practice, in
+the south, that a report of prosecution for killing these birds at
+Greensboro, North Carolina, marks a new era of bird protection in
+our southern states.”
+
+_Enemies._--The greatest enemy of the nighthawk has been man.
+In the past great numbers of the birds were killed for food and
+often for mere sport or for satisfying a lust for killing. This
+was especially true in the Southern States, where the birds were
+slaughtered during the great flights of the annual migrations.
+
+Nighthawks nesting on the ground are subject to the same enemies
+experienced by other species of ground-nesting birds. Night hawks
+nesting on roofs are usually free from such molestation, but Albert
+F. Ganier informs me that he has known of sparrow hawks invading
+the cities and preying upon the nighthawks, especially the young.
+Cats and dogs become enemies of the city dwellers in the event the
+young leave the nest prematurely and land on the streets below.
+
+Nighthawks have a remarkable protective coloration and have
+developed methods of deception such as imitating a wounded
+individual when an enemy approaches the nesting site. At times they
+assume an attitude of aggression; i. e., raising their elongated
+wings in a vertical position and hissing in defiance at an intruder.
+
+
+                            DISTRIBUTION
+
+_Range._--The Western Hemisphere generally, from Yukon to Patagonia.
+
+_Breeding range._--The breeding range of the nighthawk extends
+=north= to Yukon (Sixty-mile River and probably Lapierres House);
+Mackenzie probably Fort Goodhope, (probably Fort Franklin, Fort
+Resolution, and Hill Island Lake); northern Saskatchewan (Methye
+Portage, Stanley, and Reindeer River); northern Manitoba (probably
+Du Brochet Lake, Grand Rapids, and probably Churchill); northern
+Ontario (Martin Falls, probably Fort Albany, and probably Moose
+Factory); and Quebec (Lake Mistassini, Godbout, and Mingan Island).
+The =eastern= boundary of the range extends from this point
+southward through the coastal regions of the Maritime Provinces,
+the Eastern United States, the Bahama Islands (Nassau), to Puerto
+Rico (Mayaguez). =South= to Puerto Rico (Mayaguez); Haiti (Hinche
+and Jean Rubel); Jamaica (Port Henderson and Grand Cayman);
+Cuba (Isle of Pines); southern Texas (Brownsville, San Antonio,
+Kerrville, and Pecos); Chihuahua (Babicora); Sonora (Oposura and
+Los Nogales); and southern California (San Bernardino Mountains
+and Pine Knot). =West= to California (Pine Knot, Mona Lake, Grass
+Valley, and Eureka); western Oregon (Medford, Eugene, Corvallis,
+Portland, and St. Helen); western Washington (Bumping Lake,
+Gig Harbor, Seattle, and Blaine); British Columbia (Errington,
+Courtenay, Fort St. James, and Hazleton); southeastern Alaska
+(Wrangell); and western Yukon (Carcross, Whitehorse, and Sixty-mile
+River).
+
+_Winter range._--When the numerical abundance and extensive
+breeding range of this species are considered, it is surprising
+that knowledge concerning the winter range should be extremely
+limited. It seems certain, however, that it is entirely in South
+America =north= to Colombia (Antioquia); Venezuela (Orinoco
+Valley); and central Brazil (Matto Grosso). =East= to southeastern
+Brazil (Matto Grosso, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro); Uruguay
+(Concepcion); and Argentina (Barracas and La Plata). =South= to
+central Argentina (La Plata and Cordova). =West= to Argentina
+(Cordova, Santiago, Tucuman, and the Gran Chaco); western
+Paraguay (Asuncion); western Brazil (Chapada); western Ecuador
+(Portoviejo); and western Colombia (Bogota and Antioquia).
+
+The outline presented is for the entire species, which has,
+however, been separated into seven subspecies, or geographic
+races. The typical eastern nighthawk (_C. m. minor_) breeds in the
+eastern part of the continent west to the edge of the Great Plains
+from Oklahoma to Minnesota and in Canada to British Columbia and
+southern Yukon; the Florida nighthawk (_C. m. chapmani_) nests in
+the Gulf and South Atlantic States north to Arkansas, southern
+Illinois, central Alabama, and central North Carolina and west to
+eastern Texas; Howell’s nighthawk (_C. m. howelli_) breeds in the
+southern part of the Great Plains region from northeastern Utah and
+western Kansas south to Oklahoma, central Texas, and New Mexico;
+Cherrie’s nighthawk (_C. m. aserriensis_) is found in south-central
+Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas; Sennett’s nighthawk
+(_C. m. sennetti_) occupies a breeding range in the northern Great
+Plains from northeastern Montana and North Dakota south to eastern
+Wyoming, Nebraska, and northwestern Iowa; the western nighthawk
+(_C. m. henryi_) breeds in southwestern Colorado, eastern Arizona,
+New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Sonora; and the Pacific nighthawk (_C.
+m. hesperis_) nests in the western part of the continent from
+southeastern British Columbia and California east to southwestern
+Saskatchewan, northwestern Wyoming, and central Utah. In no case is
+it possible to indicate subspecific winter ranges, but it appears
+that all forms winter together in South America.
+
+_Spring migration._--Early dates of spring arrival in North
+America are: Florida--Orlando, March 20; Palma Sola, March 29;
+Pensacola, April 8. Georgia--Savannah, April 1; Kirkwood, April
+19. South Carolina--Frogmore, April 12; Columbia, April 17.
+North Carolina--Hendersonville, April 13; Raleigh, April 15.
+Virginia--Variety Mills, April 10; New Market, April 24. District
+of Columbia--Washington, April 18. Maryland--Mardela Springs,
+April 19. Pennsylvania--Philadelphia, April 23; Beaver, April 27.
+New Jersey--Morristown, May 7. New York--New York City, April 20;
+Ballston Spa, April 29; Rochester, May 7. Connecticut--Hartford,
+April 24; Jewett City, May 6. Massachusetts--Harvard, April 19;
+Amherst, May 10. Vermont--St. Johnsbury, May 6; Rutland, May
+12. New Hampshire--South Manchester, May 2; Concord, May 14.
+Maine--Dover-Foxcroft, April 29; South Portland, May 1. New
+Brunswick--St. Johns, May 13. Quebec--Quebec City, May 4; Montreal,
+May 9. Louisiana--New Orleans, April 8. Mississippi--Biloxi,
+April 8; Rodney, April 19. Arkansas--Monticello, April 11.
+Tennessee--Athens, April 20. Kentucky--Lexington, April 19;
+Eubank, April 23. Missouri--St. Louis, April 22; Kansas City,
+May 2. Illinois--Chicago, April 21; Odin, April 27. Indiana--La
+Fayette, May 1; Fort Wayne, May 6. Ohio--Cleveland, April 20;
+Oberlin, April 21. Michigan--Sault Ste. Marie, April 30; Detroit,
+May 1. Ontario--Toronto, April 30; Ottawa, May 9. Iowa--Keokuk,
+April 23; National, May 6. Wisconsin--Madison, May 2; Milwaukee,
+May 3. Minnesota--Minneapolis, April 26; Lanesboro, May 7.
+Kansas--Onaga, April 30; Manhattan, May 1. Nebraska--Omaha, May 8;
+Red Cloud, May 3. South Dakota--Vermillion, May 10; Forestburg,
+May 16. North Dakota--Grand Forks, May 1; Argusville, May 18.
+Manitoba--Margaret, May 10; Aweme, May 12. Texas--San Antonio,
+April 2; Kerrville, April 22. Colorado--Denver, May 4; Yuma, May 9.
+Wyoming--Cheyenne, May 8; Torrington, May 24. Montana--Great Falls,
+May 15; Columbia Falls, May 29. Saskatchewan--Indian Head, May 18;
+Eastend, May 26. Arizona--Oracle, April 20; Santa Rita Mountains,
+May 1. Utah--Kobe Valley, May 24. Idaho--Ruper, May 18; Meridian,
+May 20. Alberta--Flagstaff, May 27; Banff, May 28. California--Red
+Bluff, April 1; San Diego, April 22; Eureka, May 7. Oregon--Coos
+Bay, May 1; Klamath Lake, May 26. Washington--Tacoma, May 22.
+British Columbia--Burrard Inlet, May 26; Okanagan Landing, June 1.
+
+_Fall migration._--Late dates of fall departure are: British
+Columbia--Okanagan Landing, September 15. Washington--Tacoma,
+September 11. Oregon--Weston, September 9. California--San
+Francisco, September 21. Los Angeles County, October 27.
+Alberta--Banff, September 17. Idaho--Meridian, September
+15; Rupert, September 16. Arizona--Chin Lee, September 25.
+Saskatchewan--Eastend, September 15. Montana--Columbia Falls,
+September 28; Great Falls, October 6. Wyoming--Yellowstone
+Park, September 15. Colorado--Yuma, September 25; Denver,
+October 14. Texas--Taylor, October 2; Palo Pinto, October 21;
+Corpus Christi, November 6. Manitoba--Winnipeg, September
+19; Aweme, September 24. North Dakota--Charlson, September
+22. South Dakota--Forestburg, September 21; Sioux Falls,
+October 1. Nebraska--Blue Springs, October 5; Red Cloud,
+October 10. Kansas--Topeka, October 6; Onaga, October 22.
+Minnesota--Minneapolis, September 15; Lanesboro, September 30.
+Wisconsin--Madison, October 6. Iowa--National, September 30;
+Keokuk, October 8. Ontario--Ottawa, September 23; Toronto, October
+11. Michigan--Detroit, September 17. Ohio--Wauseon, September 30;
+Cleveland, October 8. Illinois--Chicago, October 7; Odin, October
+14. Missouri--Concordia, October 18. Kentucky--Eubank, October
+9. Tennessee--Athens, October 5. Arkansas--Rogers, October
+4; Dardanelle, October 25. Louisiana--New Orleans, November
+3. Quebec--Montreal, September 17. New Brunswick--St. Johns,
+September 27. Maine--Portland, September 26; Livermore Falls,
+October 2; Vermont--Rutland, September 12; St. Johnsbury, September
+13. Massachusetts--Amherst, September 27; Harvard, October
+3. Connecticut--Hartford, September 26. New York--Rochester,
+September 28; New York City, October 1. New Jersey--Morristown,
+October 11. Pennsylvania--Renovo, September 23; Philadelphia,
+October 15. District of Columbia--Washington, October 11. North
+Carolina--Raleigh, October 6; Hendersonville, October 13. South
+Carolina--Columbia, October 22; Mount Pleasant, November 9.
+Alabama--Autaugaville, October 11. Florida--Orlando, October 13;
+Pensacola, October 20.
+
+_Casual records._--With a range that covers most of the Western
+Hemisphere, it is not surprising that comparatively few nighthawks
+should be recorded beyond the known normal limits. A specimen was
+taken by an Eskimo at Allakaket, on the Koyukuk River in northern
+Alaska, late in September or early in October 1923. One was seen
+at Grand Falls, Labrador, on May 31, 1895, and a specimen was
+collected at Makkovik in June 1929. The species is a fairly regular
+visitor at Bermuda during migration, sometimes being very common.
+
+_Egg dates._--California: 36 records, March 20 to July 26; 18
+records, June 18 to July 1, indicating the height of the season.
+
+Colorado: 11 records, May 31 to July 18.
+
+Florida: 40 records, April 7 to July 17; 20 records, May 15 to June
+3.
+
+Georgia: 16 records, May 17 to July 13; 8 records, May 24 to June
+10.
+
+Kansas: 28 records, May 31 to July 7; 14 records, June 13 to 28.
+
+Maine: 30 records, May 24 to July 3.
+
+Michigan: 13 records, May 15 to July 19; 7 records, June 2 to July
+3.
+
+New York: 9 records, May 29 to July 8.
+
+South Dakota: 9 records, June 10 to July 1.
+
+Texas (Brownsville region): 28 records, April 5 to June 28; 14
+records, May 10 to June 5.
+
+Texas (elsewhere): 62 records, April 11 to July 29; 31 records, May
+15 to June 1.
+
+
+                   CHORDEILES MINOR HENRYI Cassin
+
+                         WESTERN NIGHTHAWK
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+Dr. Gross has contributed such a full life history of the eastern
+nighthawk that it hardly seems necessary to say much about the
+other subspecies, as they are all much alike in general habits.
+
+The above name formerly covered most of the western races that
+are now recognized as subspecifically distinct. This race is
+now supposed to be confined to the southern Rocky Mountains
+and adjacent high plains, from Colorado southward into Mexico,
+Chihuahua, and Sonora. Other races are recognized in the more
+lowland plains.
+
+Cassin (1862), in his original description of this bird, named it
+as a species in honor of Dr. T. Charlton Henry and said of it:
+“This bird may be distinguished from other American species by its
+color, which is lighter and of a different style of variegation,
+the prevailing tone being a dull, pale reddish and yellowish,
+somewhat approaching what is called buff or drab color. It is
+larger than _Chordeiles virginianus_.”
+
+Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1914), in comparing it with some more
+recently described races, says that it is “similar to _Chordeiles
+virginianus howelli_, but upper surface, both ground color and
+markings, much darker, the latter more tawny and also coarser;
+lower parts posteriorly more buffy, anteriorly more rufescent.”
+It is lighter and more brownish than _hesperis_, darker and more
+rufescent than _sennetti_, and lighter and more brownish than
+_virginianus_.
+
+_Nesting._--The nesting habits of the western nighthawk are very
+similar to those of the eastern bird. Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890)
+says of his experience with it in the mountains of Arizona: “I
+have never known this species to infringe on the territory of the
+Texan Nighthawk during the breeding season; each keeps to its own
+ground, the latter being confined to the region below the pines,
+and the former residing in the pines and spruces, breeding in great
+numbers in these limited areas. * * * Two fresh eggs were taken
+at Flagstaff on June 18, 1887, in a level place, bestrewn with
+volcanic scoria, beneath the pines.”
+
+We found only the western nighthawk in the mountains and only the
+Texas nighthawk in the lower valleys. After I left, Mr. Willard
+found a nest on July 9, 1922, at an elevation of 5,200 feet in the
+Huachuca Mountains, Arizona. The eggs were lying in the open on
+gravelly soil; just before the eggs were taken, a heavy hailstorm
+occurred, during which nearly 6 inches of hail fell; evidently the
+female had covered the eggs during the storm, or the eggs might
+have been broken.
+
+_Eggs._--The two eggs of the western nighthawk are
+indistinguishable from those of other nighthawks, showing the same
+variations. In shape they are between oval and elliptical-oval,
+usually with little or no gloss, though some incubated eggs are
+quite glossy. The ground color is dull white, or grayish white,
+rarely “dark” or “deep olive-buff”. Usually they are quite evenly
+marked; some are closely sprinkled with fine dots, but oftener
+they are covered with small spots, streaks, or small blotches of
+“olive-brown,” “sepia,” or “mummy brown”; occasional eggs are
+marked with brighter browns, such as “russet” or “hazel”; very
+often there are underlying spots or blotches of “pale Quaker drab.”
+The measurements of 19 eggs average 30.2 by 21.6 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure =33.0= by 21.1, 30.0 by
+=23.1=, =27.3= by 21.5, and 27.5 by =19.7= millimeters.
+
+_Food._--Mrs. Bailey (1928) says of the food of the western
+nighthawk in New Mexico: “Ants in large proportion and also beetles
+which are the adult forms of noted pests. Specimens taken at Fort
+Stanton--caddice flies and gnats, together with injurious insects,
+including ants, plant bugs, leaf hoppers, crane flies, click
+beetles, wood-boring and engraver beetles, clover root weevils, and
+nut weevils.”
+
+Beal, McAtee, and Kalmbach (1916) say that these birds are “so
+expert in flight that no insects can escape them. They sweep up in
+their capacious mouths everything from the largest moths and dragon
+flies to the tiniest ants and gnats, and in this way sometimes
+gather most remarkable collections of insects. Several stomachs
+have contained fifty or more different kinds, and the number of
+individuals may run into the thousands.”
+
+Dr. Mearns (1890) writes:
+
+     In our summer camp, near the summit of the Mogollon
+     Mountains, a small beetle was annoyingly abundant, flying
+     into our tents in great numbers during the day, and at
+     night swarming around our log fires. As the twilight
+     gathered, hundreds of these Nighthawks appeared upon the
+     scene, preying upon the troublesome insects. Careless of
+     our presence at the fires and of the noisy hilarity of
+     camp, they flitted through the smoke with astonishing
+     freedom from diffidence, capturing myriads of the hated
+     beetles, as they passed and repassed above, between, and
+     around us, until their flickering forms were as familiar as
+     the stirring of the pine boughs overhead, and the fanning
+     of their wings almost as little heeded.
+
+_Field marks._--There are two other races of this species,
+_hesperis_ and _howelli_, that are likely to be seen within the
+range of the western nighthawk on migrations; these three races
+are not easy to recognize in life, though _henryi_ is lighter than
+_hesperis_ and darker than _howelli_.
+
+The western nighthawk can be distinguished in flight from the Texas
+nighthawk by the position of the white wing band; in the western
+nighthawk this band is about halfway between the bend of the wing
+and the tip; in the Texas nighthawk the white wing band is nearer
+the tip than the bend of the wing.
+
+_Fall._--Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that after the breeding season and
+in the fall the western nighthawks range up to higher altitudes
+in the mountains, even as high as 12,600 feet. “They all desert
+the State for the winter, beginning their southward journey soon
+after the middle of summer. They are most numerous in migration
+during August and have nearly all left [New Mexico] by the end
+of September. * * * On the return journey in the spring they are
+among the very latest migrants, seldom reaching northern New Mexico
+before May 10.”
+
+
+                  CHORDEILES MINOR CHAPMANI Coues
+
+                         FLORIDA NIGHTHAWK
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+This small race occupies the southern Atlantic and Gulf States,
+from North Carolina to eastern Texas. In general appearance it
+differs but little from the eastern nighthawk, except in size.
+Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1914) characterizes it as “like _Chordeiles
+virginianus virginianus_, but decidedly smaller; upper parts
+averaging a little more mottled and spotted with whitish and buffy,
+particularly on back, wings, and scapulars, and the ground color
+averaging slightly less deeply blackish (more grayish or brownish);
+posterior lower parts usually more purely white.”
+
+Nighthawks are tender birds and spend their winters in South
+America, from Colombia to northern Argentina. Even in Florida
+they usually do not arrive until some time in April. Arthur H.
+Howell (1932) says of the haunts of the Florida race: “The Florida
+Nighthawk frequents open pine forests, old fields, pastures,
+prairies, cultivated lands, marshes, and ocean beaches. Although
+most active early in the morning and late in the evening, the birds
+frequently may be seen flying about in search of food in bright
+sunshine.”
+
+_Nesting._--Mr. Howell (1932) says on this subject: “The two eggs
+are deposited on the ground, with no semblance of a nest, in an
+open situation, often in a pasture, broomsedge field, or wood lot,
+or in palmetto scrub in open forest or on the prairie, or sometimes
+among sparse grasses on or near the ocean beaches.”
+
+Major Bendire (1895) says that Dr. William L. Ralph took several
+sets of eggs in Putnam County, Fla., and that here “during the
+breeding season at least, the Florida Nighthawk frequents mainly
+low, flat pine woods, especially such as have recently been burnt
+over, the eggs generally lying on the bare ground. Sandy soil seems
+to be preferred for nesting places. One set of eggs was found by
+him under a small orange tree in an orange grove on the side of a
+sandy hill; three others were taken in flat pine woods, and in one
+instance the eggs laid on a few fragments of charcoal left where a
+fallen tree had been partly burnt, between the remaining part of
+the tree and the stump, about 3 feet from each.”
+
+On Cat Island, off the coast of Mississippi, I found the Florida
+nighthawk very common in the extensive forest of tall, long-leaf
+pines, with which the island is largely covered. Here, on June 16,
+1910, I saw two pairs with young, the old birds fluttering along
+the ground to toll us away from their little ones; and I found one
+nest with two eggs on the bare, sandy ground among the pines.
+
+The only other nests of this subspecies that I have seen were on
+some low, sandy islands in Galveston Bay, Tex., where several pairs
+were breeding on May 4, 1923; two nests were seen, the eggs lying
+in slight hollows in the bare sand, in such situations as might
+be chosen by least terns. In some of the southern cities this
+nighthawk has developed the habit of nesting on the flat, gravel
+roofs of buildings, after the manner of the species elsewhere.
+
+_Eggs._--The eggs of the Florida nighthawk are similar to those of
+the eastern nighthawk but will average somewhat more heavily marked
+with darker colors and are somewhat smaller. The measurements of 38
+eggs average 28.86 by 21.23 millimeters; the eggs showing the four
+extremes measure =31.75= by 21.59, 31.59 by =22.61=, =26.42= by
+20.32, and 28.20 by =20.10= millimeters.
+
+The habits of the Florida nighthawk are not essentially different
+from those of its northern relative; the two are not easily
+recognizable in life; and the two forms are seen on migrations all
+through the Southern States, where heavy flights often occur. R. J.
+Longstreet noted an unusually heavy flight at Daytona Beach on May
+11, 1926; “in about an hour, from 6 to 7 p. m., he estimated that
+about 3,000 birds passed north over the beach” (Howell, 1932).
+
+Heavy flights also occur on the fall migration, mainly during
+August, when formerly large numbers of “bullbats,” as they were
+locally called, were shot for food or sport. Dr. Chapman (1888),
+writing of Gainesville, Fla., in 1888, said: “‘Bullbat,’ or as
+it is more frequently termed, ‘Bat,’ shooting is here a popular
+pastime, great numbers being killed for food, and in August,
+when the birds have gathered in flocks, favorite fields may be
+occupied at nightfall by as many as a dozen shooters.” This bad
+practice is now outlawed, and very wisely, as the small bodies of
+the nighthawks have very little food value, and the nighthawk is
+one of our most useful birds; it has no objectionable food habits
+and is so valuable as a destroyer of troublesome and injurious
+insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, gnats, mosquitoes, and
+the destructive cotton-boll weevil, that it ought to be rigidly
+protected.
+
+
+                  CHORDEILES MINOR SENNETTI Coues
+
+                        SENNETT’S NIGHTHAWK
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The nighthawks of the northern plains were given the above name
+by Dr. Elliott Coues (1888), who gave as the characters of the
+subspecies “silvery grayish-white predominating above, the white
+below greatly in excess of the narrow, irregular or broken, dark
+bars, and little or no rufous anywhere.” It is a bird of the
+treeless plains and prairies, ranging from northern North Dakota
+and northeastern Montana south to eastern Wyoming, northwestern
+Iowa, and northern Nebraska. It migrates southward through Oklahoma
+and Texas, and probably to South America.
+
+F. A. Patton (1924) says of its haunts in South Dakota: “The
+Sennetts Night Hawk, is a bird of a barren, isolated region, moving
+ahead and away from settlements, to a thinly settled section,
+preferring a dry, almost a desert region.
+
+“Through the eighties and up until about 1890 this bird could be
+found much over the entire State of South Dakota. At present its
+range is confined to that part of the state from the Missouri River
+to the Black Hills, frequenting the Bad Lands section, well up in
+the foot hills, preferring barren knolls and stony places. Never
+have I seen the bird or its eggs in any way concealed by grass or
+vegetation.”
+
+_Nesting._--The same observer writes: “A favorite nesting place
+is in a cattle or horse trail over a stony knoll destitute of
+vegetation and what sets I find are found mostly by the bird flying
+from beneath my saddle horse. * * *
+
+“The eggs are laid on a rock or stones. No depression or formation
+towards a nest whatever, the eggs are plain gray in color and so
+blend with the rock that though they may be almost at one’s feet
+are difficult to see.”
+
+_Eggs._--The Sennett’s nighthawk lays two eggs, the usual number
+for the species, which are practically indistinguishable from those
+of the eastern nighthawk, though they may average a trifle paler
+with somewhat smaller markings. The measurements of 9 eggs average
+31.1 by 22.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
+measure =33.8= by 21.6, 31.5 by =23.3=, =29.3= by 23.1, and 29.6 by
+=21.5= millimeters.
+
+_Young._--Ernest T. Seton (1890) made an interesting observation on
+two young nighthawks, which were apparently about three days old
+and still retained the shell tooth on the tip of the bill; he says:
+
+     I gently touched one of them, whereupon it crouched down
+     more closely to the ground; but its companion, rising,
+     hissed with open beak and snapped savagely at my fingers.
+     On being further teased they ran off, exactly in the manner
+     of young ducks, with outstretched wings and with neck and
+     body at an angle of 45 degrees. After running a few feet
+     they stopped, squatted as before, and closed their eyes.
+     This they repeated several times, but at best they only
+     made little progress, and each time on being overtaken the
+     bold one was always ready to fight. * * *
+
+     In the light of these observations it seems likely that in
+     some of the cases in which the Night-hawks are supposed to
+     have carried off their young, the latter had really run
+     from danger, or were led away by the parent birds.
+
+_Plumages._--Dr. Louis B. Bishop (1896) has called attention to the
+fact that the females of this race do not show the characters of
+the race as well as the males. He collected a series of 13 birds
+in North Dakota, of which he writes: “Three females from the same
+locality taken in June and July--one of them a breeding bird taken
+with a typical male and two eggs--are similar but with the upper
+parts darker and the entire lower parts tinged with buff, which
+becomes ochraceous-buff on the throat. Two other female Nighthawks
+from the same region, one taken on June 11, and the other with
+two eggs on June 24, are quite different, the prevailing tint of
+the entire plumage, except the greater wing-coverts, wings and
+tail, being ochraceous-buff. These birds might readily be referred
+to _henryi_, but all the males taken or seen during the breeding
+season were unmistakably _sennetti_.”
+
+He says further: “The pale colors of the male protect him
+admirably, harmonizing with the dull gray of the fences and rocks,
+perched on which he passes the day, while the darker colors of the
+female render her less conspicuous when seated over her eggs on the
+black soil.”
+
+_Behavior._--F. A. Patton (1924) says that “these birds will perch
+on a hot rock in the blazing sun the hottest summer day, the
+rock so hot one cannot hold a hand on it. You would think they
+would cook, they however seem stupid, they seem to lack the pep
+of other Night Hawks, to get out and soar at twilight, but are a
+quiet retiring bird, and I have known them on a hot day to let one
+approach close enough to strike them with a stick.”
+
+
+                 CHORDEILES MINOR HESPERIS Grinnell
+
+                         PACIFIC NIGHTHAWK
+
+                           PLATES 34, 35
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+What was formerly part of the range of the western nighthawk
+(_henryi_) is now assigned to this more recently described race.
+According to the 1931 Check-list, it “breeds from southeastern
+British Columbia to southwestern Saskatchewan, central Montana,
+central Utah, and northwestern Wyoming south along the Pacific
+coast to northern California and in the Sierra Nevada south to the
+San Bernardino Mountains, southern California.”
+
+Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1905a) named this race and described it as
+“most nearly resembling _Ch. v. virginianus_, but:--outer surface
+of closed wing grayer toned; lower tail-coverts and feathers of
+belly region more narrowly and sparsely dark-barred; and, in the
+male, white patches on throat, wings, and tail more extensive.” He
+remarks further:
+
+     In tone of coloration the male is much darker than in
+     either _Ch. v. sennetti_ or _Ch. v. henryi_. Altho somewhat
+     lighter than _virginianus_, this is in the direction of
+     pale gray and white rather than ochraceous. The extended
+     mottling of the otherwise blackish feathers dorsally is
+     responsible for this lighter tone, and especially notable
+     is the extensive silvery gray mottling on the wing coverts.
+     Yet this dorsal tone does not nearly reach the paleness of
+     _sennetti_. * * * The [white] patch on the outer primary
+     invades across the shaft to include the outer web; and the
+     same is observable of the patches on the tail-feathers.
+     * * * The female of _hesperis_ is gray rather than tawny,
+     and     is thus at once distinguishable from the female of
+     _henryi_.
+
+_Nesting._--Major Bendire (1895) writes:
+
+     A set of eggs of this subspecies was found by me on July 3,
+     1875, in the foothills of the Blue Mountains, some 6 miles
+     northeast of Camp Harney, Oregon, laid among some pebbles
+     on the bare ground under a little sage bush. The sitting
+     bird allowed me almost to touch it, and was very reluctant
+     to abandon its eggs, which were but slightly incubated. On
+     my approach, it ruffled its feathers and emitted a hissing
+     sound, resembling somewhat the spitting of a cat when mad.
+     Their favorite nesting places in that vicinity were the
+     crests of gravelly ridges, always selecting a well-drained
+     spot, where the rains could not chill the young or eggs.
+     Bare, rocky table-lands are also frequently resorted to for
+     similar purposes, and less often the flat tops of bowlders.
+     Extensive burnt tracts also furnish favorite abiding places
+     for them in the more northern portions of their range; in
+     fact, in such localities they are fully as abundant as on
+     the more open sagebrush plains.
+
+Henry J. Rust (1911) tells of a nest that he found near Coeur
+d’Alene, Idaho, in an open space in a cornfield, where the
+scattered cornstalks and a few weeds furnished scanty shade for the
+young. D. E. Brown tells me that “on the prairies of Pierce County
+[Washington] the bird nests on small patches of gravel, where the
+two eggs blend perfectly and the bird itself is hard to see. In
+King County, I find most of the nests in burnt-over sections. The
+eggs are usually placed among the remains of a rotten and charred
+log, where both egg and bird blend with the surroundings.”
+
+A. Dawes DuBois has sent me some notes on three nests found by him
+in Flathead County, Mont.; in one of these the eggs lay on a thick
+bed of coarse moss which covered the rocky ground for some distance
+around it; this was on the top of a high foothill. Of this nest
+he says: “The bird was sitting when I approached, July 16. When
+she saw me coming she closed her eyes and appeared to be asleep.
+By covering the large shiny eyeballs with the lusterless lids the
+nighthawk makes herself much more a part of her surroundings. The
+eyes are not shut tight; a narrow slit is left through which to
+peek. While I was in the tent blind, placed near the nest, her
+eyes were usually wide open; but if I slipped out at the rear and
+looked around the corner of the tent she slowly closed her eyes
+until only a narrow slit remained.”
+
+Dr. Grinnell (1908) found the Pacific nighthawk “to be a common
+species of the Boreal and upper Transition zones” in the San
+Bernardino Mountains. On June 18 he flushed a female from her two
+eggs at an altitude of about 9,000 feet. “These were laid on the
+bare ground in an open place among the pines. Nothing but a few
+pine needles separated them from the granite gravel.”
+
+_Eggs._--The eggs of the Pacific nighthawk are similar to those
+of the eastern nighthawk, but will average somewhat paler. The
+measurements of 38 eggs average 30.23 by 21.6 millimeters; the eggs
+showing the four extremes measure =32.5= by 21.8, 31.5 by =23.1=,
+and =24.6= by =19.0= millimeters.
+
+_Food._--Dr. Grinnell (1908) says: “A specimen shot at dusk, July
+4, 1906, was skinned at 11 o’clock the next day. The capacious
+throat and gullet were found to be crammed with large winged white
+ants. By actual count there were forty-three of these and many of
+them were still alive, although it was at least fifteen hours since
+they had been captured by the nighthawk.”
+
+Like other nighthawks this subspecies feeds mainly during the dusk
+of early morning and evening, but all observers seem to agree that
+it hunts largely during the day, even in bright sunlight. Its food
+consists of a great variety of insects, such as beetles, moths,
+ants, grasshoppers, and other flying insects.
+
+_Voice._--This nighthawk indulges in all the characteristic notes
+of the species, but Mr. DuBois mentions a note that he heard on
+August 20, which is somewhat different; he writes: “For two weeks
+or more some of the nighthawks flying over the hill by the ranger
+station have been uttering a _click-click-click-click_--rapidly
+repeated and continued at considerable length. It is somewhat like
+a series of high-pitched quacks. Other nighthawks, flying with
+these birds, are calling the characteristic _peënk_ at the usual
+intervals. I suppose the rapidly uttered quacks to be the notes of
+the young.”
+
+
+                CHORDEILES MINOR HOWELLI Oberholser
+
+                         HOWELL’S NIGHTHAWK
+
+                              PLATE 36
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+The 1931 Check-list gives the range of this subspecies as “southern
+Great Plains and central Rocky Mountain regions; from Wyoming
+to middle Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, middle and western Kansas,
+northeastern Utah, northeastern New Mexico, and southwestern
+Nebraska, casually to North Dakota.”
+
+In naming this bird in honor of his friend Arthur H. Howell, Dr.
+Harry C. Oberholser (1914) characterized it as “somewhat like
+_Chordeiles virginianus sennetti_, but male with upper parts more
+rufescent and somewhat paler, the dark brown color more rufescent,
+less grayish, and the light markings much more buffy or ochraceous;
+posterior lower parts more buffy, and the anterior dark brown areas
+more rufescent.”
+
+Robert B. Rockwell writes to me that this nighthawk is common
+in the region about Colorado Springs and that he has seen it in
+various other parts of Colorado, on the plains, in the valleys, and
+in the mountains up to 10,000 feet altitude.
+
+George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that it reaches about its
+southern limit in the vicinity of Austin, Tex., and that its
+habitat includes “the plains; barren fields; cowtrails in pastures;
+roadsides and along railroad tracks; barren gravelly ridges, and
+gravelly surfaces in the open, barren hills; backland plowed
+fields; rocky hillsides; edges of woodlands; flat, gravelly roofs
+of office buildings in town.”
+
+I cannot find anything to indicate that the habits of Howell’s
+nighthawk differ essentially from those of the other neighboring
+subspecies. Mr. Simmons (1925) says of the fall migration in
+Texas: “Gathers in flocks in late summer, mid-July to third week
+in August; migration begins early in August, and by the end of
+that month the local breeding birds have departed; hundreds pass
+through, August 10 to August 30, but the last have not gone until
+late in October. During one fall migration flocks containing
+as many as 200 to 300 birds were observed on the open prairies
+northeast of Austin. During both migration seasons the various
+subspecies of nighthawks mix up on their way to and from South
+America, so that identification of migrants is hopeless without a
+specimen in hand.”
+
+The eggs are similar to those of other nighthawks. The measurements
+of 26 eggs average 30.2 by 21.7 millimeters; the eggs showing the
+four extremes measure =33.0= by 21.9, 31.7 by =23.4=, and =26.3= by
+=20.2= millimeters.
+
+
+                CHORDEILES MINOR ASERRIENSIS Cherrie
+
+                        CHERRIE’S NIGHTHAWK
+
+
+                               HABITS
+
+George K. Cherrie (1896) described this race from a bird collected
+on November 2, 1893, in the valley of the River Aserri, Costa Rica.
+It is a small, pale race, about the size of _chapmani_. Nothing was
+known about its distribution at that time, but it has since been
+found to be the breeding form of southern Texas, from San Antonio
+southward and into Tamaulipas.
+
+Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1914) describes it as “resembling _Chordeiles
+virginianus sennetti_, but decidedly smaller; general tone of upper
+parts lighter and more ochraceous, the light areas more buffy or
+ochraceous (less grayish or whitish) and somewhat more extensive;
+and the dark brown areas of anterior lower surface less grayish.”
+He remarks further: “This heretofore unrecognized race seems to
+be in color most nearly like _Chordeiles virginianus sennetti_,
+though in this respect also near _Chordeiles virginianus howelli_
+and probably in reality most closely resembling this form, which it
+adjoins geographically.”
+
+Mr. Cherrie’s type specimen seems to have been lost; at least,
+neither he nor Dr. Oberholser have been able to locate it, but the
+full description of the type convinced Dr. Oberholser that “there
+is no doubt that Mr. Cherrie had in hand a male nighthawk of the
+_virginianus_ style in fully grown juvenal or first autumn plumage,
+not adult, as he supposed. Allowing for this immaturity, the
+characters that Mr. Cherrie gives are just those distinguishing the
+small, pale race which summers in southern Texas.”
+
+The nesting habits, eggs, food, and behavior of this nighthawk
+probably do not differ materially from those of other races living
+in similar environment. The measurements of 43 eggs average 29.3 by
+21.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure =32.5=
+by =22.5=, =27.1= by 21.3, and 28.4 by =20.6= millimeters.
+
+
+
+
+                              _Plates_
+
+
+
+
+                               PLATE 1
+                         GROOVE-BILLED ANI.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Tela, Honduras, July 5, 1930.                     A. F. Skutch.
+                          Female on nest.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Ulua Valley, Honduras, August 5, 1930.            A. F. Skutch.
+                        Nest of two pairs.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 2
+                         GROOVE-BILLED ANI.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Tela, Honduras, July 21, 1930.                    A. F. Skutch.
+                        Young 11 days old.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Tela, Honduras, August 15, 1930.                  A. F. Skutch.
+                      Young about 6 days old.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 3
+                             ROADRUNNER.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Fairbank, Ariz., May 18, 1922.                      A. C. Bent.
+                         Nest in a willow.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  San Diego County, Calif., April 9, 1929.            A. C. Bent.
+                      Nest in a pricklypear.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 4
+                            ROADRUNNERS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Adult taking lizard to feed young.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Arizona.                                W. L. and Irene Finley.
+                       Small young in nest.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 5
+                            ROADRUNNERS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Mojave Desert, Calif., May 28, 1916.              W. M. Pierce.
+                        Young nearly grown.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Arizona.                                W. L. and Irene Finley.
+                          Adult on nest.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 6
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Logan County, Ill., June 21, 1913.                A. D. DuBois.
+                   NEST OF YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Arizona.                                         F. C. Willard.
+                    NEST OF CALIFORNIA CUCKOO.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 7
+                  YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS AND YOUNG.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Battle Creek, Mich., August 30, 1936.        L. H. Walkinshaw.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Ithaca N. Y.                                      A. A. Allen.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 8
+                    NEST OF BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Sioux City, Iowa.                              T. C. Stephens.]
+
+
+                               PLATE 9
+                        BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Omaha, Nebr., July 1, 1901.                    F. H. Shoemaker.
+                     Young in juvenal plumage.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Hennepin County, Minn., June 11, 1935.            A. D. DuBois.
+                         A well-made nest.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 10
+                     YOUNG BLACK-BILLED CUCKOOS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+                     Showing the sucking pads.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Ithaca, N. Y.                                      A. A. Allen.
+               Showing the unopened feather sheaths.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 11
+                 ADULT BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO ON NEST.
+
+  [Illustration:
+                                                    Allen Frost.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 12
+                     EASTERN BELTED KINGFISHERS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Carver County, Minn., June 29, 1936.              A. D. DuBois.
+                    Feeding young at entrance.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Ithaca, N. Y.                                      A. A. Allen.
+                   Brooding newly hatched young.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 13
+                     EASTERN BELTED KINGFISHERS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+                        Young just hatched.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Ithaca, N. Y.                                      A. A. Allen.
+                           Older young.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 14
+                     EASTERN BELTED KINGFISHER.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Ann Arbor, Mich.                                 F. N. Wilson.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 15
+                NESTING OF WESTERN BELTED KINGFISHER.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Jackson County, Oreg., May 24, 1931.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+                                                J. E. Patterson.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 16
+                         TEXAS KINGFISHERS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Copana Bay, Tex.                                 G. F. Simmons.
+                           Nesting site.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Near Los Amates, Guatemala, May 5, 1932.          A. F. Skutch.
+                    Young ready to leave nest.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 17
+                      YOUNG RINGED KINGFISHERS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  April 10, 1932.
+                       Nestling 2 weeks old.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Near Los Amates, Guatemala, April 26, 1932.       A. F. Skutch.
+                       Juvenal 29 days old.]
+
+
+                             PLATE 18
+                   NESTING OF CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW.
+
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Near Dania, Fla., April 14, 1927.              D. J. Nicholson.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 19
+                         CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Plant City, Fla., May 1934.                        A. M. Bailey.
+                          Courtesy of Chicago Academy of Sciences.
+                         Female and young.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Miami County, Kans., May 24, 1929.                Walter Colvin.
+                           Eggs in nest.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 20
+                     YOUNG CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOWS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Duval County, Fla., May 22, 1932.                S. A. Grimes.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Dade County, Fla.                                F. N. Irving.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 21
+                  NESTING OF EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL.
+
+  [Illustration:]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Raynham, Mass., June 5, 1903.                      A. C. Bent.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 22
+                       EASTERN WHIPPOORWILLS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Sangamon County, Ill., May 17, 1908.              A. D. DuBois.
+                           Downy young.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  St. Lambert, Quebec.                             L. M. Terrill.
+                        Young 16 days old.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 23
+                        EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  St. Lambert, Quebec, June 11, 1933.              L. M. Terrill.
+                      Female brooding young.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 24
+                  NESTS OF STEPHENS’S WHIPPOORWILL.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Huachuca Mountains, Ariz.                       F. C. Willard.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Santa Rita Mountains, Ariz., June 27, 1932.   A. J. van Rossem.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 25
+                      NESTS OF DUSKY POORWILLS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Mariposa County, Calif., June 21, 1933.       J. E. Patterson.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Stanislaus County, Calif., June 23, 1934.     J. E. Patterson.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 26
+                       DUSKY POORWILL ON NEST.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Stanislaus County, Calif., June 23, 1934.      J. E. Patterson.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 27
+                  EGGS AND YOUNG OF DUSKY POORWILL.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  San Bernardino County, Calif.                     W. M. Pierce.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Longbard, Calif.                                 E. C. Aldrich.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 28
+            PAURAQUE (NYCTIDROMUS ALBICOLLIS ALBICOLLIS).
+
+  [Illustration:
+  May 20, 1930.]
+                           Nest and eggs.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Lancetilla Valley, Honduras, May 22, 1930.        A. F. Skutch.
+                      Young 1 and 2 days old.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 29
+                         EASTERN NIGHTHAWK.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Michigan, June 18, 1924.                     K. Christofferson.
+                            Roof nest.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Near Church Creek, Md.                             F. R. Smith.
+                           Ground nest.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 30
+                         EASTERN NIGHTHAWK.
+
+  [Illustration:
+                          Roosting poses.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Charlevoix, Mich., June 20, 1925.               W. E. Hastings.
+                     A well-made ground nest.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 31
+                         EASTERN NIGHTHAWKS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Brunswick, Maine, June 25, 1921.                   A. O. Gross.
+                         Young 1 day old.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Brunswick, Maine, June 27, 1922.                   A. O. Gross.
+                        Young 12 days old.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 32
+                         EASTERN NIGHTHAWKS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Brunswick, Maine, July 11, 1921.                   A. O. Gross.
+                        Young 17 days old.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Brunswick, Maine, July 18, 1921.                   A. O. Gross.
+                        Young 24 days old.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 33
+                         EASTERN NIGHTHAWKS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Brunswick, Maine, June 16, 1922.                   A. O. Gross.
+                       Adult male roosting.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Brunswick, Maine, June 16, 1921.                   A. O. Gross.
+                     Adult female incubating.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 34
+                NESTING SITES OF PACIFIC NIGHTHAWKS.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Jackson County, Oreg., June 22, 1924.         J. E. Patterson.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Flathead County, Mont., June 30, 1914.           A. D. DuBois.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 35
+                         PACIFIC NIGHTHAWK.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  Flathead County, Mont., July 12, 1914.           A. D. DuBois.]
+
+
+                              PLATE 36
+                   NESTING OF HOWELL’S NIGHTHAWK.
+
+  [Illustration:
+  July 4, 1911.]
+
+  [Illustration:
+  North Park, Colo., June 28, 1911.                E. R. Warren.]
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s Note:
+
+Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like
+this_. Those in bold are surrounded by equal signs, =like this=.
+Words may have inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have
+been left unchanged. Three asterisks separated by spaces indicates
+text was omitted by the author or publisher.
+
+Most of the plates contain two photographs. The plate number
+and title were combined as a header. Details specific to each
+photograph are presented as captions below the image.
+
+Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, upside down, reversed
+order, missing or partially printed letters and punctuation,
+were corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences,
+abbreviations and plate identifications were added. Duplicate
+letters at line endings or page breaks were removed. Twelve
+misspelled words were corrected.
+
+  Changes:
+  Page numbers in the Table of Contents were adjusted to match
+    related text.
+  Added ‘Plates’ to the Table of Contents.
+  Added missing word ‘by’ to protected from invasion by the wasps.
+  Changed ‘South’ to ‘East’ in description of breeding range of
+    chuck-will’s-widow.
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79396 ***
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+      Life Histories of North American Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds, and Their Allies | Project Gutenberg
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79396 ***</div>
+
+
+
+<section class="chapter sansserif">
+<h1>
+<i>Life Histories of North American
+Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds,
+and Their Allies</i>
+</h1>
+
+<p class="p2 center"><i>by</i></p>
+
+<p class="center muchlarger"><i>Arthur Cleveland Bent</i></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center"><i>in two parts</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>PART I</i></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center"><i>DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>NEW YORK</i></p>
+</section><!--end chapter-->
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<div class="chapter" role="doc-credit">
+  <p>
+    This Dover edition, first published in 1964, is an
+    unabridged and unaltered republication of the
+    work first published in 1940 by the United States
+    Government Printing Office, as Smithsonian Institution
+    United States National Museum <cite>Bulletin 176</cite>.
+  </p>
+
+<p class="p4 center">
+  <cite>Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 64–14301</cite><br>
+  <br>
+  Manufactured in the United States of America<br>
+  <br>
+  Dover Publications, Inc.<br>
+  180 Varick Street<br>
+  New York 14, <abbr title="New York">N. Y.</abbr>
+</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="ADVERTISEMENT">
+    ADVERTISEMENT
+  </h2>
+
+<p>The scientific publications of the National Museum include two
+series, known, respectively, as <cite>Proceedings</cite> and <cite>Bulletin</cite>.</p>
+
+<p>The <cite>Proceedings</cite> series, begun in 1878, is intended primarily as a
+medium for the publication of original papers, based on the collections
+of the National Museum, that set forth newly acquired facts
+in biology, anthropology, and geology, with descriptions of new
+forms and revisions of limited groups. Copies of each paper, in
+pamphlet form, are distributed as published to libraries and scientific
+organizations and to specialists and others interested in the different
+subjects. The dates at which these separate papers are published are
+recorded in the table of contents of each of the volumes.</p>
+
+<p>The series of <cite>Bulletins</cite>, the first of which was issued in 1875, contains
+separate publications comprising monographs of large zoological
+groups and other general systematic treatises (occasionally in
+several volumes), faunal works, reports of expeditions, catalogs of
+type specimens, special collections, and other material of similar
+nature. The majority of the volumes are octavo in size, but a quarto
+size has been adopted in a few instances in which large plates were
+regarded as indispensable. In the <cite>Bulletin</cite> series appear volumes
+under the heading <cite>Contributions from the United States National
+Herbarium</cite>, in octavo form, published by the National Museum since
+1902, which contain papers relating to the botanical collections of
+the Museum.</p>
+
+<p>The present work forms No. 176 of the <cite>Bulletin</cite> series.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+<span class="r1 smcap">Alexander Wetmore,</span><br>
+  <i>Assistant Secretary, Smithsonian Institution</i>.
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Washington, <abbr>D. C.</abbr></span>, <i>May 3, 1940</i>.</p>
+</section>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak ls" id="CONTENTS">
+    CONTENTS
+  </h2>
+<p class="right">Page</p>
+
+<nav data-epub-type="toc">
+<ul>
+ <li class="indx">Order <span class="smcap">Psittaciformes</span>
+     <span class="justr">&emsp;<a href="#Psittaciformes">1</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub1">Family Psittacidae: Parrots and parakeets
+     <span class="justr">&emsp;<a href="#FamPsittacidae">1</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Conuropsis carolinensis carolinensis:<br>Carolina parakeet
+     <span class="justr">&emsp;<a href="#Conuropsis1">1</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&emsp;<a href="#Habits1">1</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution10">10</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Conuropsis carolinensis ludovicianus:<br>Louisiana parakeet
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Conuropsis11">11</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits11">11</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Rhynchopsitta pachyrhyncha:<br>Thick-billed parrot
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Rhynchopsitta">14</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits14">14</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution18">18</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="indx">Order <span class="smcap">Cuculiformes</span>
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Order_CUCULIFORMES">19</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub1">Family Cuculidae: Cuckoos, roadrunners,<br>and anis
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#FamCuculidae">19</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Crotophaga ani: Smooth-billed ani
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Crotophaga19">19</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits19">19</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution25">25</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Crotophaga sulcirostris sulcirostris:<br>Groove-billed ani
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Crotophaga26">26</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits26">26</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution34">34</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Crotophaga sulcirostris pallidula:<br>San Lucas ani
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Crotophaga35">35</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits35">35</a></span>
+ <li class="isub2">Geococcyx californianus: Roadrunner
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Geococcyx36">36</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits36">36</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution50">50</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Coccyzus minor maynardi:<br>Maynard’s cuckoo
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Coccyzus51">51</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits51">51</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution53">53</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Coccyzus americanus americanus:<br>Yellow-billed cuckoo
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Coccyzus54">54</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits54">54</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution64">64</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Coccyzus americanus occidentalis:<br>California cuckoo
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Coccyzus67">67</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits67">67</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Coccyzus erythropthalmus:<br>Black-billed cuckoo
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Coccyzus70">70</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits70">70</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution81">81</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Cuculus optatus optatus:<br>Himalayan cuckoo
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Cuculus84">84</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits84">84</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Distribution90">90</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Cuculus canorus bakeri:<br>Khasia Hills cuckoo
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Cuculus91">91</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr">&ensp;<a href="#Habits91">91</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution105">105</a></span>
+     </li>
+  <li class="indx">Order <span class="smcap">Trogoniformes</span>
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Order_TROGONIFORMES">106</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub1">Family Trogonidae: Trogons
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#FamTrogonidae">106</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Trogon ambiguus ambiguus:<br>Coppery-tailed trogon
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Trogon106">106</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits106">106</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution110">110</a></span>
+     </li>
+  <li class="indx">Order <span class="smcap">Coraciiformes</span>
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Order_CORACIIFORMES">111</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub1"><span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</span>
+                   Family Alcedinidae: Kingfishers
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#FamAlcedinidae">111</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Megaceryle alcyon alcyon:<br>Eastern belted kingfisher
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Megaceryle111">111</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits111">111</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution126">126</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Megaceryle alcyon caurina:<br>Western belted kingfisher
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Megaceryle129">129</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits129">129</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Megaceryle torquata torquata:<br>Ringed kingfisher
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Megaceryle130">130</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits130">130</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution139">139</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chloroceryle americana septentrionalis:<br>Texas kingfisher
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chloroceryle140">140</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits140">140</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution146">146</a></span>
+     </li>
+  <li class="indx">Order <span class="smcap">Caprimulgiformes</span>
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Order_CAPRIMULGIFORMES">147</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub1">Family Caprimulgidae: Goatsuckers
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#FamCaprimulgidae">147</a></span>
+   </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Antrostomus carolinensis:<br>Chuck-will’s-widow
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Antrostomus147">147</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits147">147</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution161">161</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Antrostomus vociferus vociferus:<br>Eastern whippoorwill
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Antrostomus163">163</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits163">163</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution181">181</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Antrostomus vociferus arizonae:<br>Stephens’s whippoorwill
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Antrostomus183">183</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits183">183</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nuttalli:<br>Nuttall’s poorwill
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Phalaenoptilus187">187</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits187">187</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution193">193</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Phalaenoptilus nuttalli californicus:<br>Dusky poorwill
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Phalaenoptilus194">194</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits194">194</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Phalaenoptilus nuttalli hueyi:<br>Desert poorwill
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Phalaenoptilus197">197</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits197">197</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Phalaenoptilus nuttalli dickeyi:<br>San Ignatio poorwill
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Phalaenoptilus198">198</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits198">198</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Nyctidromus albicollis merrilli:<br>Merrill’s pauraque
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Nycitdromus199">199</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits199">199</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution205">205</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor minor:<br>Eastern nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chordeiles206">206</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits206">206</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Distribution
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Distribution231">231</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor henryi:<br>Western nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chordeiles235">235</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits235">235</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor chapmani:<br>Florida nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chordeiles237">237</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits237">237</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor sennetti:<br>Sennett’s nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chordeiles239">239</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits239">239</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor hesperis:<br>Pacific nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chordeiles240">240</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits240">240</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor howelli:<br>Howell’s nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Chordeiles242">242</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits242">242</a></span>
+     </li>
+ <li class="isub2">Chordeiles minor aserriensis:<br>Cherrie’s nighthawk
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Cordeiles243">243</a></span>
+    </li>
+ <li class="isub3">Habits
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Habits243">243</a></span>
+     </li>
+  <li class="indx">Plates
+     <span class="justr"><a href="#Plates">245</a></span>
+   </li>
+</ul>
+</nav>
+</section>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-introduction">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</span></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">
+    INTRODUCTION
+  </h2>
+
+<p>This is the thirteenth in a series of bulletins of the United States
+National Museum on the life histories of North American birds.
+Previous numbers have been issued as follows:</p>
+
+<ul>
+  <li class="isub1">107. Life Histories of North American Diving Birds, August 1, 1919.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">113. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns, August 27, 1921.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">121. Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and their Allies, October 19, 1922.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">126. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), May 25, 1923.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">130. Life Histories of North American Wild Fowl (part), June 27, 1925.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">135. Life Histories of North American Marsh Birds, March 11, 1927.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">142. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (<abbr title="part">pt.</abbr> 1), December 31, 1927.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">146. Life Histories of North American Shore Birds (pt. 2), March 24, 1929.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">162. Life Histories of North American Gallinaceous Birds, May 25, 1932.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">167. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 1), May 3, 1937.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">170. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey (pt. 2), August 8, 1938.</li>
+
+  <li class="isub1">174. Life Histories of North American Woodpeckers, May 23, 1939.</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>The same general plan has been followed, as explained in previous
+bulletins, and the same sources of information have been utilized.
+The nomenclature of the 1931 check-list of the American Ornithologists’
+Union has been followed.</p>
+
+<p>An attempt has been made to give as full a life history as possible
+of the best-known subspecies of each species and to avoid
+duplication by writing briefly of the others, giving only the characters
+of the subspecies, its range, and any habits peculiar to it.
+In many cases certain habits, probably common to the species as a
+whole have been recorded for only one subspecies; such habits are
+mentioned under the subspecies on which the observations were made.
+The distribution gives the range of the species as a whole, with only
+rough outlines of the ranges of the subspecies, which in many cases
+cannot be accurately defined.</p>
+
+<p>The egg dates are the condensed results from a mass of records
+taken from the data in a large number of the best collections in the
+country, as well as from contributed field notes and from a few
+published sources. They indicate the dates on which eggs have been
+found in various parts of the country, showing the earliest and latest
+dates and the limits between which half the dates fall, indicating
+the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The plumages are described in only enough detail to enable the
+reader to trace the sequence of molts and plumages from birth to
+maturity and to recognize the birds in the different stages and at
+the different seasons.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[Pg x]</span></p>
+
+<p>No attempt has been made to describe fully the adult plumages;
+this has been well done already in the many manuals. The names
+of colors, when in quotation marks, are taken from Ridgway’s Color
+Standards and Nomenclature (1912). In the measurements of eggs
+the four extremes are printed in boldface type.</p>
+
+<p>Many who have contributed material for previous volumes have
+continued to cooperate. Receipt of material from over 450 contributors
+has been acknowledged previously. In addition to these, our
+thanks are due to the following new contributors: E. C. Aldrich,
+Mrs. H. P. Bracelin, Maurice Brooks, Mildred Campbell, R. T.
+Congdon, Murl Deusing, S. S. Dickey, H. E. Edgerton, W. G. F.
+Harris, L. B. Howsley, Charles Macnamara, R. F. Mason, Jr., R. T.
+Moore, A. R. Phillips, A. J. Pinckney, O. P. Silliman, A. F. Skutch,
+Emily Smith, W. P. Steinbeck, R. R. Talmadge, H. O. Todd, Jr.,
+B. P. Tyler, L. O. Williams, G. R. Wilson, and H. B. Wood. As
+the demand for these bulletins is greater than the supply, the names
+of those who have not contributed to the work during the previous
+ten years may be dropped from the author’s mailing list.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Winsor M. Tyler rendered valuable assistance in reading and
+indexing, for these groups, a large part of the literature on North
+American birds, and contributed three complete life histories. E. C.
+Stuart Baker and Alexander F. Skutch each contributed two complete
+life histories; and Dr. Alfred O. Gross, the Rev. F. C. R.
+Jourdain, Alexander Sprunt, Jr., Dr. George M. Sutton, and Robert
+S. Woods contributed one each. Our thanks are also due F. Seymour
+Hersey for figuring egg measurements. Egg measurements were
+furnished, especially for this volume, by Dean Amadon, A. M. Bailey,
+American Museum of Natural History, Griffing Bancroft, R. M.
+Barnes, I. McT. Cowan, H. G. Deignan, C. E. Doe, J. H. Gillin, W. C.
+Hanna, R. C. Harlow, R. T. Moore, R. T. Orr, P. B. Philipp, M. S.
+Ray, J. H. Riley, G. H. Stuart, <abbr title="Third">3d</abbr>, and Miss M. W. Wythe.</p>
+
+<p>Through the courtesy of the Bureau of Biological Survey, the
+services of Frederick C. Lincoln were again obtained to compile the
+distribution paragraphs. With the matchless files of the Survey at
+his disposal, his many hours of careful work have produced results
+far more satisfactory than could have been attained by the author,
+who claims no credit and assumes no responsibility for this part
+of the work.</p>
+
+<p>The manuscript for this bulletin was completed in March 1939.
+Contributions received since then will be acknowledged later. Only
+information of great importance could be added. The reader is
+reminded again that this is a cooperative work; if he fails to find in
+these volumes anything that he knows about the birds, he can blame
+himself for not having sent the information to&#x2060;—</p>
+
+<p class="right r2">
+  <span class="smcap">The Author</span>.
+</p>
+</section>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</span><a id="Page_xii"></a></p>
+  <h2 class="nobreak sansserif" id="Life_Histories_of_North_American">
+    <i>Life Histories of North American
+    Cuckoos, Goatsuckers, Hummingbirds,
+    and Their Allies</i>
+  </h2>
+</section>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span></p>
+  <p class="hanging larger" id="LIFE_HISTORIES_OF_NORTH_AMERICAN_CUCKOOS">
+    LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN CUCKOOS,
+    GOAT&shy;SUCKERS, HUM&shy;MING&shy;BIRDS, AND THEIR
+    ALLIES.
+ </p>
+ <p class="center allsmcap">ORDERS PSITTACIFORMES, CUCULIFORMES, TROGONIFORMES, CORACIIFORMES,
+    CAPRIMULGIFORMES, AND MICROPODIIFORMES</p>
+<hr class="r5">
+
+<p class="center tall">By <span class="smcap">Arthur Cleveland Bent</span><br>
+    <i>Taunton, <abbr title="Massachusetts">Mass.</abbr></i>
+</p>
+
+<hr class="r5">
+
+<h3 id="Psittaciformes">Order PSITTACIFORMES</h3>
+
+<h4><a id="FamPsittacidae"></a>Family PSITTACIDAE: Parrots and Parakeets</h4>
+
+<p class="center" id="Conuropsis1">CONUROPSIS CAROLINENSIS CAROLINENSIS (Linnaeus)</p>
+
+<p class="center">CAROLINA PARAKEET</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits1">HABITS</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Many</span> of the glories of North American bird life have gone, never
+to return. The spread of civilization, the selfish greed of human
+interests, and the lust to kill have wiped out some of the most spectacular
+and beautiful features in our formerly abundant bird life.
+The countless millions of passenger pigeons that formerly darkened
+the sky in their seasonal migrations are gone forever. And the great
+flocks of gorgeous parakeets that formerly roamed over nearly all the
+eastern part of our country will be seen no more. This was the
+only representative of the parrot family that lived and bred within
+the United States; it gave a touch of tropical character to our
+avifauna and a vivid tinge of color to the landscape; its loss is much
+to be regretted. Never again may be seen the glorious sights witnessed
+by Wilson, Audubon, and other early writers, as great flocks
+of these gorgeous birds wheeled through the air, in close formation,
+their long tails streaming out in straight flight or spreading as they
+turned, and their brilliant colors, red, yellow, bright green, and soft
+blue, gleaming in the sunlight. As Wilson (1832) says: “They came
+screaming through the woods in the morning, about an hour after
+sunrise, to drink the salt water, of which they, as well as the pigeons,
+are remarkably fond. When they alighted on the ground, it appeared
+at a distance as if covered with a carpet of richest green,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span>orange, and yellow: they afterwards settled, in one body, on a
+neighbouring tree, which stood detached from any other, covering
+almost every twig of it, and the sun, shining strongly on their gay
+and glossy plumage, produced a very beautiful and splendid
+appearance.”</p>
+
+<p><i lang="la">Conuropsis carolinensis</i>, as a species, covered a wide range in eastern
+North America, from the vicinity of the Great Lakes southward
+to Florida and the Gulf States, and from Colorado (rarely) to the
+Atlantic coast. For a full account, given in detail, of the former
+range of the species and its gradual disappearance, the reader is
+referred to a comprehensive article on the subject by Edwin M.
+Hasbrouck (1891). As the species has been divided into two subspecies
+since this was written, we shall consider here only the former
+distribution of the eastern race, <i lang="la">Conuropsis c. carolinensis</i>. The oldest
+and northernmost records, of what was probably this race,
+appeared in Bartram’s Fragments (1799) in the following words:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The two first of these birds were seen in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia,
+between thirty and forty years ago. The Psittacus, most probably the Psittacus
+pertinax, Illinois Parrot, or the Psittacus carolinensis, Carolina Parrot, has
+been occasionally observed in Shareman’s Valley, on Shareman’s Creek, a branch
+of the river Susquehanna, within twenty miles of the town of Carlisle. This
+last fact seems to contradict the observation of Mr. William Bartram, who says,
+“The parakeets (Psittacus carolinensis) never reach so far north as Pennsylvania,
+which to me is unaccountable, considering they are a bird of such singular
+rapid flight, they could easily perform the journey in ten or twelve hours
+from North-Carolina, where they are very numerous, and we abound with all
+the fruits which they delight in.” * * * I may add, that a very large flight
+of parakeets, which came from the westward, was seen a few years ago, about
+twenty-five miles to the north-west of Albany, in the State of New-York.</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of these birds in the depth of winter (January, 1780) was, indeed,
+a very remarkable circumstance. The more ignorant Dutch settlers were exceedingly
+alarmed. They imagined, in dreadful consternation, that it portended
+nothing less calamitous than the destruction of the world.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>DeKay (1844) places this New York record as occurring in 1795.
+The only record we have for New Jersey is one recently published
+by Warren F. Eaton (1936); Albert E. Hedden (1841–1915) told his
+son and nephew “of the occurrence of this species in East Orange,
+Essex County, New Jersey, when he was a boy. They placed the
+time between 1850 and 1860, and both recall exactly the same story.
+The Paroquets occurred probably twice at least in hot weather (I
+suspect September) and were considered very destructive to the small
+household apple orchards, maintained by the family at that time.
+The birds occurred in flocks and tore the apple fruit apart, extracting
+the seeds.” There seems to be no record for Delaware, but in Audubon’s
+time they were found as far north as the boundary line between
+Virginia and Maryland, where a flock was seen and specimens were
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span>shot as recently as September 1865 (Smith and Palmer, 1888). They
+apparently were common in the Carolinas up to 1850, or perhaps
+1860, but must have disappeared from there soon after that. For
+Georgia, there seem to be no records since 1849. In Florida, the
+species made its last stand; parakeets were evidently common
+throughout the State up to the 1860’s, but during the next 20 years
+all observers reported them as becoming rarer and more restricted
+in range. In the early 1890’s it was still common in certain remote
+localities in Florida. Arthur H. Howell (1932) has this to say
+about the last records of this vanishing bird:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>E. J. Brown reported the birds plentiful in March, 1896, near Campbell,
+Osceola County. Dr. E. A. Mearns took 6 specimens on Padget Creek, Brevard
+County, April 18, 1901. Apparently the last stronghold was in the vicinity of
+Taylor Creek, on the northeastern side of Okeechobee Lake. Here on February
+29, 1896, Robert Ridgway collected 13 specimens, and in April, 1904, Frank M.
+Chapman saw two flocks aggregating 13 birds (1912, p. 318). W. W. Worthington
+hunted along both sides of Taylor Creek on March 26, 1907, without seeing
+any Paroquets. * * * Capt. F. W. Sams, an old resident of Florida,
+told Dr. Amos W. Butler that he saw a flock of 8 or 10 Paroquets in 1909 at
+Cabbage Slough, on the west side of Turnbull Hammock, about 12 or 15 miles
+southwest of New Smyrna. E. Stewart Hyer, of Orlando, reports seeing one
+bird at Istokpoga Lake on February 16, 1910. A late and apparently authentic
+record is published by Chapman (Bird Lore, 1915, p. 453) on the authority of
+W. J. F. McCormick, who claims to have seen about a dozen birds in March and
+April, 1915. Henry Redding, who knows the birds well, reported a flock of
+about 30 seen on Fort Drum Creek in February, 1920.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The causes that led to the extermination of the parakeet are not
+hard to find. It was a bad actor, regarded by fruit growers and
+agriculturists as a destructive pest, doing extensive damage to their
+crops. Consequently it was slaughtered in enormous numbers on
+every opportunity. It was more or less hunted as a game bird, for it
+was abundant and its flesh was said to be very palatable. It was shot
+in enormous numbers for mere sport, or for practice. Hundreds were
+captured by professional bird catchers and sent north, as cage birds
+or pets, and many were killed for their plumage. Furthermore, it
+has always retreated before the spread of civilization and seemed incapable
+of surviving in settled regions, probably for the reasons
+mentioned above.</p>
+
+<p>W. E. D. Scott (1889) says that “they were wantonly mischievous
+and cut hundreds of young <em>green oranges</em>, peaches, and the like, from
+the trees almost as soon as the fruit was formed.” Many were shot
+by farmers in their cornfields, where the birds had formed the bad
+habit of feeding on the tender corn on the ears, thus destroying, or
+injuring, a large part of the crop.</p>
+
+<p>According to Audubon (1842) they ate or destroyed almost every
+kind of fruit indiscriminately and on this account were always unwelcome
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span>visitors “to the planter, the farmer, or the gardener.” He
+says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The stacks of grain put up in the field are resorted to by flocks of these
+birds, which frequently cover them so entirely, that they present to the eye
+the same effect as if a brilliantly coloured carpet had been thrown over them.
+They cling around the whole stack, pull out the straws, and destroy twice as
+much of the grain as would suffice to satisfy their hunger. They assail the
+pear and apple-trees, when the fruit is yet very small and far from being ripe,
+and this merely for the sake of the seeds. As on the stalks of corn, they alight
+on the apple-trees of our orchards, or the pear-trees in the gardens, in great
+numbers; and, as if through mere mischief, pluck off the fruits, open them up
+to the core, and, disappointed at the sight of the seeds, which are yet soft and
+of a milky consistence, drop the apple or pear, and pluck another, passing from
+branch to branch, until the trees which were before so promising, are left
+completely stripped. * * * They visit the mulberries, pecan-nuts, grapes,
+and even the seeds of the dog-wood, before they are ripe, and on all commit
+similar depredations. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Do not imagine, reader, that all these outrages are borne without severe
+retaliation on the part of the planters. So far from this, the Parakeets are
+destroyed in great numbers, for whilst busily engaged in plucking off the fruits
+or tearing the grain from the stacks, the husbandman approaches them with
+perfect ease, and commits great slaughter among them. All the survivors rise,
+shriek, fly around about for a few minutes, and again alight on the very place
+of most imminent danger. The gun is kept at work; eight or ten, or even
+twenty, are killed at every discharge. The living birds, as if conscious of the
+death of their companions, sweep over their bodies, screaming as loud as ever,
+but still return to the stack to be shot at, until so few remain alive, that the
+farmer does not consider it worth his while to spend more of his ammunition.
+I have seen several hundreds destroyed in this manner in the course of a few
+hours.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>This fatal habit of hovering over their fallen companions has
+helped, more than any one thing, to bring about their extermination.
+Their social disposition has been their undoing. C. J. Maynard
+(1896) says of this trait: “This is not a mere liking for company,
+as they are actually fond of one another, for, if one out of a flock
+be wounded, the survivors attracted by its screams, will return to
+hover over it and, even if constantly shot at, will not leave as long
+as their distressed friend calls for assistance; in fact, I have seen
+every individual in a flock killed one after the other, and the last
+bird betrayed as much anxiety for the fate of its prostrate friends
+which were strewed upon the ground, as it did when the first fell.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Nothing very definite seems to be known about the nesting
+habits of the Carolina parakeet. No competent ornithologist
+has ever seen a nest. Even Wilson and Audubon, who lived in the
+days when these birds were so abundant, never saw a nest; and all
+they wrote about it was based on hearsay. Most observers seemed to
+agree that the parakeets nested in hollow trees, but some of the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>accounts were rather fantastic. For example, Wilson (1832) wrote:
+“One man assured me that he cut down a large beech tree, which was
+hollow, and in which he found the broken fragments of upwards of
+twenty parakeets’ eggs, which were of a greenish yellow colour.
+The nests, though destroyed in their texture by the falling of the
+tree, appeared, he said, to be formed of small twigs glued to each
+other, and to the side of the tree, in the manner of the Chimney
+Swallow.” Audubon (1842) says: “Their nest, or the place in which
+they deposit their eggs, is simply the bottom of such cavities in trees
+as those to which they usually retire at night. Many females deposit
+their eggs together.”</p>
+
+<p>Maynard (1896) was told by some cedar hunters that a large number
+of parakeets nested in a hollow in a huge cypress tree in the
+depths of a great cypress swamp. He offered them a good sum to
+procure the eggs, which they attempted to do; but, on opening the
+tree, about which they saw a large number of the parakeets, they were
+disappointed to find only young birds. H. B. Bailey (1883) had in
+his collection a set of two eggs, which he felt sure were eggs of the
+Carolina parakeet. “The eggs, which were taken April 26, 1855,
+were deposited in a hollow tree, on the chips at bottom. One of them
+was sent to Mr. Ridgway who has kindly compared it with identified
+eggs, and who confirms the identification.” There was an apparently
+authentic set in the John Lewis Childs (1906b) collection,
+taken in the wild, of which he writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The set consists of three eggs which were taken on April 2, 1896, by Dr. H. H.
+Pendry. They were found In a cavity of a sycamore tree forty feet up on the
+outskirts of the Great Swamp near the head of the Caloosahatchee River and
+west of Lake Okechobee, De Soto County, Florida. Dr. Pendry was not sure
+of the identity of these eggs, as he saw no Paroquets at the nest, but they were
+in the swamp and he had frequently seen and taken young birds In the same
+locality. * * * The eggs were sent to us for identification, and there seems
+to be not the slightest doubt but that they are genuine. They measure as
+follows: 1.35 × 1.06–1.26 × 1.06, 1.25 × 1.05 [34.3 by 27.1, 32.1 by 27.1, and 31.8
+by 26.8 millimeters].</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>William Brewster (1889) published the following account, which
+seemed to him “to rest on evidence sufficiently good to warrant its
+publication.” He questioned everybody he met about the nesting of
+the parakeet and was told by two professional hunters of alligators
+and plume birds that they had “seen Parrakeets’ nests, which they
+described as flimsy structures built of twigs and placed on the
+branches of cypress trees.” He goes on to say:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>This account was so widely at variance with what has been previously recorded
+regarding the manner of nesting of this species that I considered it, at the time,
+as a mere fabrication, but afterwards it was unexpectedly and most strongly
+corroborated by Judge E. L. Long of Tallahassee. The latter gentleman, who,
+by the way, has a very good general knowledge of the birds of our Northern
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span>States, assured me that he had examined many nests of the Parrakeet built
+precisely as above described. Formerly, when the birds were abundant in the
+surrounding region, he used to find them breeding in large colonies in the
+cypress swamps. Several of these colonies contained at least a thousand birds
+each. They nested invariably in small cypress trees, the favorite position being
+on a fork near the end of a slender horizontal branch. Every fork would be
+occupied, and he has seen as many as forty or fifty nests in one small tree.
+Their nests closely resembled those of the Carolina Dove, being similarly composed
+of cypress twigs put together so loosely that the eggs were often visible
+from the ground beneath. The twigs of the cypress seemed to be preferred to
+those of any other kind of tree. The height at which the nests were placed
+varied from five or six feet to twenty or thirty feet. Mr. Long described the
+eggs as being of a greenish white color, unspotted. He did not remember the
+maximum number which he had found in one set, but thought it was at least
+four or five. He had often taken young birds from the nests to rear or to give
+to his friends.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Several times parakeets have been known to breed in captivity
+or attempt to do so. Robert Ridgway brought several birds from
+Florida that laid at least 13 eggs in captivity; most of the eggs now
+in American collections are the product of these birds. Dr. William
+C. Herman writes to me that parakeets bred successfully in the
+Cincinnati Zoological Garden, where some were kept for 20 or more
+years; the last one died in September 1914. “Some of these birds
+bred in captivity. Dozens of young birds were raised, especially
+when others recently captured were added.” Dr. Nowotny (1898)
+purchased a pair of Carolina parakeets in Vienna and tried to breed
+them in captivity. The female laid in all ten eggs; the first five
+were put in a breeding box, but never hatched, as they were “picked
+and sucked,” presumably by the birds. Two more eggs were placed
+under a hen but were destroyed through carelessness. The other
+three were placed in the breeding box and incubated by the parakeets;
+three young were hatched, but they did not live to maturity.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—It is not definitely known how many eggs were laid by the
+Carolina parakeet in a normal set, but indications point to two and
+three as being the commonest numbers. Bendire (1895) says, of the
+eggs laid by Mr. Ridgway’s birds in captivity:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>None of these eggs can be called round; they vary from ovate to short ovate,
+and are rather pointed. They are white, with the faintest yellowish tint,
+ivory-like and quite glossy; the shell is rather thick, close grained, and
+deeply pitted, not unlike the eggs of the African Ostrich (<cite>Struthio camelus</cite>),
+but of course not as noticeable. Holding the eggs in a strong light, the
+inside appears to be pale yellow. * * *</p>
+
+<p>The deep pitting is noticeable in every specimen, and there can be no possible
+doubt about the identity of these eggs. * * * There is no difficulty whatever
+in distinguishing these eggs from those of the Burrowing Owl or the Kingfisher,
+both of which are occasionally substituted for them.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Childs (1905) figures the three eggs sent to him by Mr. Ridgway
+and describes them as “color pure white with ivory gloss surpassing
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>that of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker.” One of Mr. Ridgway’s
+eggs, in the John E. Thayer collection, I should describe as
+ovate in shape and dull white in color, with a very slight gloss. The
+measurements of 24 eggs average 34.23 by 27.80 millimeters; the eggs
+showing the four extremes measure <b>37</b> by 38, 33 by <b>30.2</b>, <b>32.1</b> by
+27.1, and 34.4 by <b>25.8</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—We do not know much about the development and care of
+the young in the wild state, but in captivity the birds seem to be
+very careless or indifferent in the care and feeding of the young.
+Dr. Nowotny’s eggs were hatched, after continuous incubation, in
+about 19 or 20 days, but the young all eventually died from neglect.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Ridgway wrote to Mr. Childs (1905), under date of November
+13, 1902: “My female Parakeet laid only six eggs the past summer and
+I shall never get any more, as the bird is now dead. The first she
+laid is the one I sent you. The remaining five hatched, but I have
+only two young ones left, a rat having carried off one, another was
+starved by the parents when half grown, and the third I gave to a
+friend who had time and disposition to take care of it in order to
+save it from starving.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—I have never seen the downy young or nestling plumages
+and doubt if there are any such in collections. Audubon (1840)
+says that “the young are at first covered with soft down, such as is
+seen on young Owls. During the first season, the whole plumage is
+green; but towards autumn a frontlet of carmine appears. Two
+years, however, are passed before the male or female are in full
+plumage.” His plate shows a bird with a wholly green head.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Nowotny’s (1898) young birds, when between five and six
+weeks old, “had already attained green wings and tail; the older one
+also had red feathers above the bill and on the under parts. * * *
+The oldest young one had already attained many dense strong red
+feathers above the bill at the age of eight weeks”. This does not
+agree with Audubon’s account, or with C. J. Maynard’s (1896) who
+says, of the young of the year: “Head and neck, wholly green, and
+the tail is short.” He says, of the nestling: “One of my collectors,
+who found the young in the nest, informs me that they are covered
+with a grayish down.” I have never seen a young bird with a wholly
+green head; those that I have seen, some nine in number, were in first
+winter plumage, and were collected between October 7 and April 3,
+indicating that this plumage is worn all through the first winter.
+These are much like adults, but with no yellow on the head, thighs,
+or anal region, and only greenish yellow on the edge of the wing;
+the forehead and front of the crown up to the front edges of the
+eyes are “flame scarlet” or “cadmium orange,” shading off to dull
+brownish orange on the lores and to dull brown on the cheeks. Specimens
+taken in February show yellow feathers coming in on the head,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span>and progressive changes toward maturity continue all through the
+spring months until, by summer, the yellow head is fully acquired.
+Audubon (1840) says that the young bird requires two years to attain
+its full plumage, and Maynard (1896) says that it is acquired
+during the third year, but the material examined does not indicate
+this.</p>
+
+<p>Adults have a complete molt in fall, from September to November.
+Dr. Frank M. Chapman’s (1890) captive bird began to molt in September,
+“and by November had acquired an entirely new plumage.”
+Arthur T. Wayne (1910) says that they “commence to molt about
+October 5, and require at least six weeks to acquire their perfect
+plumage.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Much has been said about the food of the Carolina parakeet
+in the earlier part of this account, as its feeding habits were so
+destructive in fruit orchards and grain fields that the birds were
+unmercifully slaughtered by the planters, thus hastening the extermination
+of the species. But before the lands were so extensively
+cultivated, the parakeets lived on their natural, wild food. C. J.
+Maynard (1896) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>I observed a large flock of Parokeets moving along the ground. * * * At
+first, I could not make out what they were doing but soon found that they
+were busily engaged in eating cockspurs, the seeds of a species of grass which
+grows very abundantly in old fields. They walked quite well for birds having
+such short legs and, in pressing forward, moved side by side in a long rank,
+looking exactly like miniature soldiers. After a few moments, something
+startled them and they arose, wheeled about, darting rapidly up and down,
+precisely like pigeons, at the same time, uttering loud cries; then settled quietly
+down again and resumed their meal, as composedly as if nothing had occurred
+to interrupt.</p>
+
+<p>This is the only time that I ever chanced to see the Parokeets feed on the
+ground but I have been informed by the inhabitants of Florida, that they are
+very fond of cockspurs and will frequently alight in the fields in order to eat
+them. Early in winter, they visit the swamps, where they feed upon the
+cypress balls. Then it is very difficult to find them as they often remain for
+weeks in the impenetrable fastnesses of the vast wooded tracts which, at this
+season, are submerged in water. Later, about the first of February, the Parokeets
+emerge from the swamps in small flocks and enter the open woods to
+search for the seeds of the pine cones which are then ripe. At this time, they
+may be met with quite frequently but the best opportunity to procure specimens
+occurs about the middle of February, when they may be found in large
+companies, feeding upon the green seeds of the maples and elms which grow
+along the rivers.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. Chapman (1890) found these parakeets feeding on the prairies
+near the Sebastian River in Florida, of which he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>About these “prairies” and at the borders of small streams or low ground
+grew in abundance a species of thistle (<i lang="la">Cirsium Lecontei</i>, T. &amp; G.) the seeds
+of which, so far as I could learn, constituted at this season [February] the
+entire food of <i lang="la">Conurus</i>. Not a patch of thistles did we find which had not
+been visited by them, the headless stalks showing clearly where the thistles
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>had been neatly severed by the sharp chisel-like bill, while the ground beneath
+favorite trees would be strewn with the scattered down. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Two days passed before I again met <i lang="la">Conurus</i>, and this time to better advantage.
+It was a wet and drizzling morning when we found a flock of six birds
+feeding on thistles at the edge of a “prairie.” Perched on the leafless
+branches of the tree before us, their brilliant green plumage showed to the best
+advantage, as we approached through the pines without difficulty. Several
+were skillfully dissecting the thistles they held in their feet, biting out the
+milky seed while the released fluffy down floated away beneath them. There
+was a sound of suppressed conversation; half articulate calls. * * *</p>
+
+<p>There was an evident regularity in the habits of the birds we afterwards
+observed—in all about fifty, in flocks of from six to twenty. At an early hour
+they left their roost in the hummock bordering the river and passed out into
+the pines to feed, always, so far as I observed, selecting thistle patches, and
+eating the seeds only when in the milky stage. At about ten o’clock they
+returned to the hummock and apparently to some favorite tree, here to pass the
+rest of the morning and early afternoon, when they again started out to feed,
+returning to the roost just before sunset. A flock of these birds feeding among
+the thistles is a most beautiful and animated sight; one is almost persuaded
+not to disturb them. There is constant movement as they fly from plant to
+plant, or when securing thistles they fly with them in their bills to a neighboring
+tree, there to dissect them at their leisure. The loud rolling call was
+apparently uttered only when on the wing, but when at rest, or feeding, there
+was a loud conversational murmur of half articulate, querulous notes and calls.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Cottam and Knappen (1939) examined the stomach and crop of
+one bird, of which they say: “Except for two rabbit hairs, two bits of
+the bird’s own feathers, and two fragments of an indeterminable ant,
+which formed only traces, the entire content consisted of the remains
+of no fewer than thirty-two seeds of loblolly pine (<i lang="la">Pinus taeda</i>).”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Audubon (1842) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The flight of the Parakeet is rapid, straight, and continued through the
+forests, or over fields and rivers, and is accompanied by inclinations of the body
+which enable the observer to see alternately their upper and under parts.
+They deviate from a direct course only when impediments occur, such as the
+trunks of trees or houses, in which case they glance aside in a very graceful
+manner, merely as much as may be necessary. A general cry is kept up by the
+party, and it is seldom that one of these birds is on wing for ever so short a
+space without uttering its cry. On reaching a spot which affords a supply of
+food, instead of alighting at once, as many other birds do, the Parakeets take
+a good survey of the neighborhood, passing over it in circles of great extent,
+first above the trees, and then gradually lowering until they almost touch the
+ground, when suddenly re-ascending they all settle on the tree that bears the
+fruit of which they are in quest, or on one close to the field in which they
+expect to regale themselves.</p>
+
+<p>They are quite at ease on trees or any kind of plant, moving sidewise, climbing
+or hanging in every imaginable posture, assisting themselves very dexterously
+in all their motions with their bills. They usually alight extremely close
+together. I have seen branches of trees as completely covered by them as they
+could possibly be. If approached before they begin their plundering, they
+appear shy and distrustful, and often at a single cry from one of them, the
+whole take wing, and probably may not return to the same place that day.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span></p>
+
+<p>Maynard (1896) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>I have remarked that the Parokeets scream very loudly when flying; so
+loudly, in fact, that their shrill cries can be heard for miles. They come dashing
+along, moving in a most eccentric manner; now near the ground, then high
+over the tree tops, seeming about to alight a dozen times but still without
+settling, each in the company endeavoring to excel the other in producing the
+most discordant yells, when they will all pitch, at once, into some tree and a
+sudden silence ensues. So great had been the din but a second before that the
+comparative stillness is quite bewildering, then too, the large flock of highly
+colored birds, lately so conspicuous, have disappeared completely. I well
+remember my first experience of this nature; I stood, gun in hand, watching the
+evolutions of a large company as it wheeled about, awaiting an opportunity to
+shoot, when, of a sudden, they all alighted in a large live-oak which stood a few
+rods away. I cautiously approached the tree, ready to slaughter half the flock
+at a single discharge, if possible, when, what was my surprise upon going
+within a suitable distance, not to perceive a bird. Neither could I see so much
+as a feather of the desired game although I walked around the tree several
+times and even went beneath its branches to peer up between them. After
+spending some time in these fruitless efforts, my patience became quite exhausted
+and I threw a large oyster shell up into the tree. This certainly produced
+an effect, not just what I intended, however, for, in an instant, out
+darted the entire body of screaming birds but on the opposite side of the
+thick tree; thus I could only stand and watch them as they disappeared in
+the neighboring swamp.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Audubon (1842) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Their roosting-place is in hollow trees, and the holes excavated by the larger
+species of Woodpeckers, as far as these can be filled by them. At dusk, a flock
+of Parakeets may be seen alighting against the trunk of a large sycamore
+or any other tree, when a considerable excavation exists within it. Immediately
+below the entrance the birds all cling to the bark, and crawl into the hole to
+pass the night. When such a hole does not prove sufficient to hold the whole
+flock, those around the entrance hook themselves on by their claws, and the
+tip of the upper mandible, and look as if hanging by the bill. I have frequently
+seen them in such positions by means of a glass, and am satisfied that the
+bill is not the only support used in such cases.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. William C. Herman writes to me, of the parakeets in the Cincinnati
+Zoological Garden: “The parakeets were well adapted to being
+caged, some were in the zoo for 20 or more years. A hollow tree was
+provided for the birds for roosting. Here they hung for the night;
+that is, they used their beaks for holding to the interior of the tree
+trunk and so rested for the night.”</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution10">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southeastern United States; probably extinct.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the Carolina parakeet extended <b>north</b> to casually
+northeastern Colorado (Little Thompson River); eastern Nebraska
+(Omaha and Brownville); casually Iowa (Spirit Lake and Decatur
+County); casually southern Wisconsin (Lake Koskonong and Waukesha
+County); Ohio (Columbus and Summit County); and Pennsylvania
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span>(Juniata River and Shermans Valley). <b>East</b> to Pennsylvania
+(Shermans Valley); casually the District of Columbia (Washington);
+casually West Virginia (White Sulphur Springs); South
+Carolina (Pine Barrens and Edding Island); Georgia; and Florida
+(Oklawaha River, Wekiva River, and Micco); <b>south</b> to Florida
+(Micco, Lake Okeechobee, Tampa, Tarpon Springs, Old Town, and
+Tallahassee); southern Louisiana (Bayou Sara and <abbr title="Saint">St.</abbr> Mary); and
+central Texas (Brownwood). <b>West</b> to central Texas (Brownwood);
+eastern Oklahoma (Caddo and Fort Gibson); and casually eastern
+Colorado (Fort Lyon, Denver, and the Little Thompson River).</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—Several of the records that figure in the range as
+above outlined can be considered as little more than casual occurrences,
+but this status must be accorded a flock reported 25 miles
+northwest of Albany, N. Y., in January 1780, and to flocks observed
+“many years ago” at Buffalo and West Seneca, N. Y. There also is
+an indefinite record of this species in East Orange, Essex County,
+N. J., sometime between 1850 and 1860.</p>
+
+<p>Systematists now consider the species as separable into two geographic
+races, the true Carolina parakeet, <i lang="la">C. c. carolinensis</i>, being the
+eastern form that ranged west to Alabama, while the Louisiana parakeet,
+<i lang="la">C. c. ludovicianus</i>, ranged westward from Mississippi, Tennessee,
+Kentucky, and Ohio.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Florida: 2 records, April 2 and 26.</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Conuropsis11">CONUROPSIS CAROLINENSIS LUDOVICIANUS Gmelin</p>
+
+<p class="center">LOUISIANA PARAKEET</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a id="Habits11"></a>HABITS</p>
+
+<p>In describing this pale race of <i lang="la">Conuropsis</i>, Outram Bangs (1913)
+says: “For many years it has been common knowledge among the
+older set of American ornithologists that the Carolina paroquet
+divided into two very distinct geographical races.” He says of its
+characters: “A much paler bird than <i lang="la">Conuropsis c. carolinensis</i>
+(Linn.); yellow portions of head and neck pale lemon yellow or
+picric yellow, instead of lemon yellow or lemon chrome; green of
+upper parts much paler and more bluish, verdigris green to variscite
+green on wing coverts and sides of neck; under parts dull green-yellow
+glossed with variscite green; bend of wing and feathers of
+tibia paler, purer yellow, less orange.” Mr. Ridgway (1916) adds:
+“Greater wing-coverts, proximal secondaries, and basal portion of
+outer webs of primaries more pronouncedly and more extensively
+yellowish, contrasting more strongly with the general green color;
+size averaging decidedly greater.” The latter author says of its former
+range: “Formerly inhabiting the entire Mississippi Valley (except
+open prairies and plains), from West Virginia to eastern Colorado,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>north to the southern shores of Late Erie and Lake Michigan,
+south to the Gulf coast.”</p>
+
+<p>This parakeet is now, doubtless, quite extinct throughout all this
+wide range. Though formerly abundant over most of this region,
+it had begun to disappear even in Audubon’s time, for he (1842)
+says: “Our Parakeets are very rapidly diminishing in number; and
+in some districts, where twenty-five years ago they were plentiful,
+scarcely any are now to be seen. At that period, they could be procured
+as far up the tributary waters of the Ohio as the Great Kenhawa,
+the Scioto, the heads of the Miami, the mouth of the Manimee
+at its junction with Lake Erie, on the Illinois River, and sometimes
+as far north-east as Lake Ontario. * * * At the present day, very
+few are to be found higher than Cincinnati, nor is it until you reach
+the mouth of the Ohio that Parakeets are met with in considerable
+numbers. I should think that along the Mississippi there is not now
+half the number that existed fifteen years ago.”</p>
+
+<p>Myron H. Swenk (1934), in a comprehensive paper on this parakeet
+of the interior, sums up its disappearance in the following
+words: “By 1840 they were practically gone in West Virginia and
+Ohio. They disappeared from Indiana about 1858 and from Illinois
+about 1861. The Colorado birds were gone by about 1862. In
+Kansas they were gone by about 1867, and during the years 1875–1880
+they disappeared from Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi
+and Alabama. Their last stand was made in Missouri and
+along the Arkansas River and its tributaries in Arkansas and central
+Oklahoma, but by 1890 they were practically gone in these localities
+also. * * * The very last records of living Interior Carolina
+Paroquets are of lone individuals shot at Atchison, Kansas, in 1904,
+and seen at Notch, Stone County, Missouri, in 1905 (<i lang="la">vide</i> Widmann,
+* * * 1907).”</p>
+
+<p>Since that time there have been at least two sight records reported.
+Harry Harris (1919) says that “in some unaccountable manner a lone
+bird strayed into the Courtney bottoms in 1912 and was observed
+by Bush for several weeks before it finally disappeared.” Dr. Daniel
+S. Gage has sent me a letter from Prof. Elliot R. Downing, of the
+University of Chicago, reporting that he saw a Carolina parakeet
+in the sand-dune region on the shore of Lake Michigan, not far from
+Chicago, on June 11, 1912. His letter states that he saw the parakeet
+“on a Juneberry tree, a small one, on the margin of an interdunal
+pond. I remember the observation very clearly. I was within 20
+feet of the bird and had a chance to observe it with my bird glasses
+for 10 or 15 minutes. I am therefore quite confident that there was
+no error in the observation.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</span></p>
+
+<p>Both of these records might well be based on escaped cage birds, as
+there were a number in captivity at that time, and the wild birds
+had long since disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Wilson (1832) suggests certain reasons why the inland parakeet
+enjoyed a wider and more northern distribution than its relative on
+the Atlantic coast. He writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The preference, however, which this bird gives to the western countries,
+lying in the same parallel of latitude with those eastward of the Alleghany
+mountains, which it rarely or never visits, is worthy of remark; and has been
+adduced, by different writers, as a proof of the superior mildness of climate
+in the former to that of the latter. But there are other reasons for this partiality
+equally powerful, though hitherto overlooked; namely, certain peculiar
+features of country to which these birds are particularly and strongly attached;
+these are, low, rich, alluvial bottoms, along the borders of creeks, covered with
+a gigantic growth of sycamore trees, or button-wood; deep, and almost inpenetrable
+swamps, where the vast and tower-cypress lifts its still more majestic
+head; and those singular salines, or, as they are usually called, <dfn>licks</dfn>, so generally
+interspersed over that country, and which are regularly and eagerly
+visited by the Paroquets. A still greater inducement is the superior abundance
+of their favorite fruits. That food which the paroquet prefers to all others is
+the seeds of the cockle bur, a plant rarely found in the lower parts of Pennsylvania
+or New York; but which unfortunately grows in too great abundance
+along the shores of the Ohio and Mississippi.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—We have no more positive information on the nesting
+habits of this parakeet than we have of the eastern race, beyond the
+following statement by Col. N. S. Goss (1891): “Their nests are
+usually placed in holes or hollow cavities of trees. In the spring of
+1858, a small flock reared their young in a large hollow limb of a
+giant sycamore tree, on the banks of the Neosho River, near Neosho
+Falls, Kansas. I have never been able to procure their eggs.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—What few eggs of this race are in existence are indistinguishable
+from those of the Carolina parakeet. The measurements
+of the only four eggs that I have been able to locate are <b>36</b> by 27, 35
+by <b>27.5</b>, <b>35</b> by <b>26.5</b>, and 36 by 26.5 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Prof. Myron H. Swenk (1934) says of the food of this
+parakeet:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The food of the Interior Carolina Paroquet, though all vegetable, was highly
+varied, and they seemed to delight in the fruits of spiny or thorny plants.
+One of the most relished foods was the seeds of the cocklebur (<i lang="la">Xanthium
+canadense</i>), and they fed also on the seeds of the sand-bur grass (<i lang="la">Cenchrus
+tribuloides</i>) and of the various species of thistles (<i lang="la">Cirsium</i>). In the fall they
+ate the seeds of the honey locust (<i lang="la">Gleditsia triacanthos</i>) and the tender buds
+and fruit of the osage orange (<i lang="la">Maclura pomifera</i>). In the spring they ate the
+buds of the red maple (<i lang="la">Acer rubrum</i>) and birch (<i lang="la">Betula spp.</i>). During the summer
+they ate much fruit, especially mulberries, wild grapes, hackberries and
+pawpaws, and, after the planting of cultivated apple orchards, were likely to
+visit them and peck out the apple seeds in the fall, sometimes doing injury in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</span>this way. Corn in the milk was also sometimes injured, but not extensively.
+Other favorite items of food were the seed balls of the sycamore and beech
+and pecan nuts. In the South cypress seeds were much eaten.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. Amos W. Butler (1892), quoting from W. B. Seward, thus
+describes the parakeet’s method of eating the cocklebur seeds: “In
+eating, the bird picked up a burr with its beak, this was then delivered
+to one foot raised to receive it. Then one end of the burr was
+cut off with the sharp-ended under beak, the burr being held with the
+foot and the under side of the upper beak while two small kernels
+were extracted with the assistance of the tongue and the husk was
+thrown away.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Butler, elsewhere (1898), adds to the items of food mentioned
+above cherries, persimmons, black-gum berries, haws, and acorns.</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—Mr. Swenk (1934) says: “The common call notes consisted
+of a loud, shrill series of rapidly uttered, discordant cries, given <a id="chg2"></a>incessantly
+when the birds were in flight, resembling <i>qui-qui, qui, qui, qui,
+qui-i-i-i</i>, with a rising inflection on each i and the last cry drawn out.
+Another call resembled the shrill cry of a goose and was frequently
+uttered for minutes at a time. When at rest they had a low, conversational
+chatter.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter.</i>—The Carolina parakeet was evidently a very hardy bird, a
+remarkable quality, quite unique among parrots. Wilson (1832)
+saw them “in the month of February, along the banks of the Ohio, in
+a snow storm, flying about like pigeons, and in full cry.” Dr. Butler
+(1898) was furnished the following note by Prof. John Collett:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In 1842, Return Richmond, of Lodi (Parke County), <abbr title="Indiana">Ind.</abbr>, cut down, in the cold
+weather of winter, a sycamore tree some four feet in diameter. In its hollow
+trunk he found hundreds of Parakeets in a quiescent or semi-torpid condition.
+The weather was too cold for the birds to fly or even to make any exertion to
+escape. Mr. Richmond cut off with his saw a section of the hollow trunk some
+five feet long, cut out a doorway one foot by two in size, nailed it over a wire
+screen of his fanning mill, rolled this cumbersome cage into the house and placed
+in it a dozen of the birds. They soon began to enjoy the feed of fruit, huckleberries
+and nuts he gave them, and he had the pleasure of settling absolutely
+the disputed question of how they slept. At night they never rested on a
+perch, but suspended themselves by their beaks, and with their feet on the side
+of their cage. This was repeated night after night during their captivity.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Rhynchopsitta">RHYNCHOPSITTA PACHYRHYNCHA (Swainson)</p>
+
+<p class="center">THICK-BILLED PARROT</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits14">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This fine, large parrot is a Mexican species that claims a place on
+our list as an irregular visitor across our southwestern border in
+southern Arizona and New Mexico. Charles T. Vorhies (1934) has
+published an account of all the Arizona records that he was able to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</span>find, which probably tells the whole story. R. D. Lusk (1900) reported
+that a flock of nine or ten of these parrots came into the
+Chiricahua Mountains, just north of the Mexican border, about the
+middle of June 1900. He collected two specimens, and some polecutters
+killed several others. “They appeared to come up the large
+cañon, at the head of which I was encamped, to about midway of the
+mountain’s height, where the oaks begin to give way to pine, and
+there they tarried.”</p>
+
+<p>Austin Paul Smith (1907) reported “an immense flock of this species,
+* * * observed by miners at Bonita Park, near Cochise head
+in the Chiricahua Mountains, during the month of August, 1904.
+* * * This flock was estimated at from 700 to 1,000, by those who
+observed the birds. Among these were a number of young birds,
+easily distinguished by plumage and small size.”</p>
+
+<p>The next occurrence of these parrots, and probably the last definite
+record, was in the winter of 1917–18, of which Percy Hands wrote to
+Professor Vorhies as follows: “The Mexican Thick-billed Parrots
+were first noticed on my ranch in lower Pinery Canyon in mid-September.
+About 250—counted over 200—in one flock. They have
+been on my ranch at irregular intervals since then up to March 27.
+They roosted here seven times during late October and early November.
+The longest period they were away was about three weeks
+before they appeared March 27. There were about 70, rough count,
+at that appearance.”</p>
+
+<p>The thick-billed parrot may have occurred elsewhere in Arizona,
+but Professor Vorhies was unable to find any definite records for
+any locality outside of the Chiricahuas. The New Mexico records
+are both hearsay, sight records. Mrs. Bailey (1928) reports: “In
+1919, Dr. Alexander Wetmore was told by R. Winkler that in recent
+years his son had at times seen parrots on Animas Mountain, above
+Deer Creek. * * * A confirmatory record was given Aldo Leopold
+by Forest Ranger Don S. Sullivan, who said that in 1917 some
+large Parrots were seen near the Elvey Ranch. * * * on the
+Animas Division of the Coronado Forest near the Mexican boundary.”</p>
+
+<p>The main range of the thick-billed parrot is in the mountains
+bordering the Mexican tableland. Dr. W. H. Bergtold (1906) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>This bird is increasingly common from Chuichupa southward, and was especially
+an everyday sight during the trip, in 1904, to the mountains west of
+Parral. * * * In the higher mountains west of Parral, a region varying
+in altitude from 4,000 to 10,000 feet, the Thick-billed Parrot is far more
+common than northward in the country west of Cases Grandes; in fact it is
+the characteristic bird of these high places, as much so as is the Magpie part
+of the local color of our Western Plains. * * * In whatever section we saw
+them, these parrots were most abundant in the pines. They frequented the
+tops of dead pines, and were, a good part of the time, going in and out of
+abandoned woodpecker nests, nests which we took to be those of the Imperial
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</span>Woodpecker (<a id="chg3"></a><i lang="la">Campephilus imperialis</i>), for this splendid woodpecker is relatively
+common in the same neighborhood, and is the only woodpecker which
+excavates such a large hole.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Practically all we know about the nesting habits of the
+thick-billed parrot is contained in the report of Col. John E. Thayer
+(1906) on some ten nests of this species examined by Wilmot W.
+Brown, Jr., in 1905, in the mountains near Colonia Pachaco and
+Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua, Mexico. The breeding grounds were
+at altitudes varying from 6,500 to 7,500 feet, and all the nests were
+in the tall pines, characteristic of the region. The parrots occupied
+the old nests of the imperial woodpecker, which had been excavated
+at heights ranging from 50 to 80 feet above ground; one nest was in
+a living longleaf pine, but all the others were in dead, dry, or rotten
+pines. The entrance to the hole was usually circular and 6 or 7
+inches in diameter; the holes varied in depth from 18 to 24 inches,
+and the inner cavity measured from 8 to 10 inches in diameter.
+No nesting material had been brought in, the eggs having been laid
+on the bare wood dust left by woodpeckers. One nest, found on
+August 20, contained two big young ones and one fresh egg; another
+found on August 28, held two young ones. All the other nests, found
+between August 11 and 25, contained one or two eggs. Mr. Brown
+wrote to Colonel Thayer (1906) that the first tree he climbed was
+“located on a flat-topped mountain at an altitude of 7,500 feet above
+the sea. * * * The tree was about one hundred feet high and was
+thirty-six inches in diameter at the base and was so dry that the
+bark had all peeled off. It was very difficult to climb, not to mention
+the danger.” The nest was 80 feet from the ground.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—I have examined the eggs referred to above, which, with the
+entire Thayer collection, are now in the Museum of Comparative
+Zoology, in Cambridge. They vary in shape from ovate to rounded-ovate,
+are pure white in color, and are decidedly glossy; the shell is
+hard and thick. The <a id="chg4"></a>measurements of 20 eggs average 39.49 by 30.63
+millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>42</b> by 31.
+39.2 by <b>32</b>, <b>37.6</b> by 30.6, and 38.2 by <b>29</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Aside from the alcoholic specimens in the Thayer collection,
+which are unsuitable for description, I have seen no nestlings
+of this species. The immature bird is similar to the adult, but the
+red of the forehead is more restricted, and the red is lacking on the
+bend of the wing and on the lower thighs. Nothing seems to be
+known about the length of time that the immature plumage is worn,
+or about subsequent molts and plumages.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The birds observed by R. D. Lusk (1900) “were very busily
+engaged with the pine cones, and investigation of their stomachs
+showed nothing but a plentiful quantity of very immature pinones
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</span>wrested from their cavities in the hearts of the hard, green cones by
+their powerful beaks. The beaks, at their bases, as well as nearly
+the entire under parts of the birds, were more or less begummed with
+the resin of the cones.” The birds reported by Austin Paul Smith
+(1907) were first noticed when “feeding on pinyon nuts. Some of the
+birds were on the ground, searching for the fallen nuts.” During
+their sojourn in Arizona, these parrots have been reported as feeding
+on pinyon nuts and acorns, after they had exhausted the supply of
+pine cones.</p>
+
+<p>The stomachs of two birds examined by Cottam and Knappen
+(1939) contained 136 and 284 or more seeds of the Chihuahua pine
+(<i lang="la">Pinus chihuahuana</i>). “The pine seeds were in all stages from entire
+seeds to a pulverized mast-like débris.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—All observers seem to agree that the thick-billed parrot
+is very tame and unsuspicious, probably owing to its unfamiliarity
+with man.</p>
+
+<p>William Beebe (1905) says: “It is either a very stupid bird or controlled
+by its curiosity, for the flocks followed us everywhere.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Bergtold (1906) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>It was a great surprise to see how different is a wild parrot from a tame
+one; one must need get an idea from the latter that a parrot is a slow, lumbering
+climber, able to use its wings perhaps, yet little given to prolonged and
+vigorous flight. On the contrary, this Thick-billed Parrot flew across deep barrancas,
+from mountain to mountain, as swift and strong on wing as a duck,
+going often in large flocks, which were noticeably divided in pairs, each couple
+flying one above another as closely as beating wings allowed. Its loud squawk
+resounded overhead, across the barrancas, and in the pines all day long, from
+dawn till dusk; and many and many a time a flock could be heard long before
+it was in sight. The birds were not at all shy, as one could walk up under a
+tree and watch a pair climbing in it without disturbing them in the least.
+Here they seemed natural, at least to one whose previous knowledge of parrots
+came via the cage bird, for they climbed about precisely as does the domesticated
+species, using bill and feet in the familiar way; on the wing the birds seemed
+anything but parrots.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1935) obtained considerable information
+from reliable observers about the occurrence of this parrot in
+Arizona and its habits; regarding its movements and behavior, he
+writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>According to all accounts Thick-billed Parrots gathered at night to roost in
+flocks and then spread out in small bands to feed during the day. In Pinery
+Canyon they roosted somewhere on the upper mountain slopes during summer
+and fall. Morning and evening they were seen in two large flocks. As the
+weather became colder the roosting place was changed to one at a lower altitude.
+In Rucker Canyon the birds came at night to the mountain side above
+the site of old Camp Rucker.</p>
+
+<p>As there were a thousand or more here, their morning and evening flights
+were quite impressive. In the Dragoon Range the parrots roosted somewhere
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</span>near the head of Cochise Stronghold and made a morning flight that often
+carried them directly out over the plains to the east.</p>
+
+<p>In feeding, the large bands usually broke up into smaller parties. In winter
+such flocks at times came down to perch on broken sandstone ledges where
+they clambered about or basked in the sun. In Backer Canyon toward evening
+flocks often flew down to the river to drink before passing on to their
+roost. In the Chiricahua Mountains during late fall and winter the birds came
+down into the foothills to an altitude of between 5000 and 5500 feet though
+earlier they were confined to the higher basins.</p>
+
+<p>The birds were noisy and their coming was heralded by their loud calls that
+were said to be readily audible at a distance of more than a mile. Like parrots
+elsewhere they were said to show much fear of hawks (though it seems strange
+that a bird with so powerful a bill and so muscular a body should show such
+fear); when a red-tail or a hawk of some other species appeared they rose in
+flocks and circled in the air, doubling the volume of their ordinary screeching
+calls.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>He was told by F. Hands that “as cold weather came during the
+fall some of the birds disappeared. Others remained during the entire
+winter, although at one time the ground was covered by six
+inches of snow for over two weeks and the birds were forced to seek
+their food on the ground where this covering had blown partly
+away.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution18">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico
+(casually) and the mountainous area adjacent to the tableland of
+Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the thick-billed parrot extends <b>north</b> to (casually)
+southeastern Arizona (probably near Mowry, Pinery Canyon, Cochise
+Head, and Paradise); (casually) southwestern New Mexico
+(Animas Mountain); eastern Chihuahua (Ciudad Chihuahua); and
+Veracruz (Perote). <b>East</b> to Veracruz (Perote and Jalapa). <b>South</b>
+to central Veracruz (Jalapa); Mexico (Popocatapetl); and southern
+Durango (Canyon Rio San Juan). <b>West</b> to Durango (Canyon Rio
+San Juan, Ciudad Durango, and Arroyo del Buey); western Chihuahua
+(Guadalupe y Calvo, Jesus Maria, and Colonia Garcia); and
+southeastern Arizona (Nogales and probably Mowry).</p>
+
+<p>While the range as outlined includes the entire region over which
+the species is known to occur, it has actually been found breeding
+only in the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Durango. At irregular
+intervals flocks that sometimes are of large size travel northward
+and invade the mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona. Such
+invasions took place in 1900, 1904, and 1917.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Mexico: 10 records, May 10 to August 25; 7 records,
+August 11 to 25.</p>
+</section>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</span></p>
+  <h3 class="nobreak" id="Order_CUCULIFORMES">
+    Order CUCULIFORMES
+  </h3>
+  <h4 id="FamCuculidae">
+    Family CUCULIDAE: Cuckoos, Roadrunners, and Anis
+  </h4>
+
+<p class="center" id="Crotophaga19">CROTOPHAGA ANI Linnaeus</p>
+
+<p class="center">SMOOTH-BILLED ANI</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits19">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This curious member of the cuckoo family is a tropical species of
+rare, or perhaps only casual, occurrence within the limits of the
+United States; a few may occur more or less regularly in southern
+Florida or Louisiana, but to find it in abundance one must visit the
+West Indies or South America. It has a variety of local names, such
+as black ani, black witch, blackbird, savanna blackbird, and tickbird,
+the last from its habit of eating the ticks that infest cattle. Charles
+B. Taylor sent some interesting notes on this bird to W. E. D. Scott
+(1892); regarding its haunts in Jamaica, he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Ani appears to be abundant in all parts of the island. It is one of the
+commonest birds near Kingston; and in most open and sparsely wooded lands,
+or in the vicinity of cultivated clearings, little groups or companies may nearly
+always be seen. Blackbirds are invariably present wherever cattle are pastured.
+I cannot recollect an instance in which I have noted a herd of cows
+at pasture without a flock of these birds appearing in company with them or
+in their immediate vicinity. This association is doubtless chiefly for the purpose
+of feeding on the ticks and other parasites on the animals, a good work largely
+shared by the Grackles (<i lang="la">Quiscalus crassirostris</i>). It is most interesting to watch
+a company of Blackbirds when thus engaged. Many are perched on the backs
+of the cattle (two or three sometimes on one cow), others are on the ground
+hopping about fearlessly among the grazing herd, searching for insects at the
+roots of the herbage or capturing those disturbed by the feet of the cattle.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—He says on this subject:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Their nesting habits are exceedingly curious and interesting. Many individuals
+(possibly members of one flock) work together in the construction of a
+large nest in which all the females of the company lay their eggs. The number
+of eggs deposited in different nests varies greatly but is of course dependent
+on the number of birds in a company. Six and eight eggs are commonly found.
+I once took eleven, and in August last year I saw a clutch of twenty-one that
+had been taken from a single nest! It is probable that normally not more
+than two eggs are deposited by each bird, but nothing definite can be said on
+this point. The nest, which is usually placed high up in a tall tree, very frequently
+in a clump of mistletoe on a “bastard cedar”, is a large, loosely constructed
+mass of twigs, entirely lined with dried leaves. But the most remarkable
+circumstance in connection with the nesting of these birds is the deposition
+of the eggs in <em>regular layers</em> with leaves between. This custom I had long
+heard of before an opportunity offered for personal observation. In the first
+nest I examined, the eggs were in two distinct layers, separated by a deep bed
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</span>of dry leaves; the bottom layer consisted of four eggs and these, strange to say,
+were all infertile. I believe this singular habit is practised in all cases where
+a large number of birds resort to the same nest.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1927) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Although this species often builds a communal nest, this is not always the
+case. Near Cayey [Porto Rico], January 22, two anis were seen constructing
+a nest in a tree about thirty feet above a small stream, the male sitting on a
+limb above while the female was in the nest, as yet only a loose mass of sticks
+and weeds. She moved and turned to shape it to her body, with her long tail
+sticking nearly straight up in the air. Near Bayamón, July 25, a single bird
+slipped quietly from a bulky nest in a clump of bamboos and only its mate
+appeared to join it. The nests were all large and bulky and were located from
+six to thirty feet above the ground. Bowdish reports a communal nest found
+near Aguadilla, August 13, built eight feet from the ground, in a thicket of
+bushes and trees. This nest contained twenty eggs, placed in layers of four
+or five, each layer being covered with dead leaves to separate it from the next
+lot of eggs above. Eight of the eggs were partly incubated and twelve were
+fresh.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>John G. Wells (1902) says: “A flat nest is first built and about
+6 or 7 eggs laid in it; then these are covered over and more eggs
+laid, and so on until four or five layers of nests have been constructed
+one over the other.</p>
+
+<p>“I have seen four of these birds sitting on the nest together. When
+the top layer of eggs is hatched, and the young fledged, it is scraped
+off and incubation goes on with each succeeding layer, until all the
+eggs are hatched.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—On account of its communal nesting habits, the number
+of eggs laid by each individual ani does not seem to be known;
+nor is anything known about the period of incubation. The number
+of eggs found in a nest varies greatly, from 4 or 5 up to 20 or
+more, depending on the number of females laying in the nest. I
+have in my collection a set of 18, there is a set of 19 in the Thayer
+collection, and sets of 20 and 21 are mentioned above.</p>
+
+<p>The eggs vary in shape from oval to elliptical-oval. Bendire
+(1895) says that the eggs “are glaucous-blue in color, and this is
+overlaid and hidden by a thin, chalky, white deposit; as incubation
+advances the eggs become more or less scratched and the blue
+underneath is then plainly visible in places, giving them a very
+peculiar appearance.” The underlying color of some of the eggs that
+I have seen is “pale Nile blue”; others have described them as green.</p>
+
+<p>The eggs are often very much nest stained. Mr. Taylor (Scott,
+1892) makes the following interesting observation regarding the
+scratches: “What seems very singular is that comparatively little
+of this chalky covering gets rubbed off the sides, where from the
+turning over of the eggs in the nest we should expect to see the
+greatest extent of denudation, whereas <em>one</em> or <em>both ends</em> are nearly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</span>always <em>wholly</em> denuded. * * * So cleanly and evenly is it done,
+and to such an extent, that I feel confident it is the work of the
+birds themselves, their beaks alone being able to accomplish it. At
+the same time it is easy to see that the marks and scratches at the
+sides are the result of friction with the twigs and leaves of the nest.”</p>
+
+<p>The measurements of 63 eggs average 35.03 by 26.27 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>40.4</b> by 28, 36.5 by <b>30</b>,
+and <b>29.21</b> by <b>23.37</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Alexander F. Skutch has sent me the following notes
+on the development of young smooth-billed anis, as observed by him
+on Barro Colorado Island, Panama: “The newly hatched ani is
+covered with black skin quite devoid of any trace of feathers. Its
+eyes are tightly closed. The development of this naked, helpless,
+little creature is amazingly rapid. By the second day the sheaths
+of the flight plumes have already begun to sprout. By the third
+day the eyes are open, and the sheaths of the contour feathers have
+begun to push out from the skin. The pinfeathers grow rapidly
+and become very long before they begin to release the true feathers
+which they enclose. When the young ani is 5 days old, the body
+feathers peep from the ends of their sheaths. At this age, the
+nestling could hang by one foot from my finger, and pull itself up
+by the use of its feet and bill, which was hooked over the support.
+When placed on the ground, it attempted to crawl away
+through the grass, and might have succeeded in escaping if I had not
+watched it carefully. Returned to the nest, it would not remain in
+the bowl, but climbed out to perch on the rim, where it uttered a
+little whine.</p>
+
+<p>“When I approached the nest on the following day, the 6-day-old
+youngster hopped out and began to climb through the thorny
+branches of the orange tree, but soon it lost its hold and fell to the
+ground. When I picked it up, it uttered a weak imitation of the
+parents’ usual call. The flight feathers, as well as the body feathers,
+were now pushing forth from their sheaths, and the latter were
+longer than on the preceding day. Much bare skin was, however,
+still visible between them. On the following morning the nest was
+empty; and I could not discover what had befallen the occupant.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—The youngest bird I have seen is about half grown and
+fully feathered. The contour plumage is soft and short, “bone
+brown” on the under parts and somewhat darker above; the wings and
+tail are glossy, purplish black, much like those of the adult; the bill is
+smaller and less specialized than that of the adult. On account of the
+extended breeding season, it is difficult to give any definite dates for
+the molts. I have seen a young male, taken March 7, that was just
+completing the molt of the wings and tail, but the body plumage was
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</span>still juvenal; from this I infer that the juvenal plumage may be worn
+for the whole of the first year. Maynard (1896) took some birds that
+had just completed molting on March 8; also some that had just
+begun to molt on April 24. I have seen young birds molting into
+adult plumage in December.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—P. H. Gosse (1847) says of the food of the ani in Jamaica:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The food of our Blackbird, though consisting mainly of insects, is not confined
+to them. We usually find the stomach distended with caterpillars, moths,
+grasshoppers, beetles, and other insects, to such a degree that we wonder how
+the mass could have been forced in. But I have found these contents mixed up
+with, and stained by the berries of the snake-withe; and in July I have found
+the stomach crammed with the berries of the fiddle-wood, (<i lang="la">Cytharaxylon</i>) which
+had stained the whole inner surface a bright crimson. Flocks of these birds
+were at that time feeding on the glowing clusters profusely ripe upon the trees.
+Stationary insects are the staple food; to obtain which, they hop about grassy
+places, and are often seen to jump, or to run eagerly at their prey; on which
+occasions the long tail, continuing the given motion after the body has stopped,
+is thrown forward in an odd manner, sometimes nearly turning the bird head
+over heels. * * *</p>
+
+<p>One day I noticed a cow lying down, around which were four or five Blackbirds,
+hopping on or off her neck, and eagerly picking the insects from her
+body; which service seemed in no wise unpleasing to her. I have also seen
+them leaping up on cows when grazing; and, on another occasion, jumping to
+and from a horse’s back; and my lad Sam has repeatedly observed them clinging
+to a cow’s tail, and picking insects from it, as far down as the terminal
+tuft. * * *</p>
+
+<p>But stationary insects are not the only prey of the Crotophaga; in December,
+I have seen little groups of them engaged in the evenings, leaping up from the
+pasture about a yard into the air, doubtless after flying insects, which they
+seemed to catch. * * * I have seen one with a dragon-fly in its beak, which
+it had just caught, but it may have been while resting. At another time I saw
+that a Blackbird had actually made prey of one of our little nimble lizards
+(<i lang="la">Anolis</i>).</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Maynard (1896) says that “anis live largely on locusts, especially
+a large species, which is quite common on the Bahamas, and which has
+a peculiar, rather disagreeable odor, which is imparted to the birds.”
+W. E. Clyde Todd (1916) says that, on the Isle of Pines, “it is fond
+of following in the wake of brush-fires, picking up the roasted lizards,
+snails, and insects.” Dr. Wetmore (1916) reports that the stomachs
+of 41 birds from Puerto Rico contained 91.3 percent animal matter,
+mostly harmful insects and arachnids, including mole crickets, other
+crickets, locusts, sugar-cane root-borers, leaf beetles, other beetles,
+squashbugs, other bugs, caterpillars, and spiders; the other 8.7 percent
+was vegetable matter, mostly seeds and fruits of 7 species of wild
+plants. He also says elsewhere (1927): “On May 20 near Yauco three
+anis were seen in a tree in which several mazambiques had nests. The
+anis were very near these nests, and the blackbirds, together with a pair
+of gray kingbirds, were much excited, but appeared to be unable to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</span>drive out the intruders. It was certain that the anis were bent on
+robbing the nests, and one was shot in the act of gulping down something
+which was later found to be an egg. No other instances of this
+evil habit were observed.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Gosse (1847) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Though its usual mode of progression on the ground is by hopping, or
+rather bounding, the feet being lifted together, the Blackbird is seen occasionally
+to <em>run</em> in a headlong manner for a short distance, moving the feet
+alternately. He is fond of sitting in the morning sun on a low tree with the
+wings expanded; remaining there perfectly still for a considerable time. In
+the heat of the day, in July and August, many may be seen in the lowland
+plains, sitting on the fences and logwood hedges with the beaks wide open, as
+if gasping for air; they then forget their usual loquacity and wariness. Often
+two or three will sit in the centre of a thick bush, overhung with a matted
+drapery of convolvolus, whence they utter their singular cry in a calling tone,
+as if they were playing at hide-and-seek, and requiring their fellows to come
+and find them.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Several observers have noted that anis roost at night huddled close
+together on a branch, like domestic fowls, and that they often bunch
+together in this way during a rain. Dr. Wetmore (1927) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>These strange birds are found in flocks that contain from half a dozen to
+twenty or more individuals, ranging mainly in pasture-lands, but going also
+into the cane-fields and orange groves to feed. In pastures they remain near
+the cattle, keeping ahead of them with long hops, in order to get the insects
+that the cattle scare up. Any intruder is greeted with a querulous call, and
+the whole flock flies in a straggling line across the fields to perch in a bush or
+low tree, where they crowd together and peer out curiously, their long tails and
+arched beaks giving them an odd appearance. In the early morning, when the
+grass is wet, they frequently sit in the sun with the wings extended in order
+to dry them or to absorb heat. The wings are small for the size of the bird,
+and the flight, accomplished by a series of steady wing beats alternating with
+short sails, is not strong. In a heavy wind the birds are almost helpless, and
+they seldom rise high from the ground at any time. When on the wing, the
+back appears concave from the fact that the head and tail are held on a higher
+level.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>C. J. Maynard (1896) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In flight they most nearly resemble a Canada or Florida Jay, alternately
+flopping and sailing, moving in a straight forward flight from tree to tree
+with great rapidity, uttering their mournful notes as they quickly disappear
+in the distance. * * *</p>
+
+<p>A careful study of the Anis convinced me of the fact that a number of females
+are led by two or three males, and these males take great care of their
+charges. They utter cries of alarm when they perceive an intruder, and drive
+the females before them into a place of safety. I have even seen males fly
+against females or young birds which did not attempt to escape soon enough,
+and knock them off the limb on which they sat and then accompany them to a
+distant thicket.</p>
+
+<p>I am inclined to think that the Ani is polygamous and this habit of the
+males taking care of a number of females would appear to confirm this idea.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Taylor (Scott, 1892) gives a somewhat different impression,
+thus:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Blackbirds at their best have a very lean and shabby appearance, and
+are slow and awkward in their movements. I have watched an individual
+make several ineffectual attempts to alight on the frond of a cocoanut palm;
+but even among the branches of other trees their actions appear awkward.
+Their flight is slow and gliding, somewhat labored, and of little duration, the
+birds often appearing to fall short of the point originally aimed at. Yet they
+will chase the large yellow butterflies, and I was shown a large green locust
+that one of these birds was seen to capture in flight and afterwards drop. In
+the progress of a flock from place to place they do not usually fly all together,
+but move away in straggling groups or couples. One or more individuals first
+start off with their wailing call, followed soon after by two or three; after a
+little delay then two more go; another pause, then one, then three, and so on.
+If a tree has very dense foliage they alight (with much awkward scrambling)
+on the tops or extremities of the highest branches, where they may gain a
+clear and uninterrupted view, and this is usually the case when they are
+traversing very open country.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—The note of the ani has been called a wailing or a whining
+whistle; it has been said to resemble the notes of the wood duck. Dr.
+Wetmore (1927) says: “The ordinary call-notes are a low <i>kur-r-rk</i> and
+a querulous <i>quee ick, quee ick</i>, varied by low chuckling notes. When
+the birds are at all wild, they serve to alarm the entire country, as
+they begin to call on the slightest provocation.” It has also been expressed
+as <i>que-yuch, que-yuch, que-yuch</i> by Gosse (1847) and similarly
+by others.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—The ani is such a peculiar and unique bird that it
+could hardly be mistaken for anything else. It is the only long,
+slender, black bird, with a long tail, short wings, and a huge bill, that
+is to be found within its range, so far as I know. Its shape and its
+manner of flight are quite different from those of the grackles; its
+concave back in flight, referred to above, is distinctive. Gosse (1847)
+says: “The appearance of the bird in its sliding flights is unusual;
+the body is slender, the head large, and the beak enormous; and as in
+flying it assumes a perfectly straight form, with the long tail in the
+same line, without flapping the wings, it takes the aspect, on a side
+view, rather of a fish than of a bird.”</p>
+
+<p>Where our two small species of anis come together in Panama, they
+are likely to be confused, but the voices of the two are quite distinct;
+the call of the groove-billed is softer and higher in pitch, while that
+of the smooth-billed is more raucous and whining. The grooves in
+the bill of the former are not easily seen, except under favorable
+circumstances, but the culmen of the bill in the smooth-billed is
+much higher and sharper than in the groove-billed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution25">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—South America and the West Indies; casual in winter in
+eastern Central America and casual or accidental in Florida,
+Louisiana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.</p>
+
+<p>The normal range of the smooth-billed ani extends <b>north</b> to western
+Cuba (Los Indios and Nueva Gerona); the Bahama Islands (Little
+Abaco and Nassau); Haiti (Jacmel); the Dominican Republic
+(Sesua and Ciudad Trujillo); Puerto Rico (Aguidillo and Rio Piedras);
+and the Virgin Islands (Cuelebra, Vieques, and St. Croix).
+<b>East</b> to the Virgin Islands (St. Croix); the Lesser Antilles (Grenada
+and Trinidad); British Guiana (Georgetown); Surinam (Paramaribo);
+and eastern Brazil (Ilha Mexiana, Maranhao, Bahia, Sapetiba,
+Canatgallo, Rio de Janeiro, and Iguape). <b>South</b> to southeastern
+Brazil (Iguape); and northern Argentina (Posadas, the Chaco
+District, and San Jose). <b>West</b> to northwestern Argentina (San Jose,
+Concepcion, and Salta); Peru (Huanuco and Iquitos); northwestern
+Colombia (the Cauca River Valley); Panama (Gatun, Perme, and
+Obaldia); Jamaica (Port Henderson, Spanish Town, Grand Cayman,
+and Little Cayman); and western Cuba (Los Indios).</p>
+
+<p>This species occurs in other parts of Central America only in
+winter, when it has been recorded from Costa Rica (Rio Coto);
+Nicaragua (Great and Little Corn Islands); Honduras (Ruatan
+Island); and Quintana Roo, Mexico (Cozumel Island).</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—The following are among the several records the
+species has for Florida: Flamingo, a specimen taken in June 1916;
+Pass-a-Grille, a specimen collected on February 25, 1929; Dry Tortugas,
+three seen June 18 and 19, 1935; and Miami Beach, a small
+flock seen on February 24, 1937. Undated specimens also are available
+for Brevard County, Tortugas, Pepper Hammock near the head
+of the Banana River, and Charlotte Harbor.</p>
+
+<p>A specimen was collected on July 18, 1893, at Diamond, and several
+have been reported from the vicinity of Buras, St. Bernard Parish,
+<abbr title="Louisiana">La.</abbr> A specimen was collected previous to 1866 at Edenton, N. C.,
+while individuals were reported from Piney Creek in the western
+part of that State on July 17, 1932, June 1, 1933, and June 25, 1934.
+There also is an old record of the occurrence of this species on Pettys
+Island in the Delaware River, opposite Kensington, Pa.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Bahamas: 2 records, June 14.</p>
+
+<p>Brazil: 3 records, October 1 to November 18.</p>
+
+<p>British Guiana: 3 records, January 14 to July 2.</p>
+
+<p>Cuba: 4 records, February 22 to August 20.</p>
+
+<p>Jamaica: 7 records, May 29 to July 30.</p>
+
+<p>Puerto Rico: 2 records, July 25 and August 13.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Crotophaga26">CROTOPHAGA SULCIROSTRIS SULCIROSTRIS Swainson</p>
+
+<p class="center">GROOVE-BILLED ANI</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Plate1">Plates 1</a>, <a href="#Plate2">2</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits26">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This Central and South American species was added to our fauna
+by George B. Sennett (1879), who secured a fine male on May 19,
+1878, near Lomita, <abbr title="Texas">Tex.</abbr>, while it was “flying about the low bushes in
+open chaparral. It was very shy, flying in and about the bushes, and
+was shot on the wing.” The only one I have ever seen did not seem
+at all shy. I was sitting down, quietly watching some Texas sparrows
+that were hopping around on the ground near me, in some
+thick brush bordering a resaca near Brownsville, Tex., when one of
+these curious birds appeared. It seemed more curious than shy, as
+it moved about slowly in the bushes, looking me over; it remained
+in my vicinity for some time and I could have shot it easily. It is
+said to show a preference for thick underbrush in the vicinity of
+water, or for lightly wooded swamps.</p>
+
+<p>In his proposed work on the birds of the Caribbean lowlands,
+Alexander F. Skutch devotes two long and very interesting chapters
+to the home life of the groove-billed ani. He has kindly placed at
+my disposal his unpublished manuscript and allowed me to quote
+freely from it. As to its haunts, he writes: “The variety of the habitat
+of the anis is enormous and their only restriction seems to be that
+they do not tolerate the forest and are never seen there. They are
+birds of open country but seem nearly indifferent to its type. In
+the inhabited districts of the humid coastal regions they are one of
+the most conspicuous species. Their favorite haunts are bushy
+pastures, orchards, the lighter second growth, and even lawns and
+clearings about the native huts. Marshland is as acceptable to them
+as a well-drained hillside, and they are numerous in such extensive
+stands of sawgrass as that surrounding the Toloa Lagoon in Honduras,
+although it is probable that they do not venture far from
+some outstanding hummock or ridge which supports a few low bushes
+in which they can roost and nest. In the semidesert regions of the
+interior, where their associates of the coast lands, if present at all,
+are as a rule rare and restricted to the moist thickets along the
+rivers, they are among the most numerous of birds, and live among
+scattered cacti and acacias as successfully as amid the rankest vegetation
+of the districts watered by 12 feet of rainfall in the year.
+In altitude they range upward to 5,000 feet, but are not nearly so
+numerous in the elevated districts as in the lowlands.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Dr. Charles W. Richmond, drawing on his experience with
+it near Bluefields, Nicaragua, sent some elaborate notes on the groove-billed
+ani to Major Bendire (1895), from which I quote as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>It appears to breed at various times during the year, as I have found fresh
+eggs July 6, 1892, and young birds, recently from the nest, November 29, the
+breeding season spreading over seven months of the year at least, as it begins
+nesting earlier than the date of taking my first eggs. Nests are frequently built
+in the heart of a thick, thorny orange or lemon tree, and this appears to be a
+favorite situation. In this case the nest is from 4 to 7 feet from the ground,
+and, besides being difficult to get at, is somewhat protected from invasion <a id="chg5"></a>by
+the wasps which almost invariably take up their abode in the same tree. In
+going through a small lemon grove I found an old nest of this species. In the
+cavity there were no eggs, but on poking the nest to pieces six badly decayed
+eggs rolled out.</p>
+
+<p>One nest containing three eggs in the proper place and two others at the
+bottom, under the lining of green leaves, was located in a bamboo about 12 feet
+from the ground. The eggs were fresh, and more would probably have been
+deposited; the leaves forming the lining were still green. The parent birds
+were away at the time. Another nest was situated in some vines which had
+over-run an old tree stub, and was about 15 feet from the ground.</p>
+
+<p>It may be that where numerous eggs are deposited in one nest only those
+eggs that are deposited in the proper place and directly influenced by the incubating
+bird are hatched, while those placed among the sticks forming the bulky
+exterior are left unhatched. It would be interesting to watch the progress of
+a large nestful of eggs and note results. The nests found by me were all composed
+of dead black twigs, rather loosely put together, very bulky and conspicuous
+structures, lined with green leaves, or, if old nests, with leaves that had the
+appearance of having been picked green.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>One of Dr. Richmond’s nests is described by Major Bendire (1895)
+as “a rather loose structure, about 10 inches in diameter and 4 inches
+in height. The inner cup measures 4 inches in diameter by 2½ inches
+in depth.”</p>
+
+<p>According to George K. Cherrie (1892) Señor Don Anastasio
+Alfaro says of the nests he collected in Costa Rica:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The structure is voluminous, composed chiefly of coarse dead twigs, but presents
+one peculiarity not observed in any other bird, namely the nest being lined
+with fresh green leaves. My three specimens were all placed in low trees, and
+neither was found at a greater height than three meters. One had been built
+above an old nest of one of the larger Tyrannidae.</p>
+
+<p>It will not be without interest, I think, to insert my observations relative to
+one of these nests. On the 20th of May I noticed a Zopilotillo with a dry
+stick in its bill, which was immediately carried to a point in the hedge-row
+where it was deposited with three others. After assuring myself that the bird
+was building its nest there, I retired, with the intention of returning at a more
+opportune moment. And when one week later I returned to the same spot,
+what was my surprise to see not only the nest completed and containing six
+eggs, but more than this: in the thorns and leaves about it were scattered
+seven more eggs! As a consequence, if that collection was not the work of the
+Zopilotillos collectively, the poor owner would have had to deposit three eggs
+daily! In the finding of some of the eggs scattered in the leaves was revealed
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</span>one of the architect’s peculiarities. A hole had been left in the centre of the
+nest and only recently filled with leaves whose fresh green color testified that
+they had been cut and placed there later than the others forming the carpeting
+to the bottom of this common incubator.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Alden H. Miller (1932) writes of his experience with the nesting
+habits of the groove-billed ani in El Salvador:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Several nests were watched from the time there was one egg until there
+were nine, or in one case eleven, eggs. The eggs were deposited regularly at
+one day intervals and there was no certain indication in any of the sets, of two
+females contributing to the same nest as has been claimed by other observers.
+My findings, however, do not prove conclusively that community nests may not
+exist, at least occasionally. Incubation is uniform within a set and, correspondingly,
+birds were found to be incubating regularly only after the sets were
+completed. In the set of thirteen the eggs were resting in three layers in the
+necessarily ample cup of the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Nest sites were from two feet to twenty-five feet above ground in almost
+any kind of bush or tree. Usually they were located between six and twelve
+feet above ground in thorny tangles or close twiggery. One nest was found,
+however, in an open crotch of a fan of a royal palm. Adult birds are not
+much in evidence around nests which are being built or around sets of incomplete
+eggs. When flushed from sets of complete eggs, they may approach
+within five feet of the intruder and utter their feeble, squeaking notes of
+protest.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A. J. van Rossem (1938) found several nests, on July 29, 1925, “in
+the mimosa scrub in the marsh along the north shore of Lake Olomega,”
+in El Salvador. “These nests were all in similar situations,
+that is, they were rather conspicuously placed in mimosa bushes and
+more than six feet above the mud or water.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Skutch devoted considerable time to studying the communal
+nesting habits of the groove-billed ani. He found them to be among
+the latest birds to breed, remaining together in small flocks from
+February to May while the other birds of the region were raising
+their broods. During June he watched the construction of a communal
+nest, on which three pairs worked in perfect harmony, operating
+in pairs and not as a unit. One of the pair remained on the
+nest while its mate brought in the material. There was not the least
+jealousy between the pairs, and “two or more pairs often perched
+quietly in the same bush. Each pair preferred to work alone at the
+nest, and if a second pair flew into the nesting tree, the first often
+quietly withdrew. This was not always their conduct, and sometimes
+one of the second pair (probably the female) took a place on
+the nest beside one of the first pair, while their two mates perched
+near by, or else brought them sticks.</p>
+
+<p>“The normal set of eggs for each female is three, or more commonly
+four. Nests belonging to a single pair generally contain this
+number, and the nests belonging to two pairs, which I encountered,
+contained a maximum of eight. Once I found a nest with 12 eggs,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</span>which covered the bottom two layers deep, and six birds were interested
+in them. * * * Of ten nests which I found in Honduras
+and Guatemala and was able to watch for an adequate period, four
+were the property of single pairs, five of two pairs together, and one
+belonged to three pairs in common.”</p>
+
+<p>All the birds of both sexes took turns in incubating the eggs, but
+their shifts on the nest had no regular order and no fixed duration.
+“Just as the parents cooperate in incubating the eggs, they all join
+in the care of the nestlings. I have watched three nests, each belonging
+to two pairs, during the time they contained young. Two of
+them, I made quite sure, were attended by four adults, but at the
+other I could not convince myself that there were more than three
+attendants. Possibly some calamity had befallen the fourth bird, or
+possibly also I failed to recognize it, since the anis at this nest were
+unmarked and indistinguishable.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The groove-billed ani lays 4 to 13 eggs, the smaller numbers
+being apparently commoner. The eggs vary in shape from oval
+to elliptical-oval, or rarely to elliptical-ovate or rounded-ovate. The
+ground color, when visible, varies from “glaucous-blue” to “Nile blue”
+or “pale Nile blue”; when first laid, the ground color is completely
+covered with a thin layer of dull white, chalky deposit, which eventually
+becomes somewhat discolored; as incubation progresses this
+chalky covering becomes more or less scratched, by contact with the
+twigs in the nest or by the action of the bird’s feet in turning the
+eggs, or in relining the nest, so that ultimately much or nearly all of
+the blue ground color is visible; even then the shell is not glossy.
+The measurements of 51 eggs average 30.93 by 24.06 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>35</b> by 25, 32 by <b>26</b>, and
+<b>27.68</b> by <b>21.84</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Mr. Skutch determined, by close observation of marked
+birds and by noting which individual of a marked pair laid the
+eggs, that both sexes share in the duties of incubation. They were
+very impatient sitters, constantly changing about; 30 minutes was
+the longest time that he saw one incubate, during the early stages,
+and they sometimes left the nest unguarded for 10 or 20 minutes,
+while they enjoyed each other’s company; during the last two days of
+incubation they lengthened their periods on the eggs to from 30
+minutes to an hour. He describes the hatching process in detail:</p>
+
+<p>“Fourteen days after the last egg had been laid, I held one in my
+hand while the birdling worked its way out of it. When I first took
+it up there was a gap in the larger end, which extended about a
+third of the way around the circumference. The little bird’s short,
+thick bill was in this gap, and so pressed out of position that the
+lower mandible overshot the upper, only a temporary condition.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</span>At intervals the struggling prisoner drew its bill farther into the egg,
+then suddenly pushed it outward, bringing the keeled upper edge,
+armed with a rather insignificant egg-tooth or ‘pip,’ against the edge
+of the shell at one end of the hole, and breaking off a small fragment
+at the outward thrust. In its squirmings the bird, impelling itself
+in some manner I could not determine, rotated imperceptibly slowly
+in the shell, in such a way that the head, turned under one wing,
+moved backward and the upper edge of the bill was constantly brought
+to bear upon a fresh portion of the shell, which was chipped off at
+the next outward thrust. Occasionally the struggling birdling
+emitted a weak cry. Thus bit by bit the ragged-margined aperture
+was lengthened until it extended about two-thirds of the way around
+the egg, when the struggles of the bird succeeded in cracking the
+remainder, and the large end of the shell fell off as a cap. Then
+the naked creature wormed its way out into my palm, where it lay
+exhausted by its continued effort.”</p>
+
+<p>In another nest the last egg to be laid hatched in 13 days. The
+young, when first hatched, “were blind, black-skinned, and without
+any trace of feathers.” When the nestlings were 6 days old they
+were “both bristling with long pinfeathers. The plumes of the one
+that was the older by a few hours were already beginning to peep
+through the tips of these pinfeathers.” Later in the day, the feathers
+had burst their sheaths with amazing rapidity, and the young bird
+“was already well covered. The back and belly, save for a naked
+line down the middle of the latter, bore a soft, downy black plumage.
+Broad ends of the flight feathers of both wings and tail now showed.”</p>
+
+<p>From this time on, the young birds became more lively and left
+the nest when approached, climbing about among the branches or
+down onto the ground to hide in the grass. They were brooded by
+one of the parents until they were a week old, returning to the nest
+at night. But “the following two nights they remained in the nesting
+tree but did not return to the nest to sleep. They could not yet
+fly and had entered a half scansorial, half terrestrial stage of existence.
+When they were 10 days old I tried to catch them for a
+photograph, but they hopped from limb to limb with such agility
+that, protected as they were by the sharp thorns, I was unable to
+secure them. When they were 10 days old they could make short
+flights from branch to branch of the same bush. Their bills were
+smooth, without any grooves, and their cheeks were bare of feathers.”</p>
+
+<p>All through his account Mr. Skutch emphasizes the affection that
+is shown by all the members of the ani family for one another.
+While he was watching the second nest of the pair on which the
+above observations were made, something very unusual, if not entirely
+unique, happened. One of the young from the previous brood,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</span>now nearly fully grown, “was the constant companion of his parents
+during the period in which they were busy with their second brood.”
+He frequently perched on the rim of the nest while one of his parents
+was incubating, and twice he was seen to offer food to the parent on
+the nest. After the young had hatched, “the youngster fed the
+nestlings regularly, but not so often as his parents.” During four
+hours and a quarter, he saw the male, always the more attentive
+parent, bring food to the nestlings 29 times, the female 14, and the
+young assistant 8 times. “The young bird not only fed the nestlings
+but was ardent in protecting them, flying up close to me and uttering
+an angry <i>grrr-rr-rr</i> whenever I came near them. In the absence
+of the parents he attempted to defend them alone.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—The young nestling and the development of its first
+plumage are described above. In this juvenal plumage the contour
+feathers are short and soft, “bone brown” below and darker above;
+the wings and tail are much like those of the adult; the bill is less
+specialized and not grooved.</p>
+
+<p>Van Rossem (1938) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The postjuvenal plumage, attained by a complete body and tail and a partial
+wing molt, is not different from that of the adults except that the rectrices
+are noticeably narrower. An irregular molt of the primaries takes place at this
+time, although some of the juvenal quills (though their number and location
+varies) are held over till the following spring. In March and April of the
+next year there is a partial body, tail, and wing molt in which an irregular
+number of rectrices are renewed and such juvenile remiges as have been held
+over from the previous fall are replaced by new ones. The adult plumage
+with wide rectrices follows in the second fall, that is, at the first annual molt.
+The time of the annual molt extends from the middle of July to the first of
+October, the younger (one-year-old) birds molting earlier than the older ones.
+The spring molt of the adults includes some of the rectrices and secondaries.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Mr. Skutch writes (<abbr title="Manuscript">MS.</abbr>): “The food of the anis consists
+largely of insects, which they secure both from the ground and
+among the foliage of bushes, and to a smaller extent of fruit and
+berries. Often they hunt grasshoppers and other creatures among
+the long grass or tall weeds, where they are completely hidden from
+view except when occasionally they leap a foot or so above the
+herbage to snatch up an insect which has tried to escape by flight.
+Perhaps their favorite method of foraging is beside a grazing cow
+or mule. Several together remain close to the head of the beast,
+moving along by awkward hops as it moves and just managing to
+escape its jaws and forefeet, ever on the alert to snatch up the insects
+frightened from their retreat in the grass by the passage of the
+herbivore. It is frequently stated in books, and affirmed by the
+residents of the countries where the anis live, that they alight upon
+cattle and pluck ticks and other vermin from their skin—hence the
+name <i lang="es">garrapatero</i> (tick-eater) given them in Costa Rica.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</span></p>
+
+<p>“While this is doubtless true in certain parts of the ani’s range, I
+have watched them in the neighborhood of cattle from Panama to
+Guatemala and only once in three years have I seen an ani alight
+on a cow. Since the ani associates so much with cattle without alighting
+upon them, and the giant cowbird, another black bird of approximately
+the same size, does frequently perch upon them and relieve
+them of their vermin, it seems likely that the ani may be often
+credited with the acts of the cowbird, especially since the latter is
+shier and less known. I have occasionally questioned one who informed
+me that the ani plucks ticks from the grazing animals, only
+to find that he was unaware of the existence of the giant cowbird. At
+a little distance such a person might easily suppose that the birds
+upon the animal’s back were the same as those about its feet, and
+since his closer approach would leave only the latter, the illusion
+would probably persist.”</p>
+
+<p>He has also seen a group of anis excitedly following a battalion of
+army ants, probably not to feed on such fiery morsels as the ants, but
+to pick up “the cockroaches, spiders, and other small creatures driven
+from their retreat among the dead leaves by the relentless hordes.”
+Again he says: “After the first heavy rain of the season has sent the
+winged brood of the termites forth from their nests in countless
+millions, one can watch the anis everywhere feeding like flycatchers,
+making ungraceful darts, not exceeding a few feet, from low twigs
+and fences; but the insects are so numerous on these occasions that
+they can catch many without quitting their perches.”</p>
+
+<p>Major Bendire (1895) quotes Dr. Richmond as saying: “The food
+of those examined by me on banana plantations consisted almost
+entirely of small grasshoppers, the stomachs being much distended
+with these insects. From the fresh earth found on the bill and feet
+of these birds, I should judge they also feed on the ground.”</p>
+
+<p>Prof. A. L. Herrara, of the City of Mexico, wrote to Bendire that
+“it is a social bird, being usually found in small companies of from
+six to fifteen individuals, absolutely monogamous, sedentary, and of
+semidomesticated habits, frequenting the haciendas and the fields and
+pastures in their vicinity, and as it is considered very useful because
+of its habit of destroying large numbers of parasites infesting the
+cattle, it is not molested by the inhabitants, and becomes very tame.
+It extracts the <i lang="la">Ixodes</i> and other <i lang="la">Acaridans</i> with remarkable skill,
+without causing ulcerations which might result from the proboscis or
+sucker remaining in the fibres of the skin, and it must be regarded as
+one of the most useful birds of Mexico, especially in warm regions,
+so abounding in parasites of all kinds.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Dr. Richmond (Bendire, 1895) says:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>At Mr. Haymond’s plantation, on the Escondido River, above Bluefields, this
+species was unusually plentiful, owing, no doubt, to a large number of cattle
+kept there. The birds follow these animals as they meander over the pastures,
+hopping along on each side of an animal, catching grasshoppers and other
+insects which the cow disturbs as it moves along. Frequently the cow moves
+too rapidly and the birds lag behind, when they make short flights to the front
+again, passing over one another after the manner of the Grackles when feeding
+in a field. Only half a dozen birds or so follow a cow usually, and not many
+congregate in a flock, except when roosting. On this plantation, where the
+species is more abundant than usual, the birds appear to roost in numbers.
+An orange tree near the house was a favorite place where thirty or forty
+birds came to pass the night, flying in from the surrounding pasture about dusk,
+and after a few short flights from one tree to another, passed into the roost
+one or two at a time, hopping about as if seeking a favorable perch, uttering
+their peculiar note meanwhile. Out of this roost I shot seventeen birds one
+evening, and the males greatly predominated; there were only five females in
+the lot. The note of this species reminds one somewhat of the Flicker, <i lang="la">Colaptes
+auratus</i>, but may be better represented by the combination “plee-co,” rapidly
+repeated, with the accent usually on the first syllable, but sometimes on the
+last. I have frequently found one of the small flocks resting on a bush or
+bamboo along the water’s edge, perfectly silent, until my near approach started
+them off, one or two at a time, scolding as they went. Their flight is even,
+slow, as short as possible, and consists of a few flaps of the wings, followed
+by a short sail, then a few more flaps, etc.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Skutch writes (MS.): “Their flight is as perfectly characteristic
+of the birds as any other of their peculiar habits. A long
+journey, say anything much in excess of a hundred yards, is seldom
+made by a continuous flight, but the bird advances with frequent
+pauses in conveniently situated trees and bushes. As he alights on
+one of the lower branches, the momentum of the long tail carries
+it forward above the head with an abrupt jerk. Recovering his
+balance, he remains here for some moments, looking around with
+caution and calling in his high-pitched voice. Then, satisfied that
+the path ahead is clear, with a <i>tuc tuc tuc, pihuy pihuy pihuy</i>, he
+launches himself upon the next stage of his journey. A few rapid
+beats of his short wings serve to impart the requisite momentum,
+and he sets them for a long glide. In this manner he can cover surprisingly
+long distances, on a slightly descending course, without
+further muscular effort. If his ultimate destination is a certain
+perch in a tree or bush, he will often arrest his flight on another considerably
+below it. By a few queer, rapid, sideways hops along the
+branch, and some bounds, or better bounces, from limb to limb, he
+gains the desired position where, as likely as not, he spreads his
+wings to the morning sun.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. van Rossem (1938) says: “They feed side by side with never
+a sign of friction or argument over the choicer insects, and at night
+roost in low trees or bushes, pressed shoulder to shoulder to the
+limit of available space. We not infrequently found them thus when
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</span>hunting at night. During the time just preceding nesting it was
+noticeable that they were inclined to roost two and two instead of
+in a long line. In some cases the pair was sitting in close contact,
+even though there might be plenty of room to perch comfortably.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—Dr. Richmond’s impression of the note of the groove-billed
+ani is mentioned above. Señor Alfaro says, in his notes given
+Mr. Cherrie (1892), that, in Costa Rica, it is “known as ‘Tijo, tijo’
+(tée-ho) in imitation of its peculiar notes which seem to repeat the
+word <i>tijo</i> over and over again.” Dr. Chapman (1896) says: “Its
+note is a prolonged <i>chee-wyyah</i>, easily distinguishable from the single
+whining whistle of <i lang="la">C. ani</i>.” Mr. van Rossem (1938) says: “The
+ordinary or ‘conversational’ notes are a series of very liquid and what
+can best be described as ‘contented’ bubblings and cluckings. The
+louder, often repeated ‘chee-múy-o-chee-múy-o’ is the alarm note.”</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution34">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Baja California,
+south to northern South America.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the groove-billed ani extends <b>north</b> to southern Baja
+California (San Pedro and Santiago); southern Sinaloa (Mazatlan);
+southern Texas (Lomita and Corpus Christi); and Yucatan (Progreso
+and Chichen-Itza). <b>East</b> to Yucatan (Chichen-Itza); British
+Honduras (Cayo); Honduras (La Ceiba); Colombia (Santa Marta);
+and Venezuela (Altagracia, Curaçao, and Caicara). <b>South</b> to Venezuela
+(Caicara); and Peru (Chachapoyas and Lima). <b>West</b> to Peru
+(Lima and Cutervo); Ecuador (Tumbez); Costa Rica (San Jose
+and La Palma); El Salvador (Sonsonate); western Guatemala
+(Lake Amatitlan); southwestern Chiapas (Tapachula); Nayarit
+(San Blas); and southern Baja California (San Jose del Cabo and
+San Pedro).</p>
+
+<p>The birds found in the cape district of Baja California have been
+separated subspecifically and are known as the San Lucas ani, <i lang="la">C. s.
+pallidula</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—In Louisiana a specimen was collected near New
+Orleans about 1890; another was taken at Ostrica during the winter
+of 1919; a third was obtained without date of collection near Houma;
+a fourth was taken at Cottonport on December 11, 1932; while a
+fifth was collected on Grand Isle on April 23, 1935. A specimen
+was taken at Huachucas, <abbr title="Arizona">Ariz.</abbr>, 10 miles from the Mexican border,
+in May 1888, and it was noted at a point 20 miles north of Tucson
+on August 21, 1932. About November 1, 1904, a specimen was taken
+near Emporia, <abbr title="Kansas">Kans.</abbr>, and on October 12, 1913, one was killed on an
+island about 9 miles north of Red Wing, <abbr title="Minnesota">Minn.</abbr> A specimen was
+obtained at Jupiter Inlet, <abbr title="Florida">Fla.</abbr>, during the first week in January
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</span>1891, and there is also a somewhat indefinite record of its occurrence
+in the early part of January in the vicinity of Kingston, Jamaica.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Central America: 4 records, May 27 to July 29.</p>
+
+<p>Baja California: 6 records, April 1 to September 3.</p>
+
+<p>Mexico: 40 records, March 20 to August 14; 20 records, May 16
+to June 30, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 7 records, March 17 to July 15.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Crotophaga35">CROTOPHAGA SULCIROSTRIS PALLIDULA Bangs and Penard</p>
+
+<p class="center">SAN LUCAS ANI</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits35">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The groove-billed ani of the Cape region of Lower California,
+Mexico, was described and given the above name by Bangs and
+Penard (1921), based on a series of 18 specimens from San José del
+Cabo. It is said to be&#x2060;—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p class="unindent">similar to <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Crotophaga sulcirostris sulcirostris</i> Swainson of Mexico, and of about
+the same size, but much paler and with less purplish iridescence; the <span class="sansserif">U</span>-shaped
+iridescent markings of the back and breast paler and duller greenish, not so
+brilliant; the dull purplish bronze of the head and neck of true <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sulcirostris</i> replaced
+by paler, more grayish bronze; the lustreless parts of the body-feathers
+grayish brownish black instead of dull black. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Eighteen adults of this new form, laid out beside a series of nearly double
+that number from various points in Mexico and Central America, are strikingly
+different; the pale, dull colors of the Lower California bird cannot be matched
+by any specimen in our series of true <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sulcirostris</i>. The difference is noticeable at
+a glance but rather difficult to describe. Brewster (1902), in his account of
+the birds of the Cape Region of Lower California, states that the Groove-billed
+Ani is not known to occur in central and northern Lower California, and that
+the colonies which have become established in the Cape region were probably
+originated by birds which came from western Mexico. However this may be,
+the isolated colony of Cape St. Lucas has developed into a very distinct form,
+worthy of recognition.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Griffing Bancroft writes to me, on August 6, 1937, that he is “as
+nearly satisfied as it is possible to be from negative evidence” that
+this form of the groove-billed ani is extinct.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Lyman Belding (1883) writes: “The 1st of April I discovered
+four of these birds in a marsh, in which was a rank growth
+of <i>tule</i>, flags, and reeds. Having shot one of them, and the others
+were not molested, they remained in the marsh until May 15, or later.
+A nest found April 29 contained eight eggs. It was fastened to upright
+reeds, and was composed of coarse weed stalks and mesquite
+twigs, lined with green leaves. The female, while incubating, was
+very wary, slipping quietly away from the nest and returning to it
+very stealthily, below the tops of the reeds.”</p>
+
+<p>William Brewster (1902) says that the nest “taken by Mr. Frazar
+was in a willow about twenty feet above the ground. It is a flat-loose,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</span>but withal rather neat structure, formed outwardly of dead
+twigs and very substantially lined with cottonwood and willow
+leaves, which look as if they must have been dry when gathered.
+* * * This nest measures about six inches across the top, and the
+cavity is nearly an inch in depth. * * * Mr. Frazar met with
+the Groove-billed Ani only at San José del Cabo, where a flock of
+about thirty frequented some thick brush about pools of water near
+the mouth of the river.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The eggs of this race are apparently just like those of the
+species elsewhere. The measurements of 9 eggs average 31.99 by
+24.00 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>33.5</b>
+by 23, 31.8 by <b>24.9</b>, and 30.5 by <b>23</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Geococcyx36">GEOCOCCYX CALIFORNIANUS (Lesson)</p>
+
+<p class="center">ROADRUNNER</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Plate3">Plates 3–6</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits36">HABITS</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Contributed by George Miksch Sutton</span></p>
+
+<p>Most ornithologists are to some extent acquainted with the roadrunner.
+They have read about him. They have heard strange
+stories about him. Perhaps, driving along some road in the Southwestern
+United States, they have even seen him. But he who really
+knows the roadrunner has risen morning after morning with the
+desert sun; thrilled at the brilliance of the desert stars; seen day
+turned to sudden night by the dust-storm; pulled cactus spines from
+his shins. He who knows the roadrunner, he who has measured
+the breadth and the depth of this unique bird personality, has lived
+with him—not for an hour or so, not for a day, but week after week
+after week.</p>
+
+<p>First impressions almost invariably give us an inadequate concept
+of this strange bird. We hear him scuttle through dry leaves ahead
+of us, catch a glimpse of him as he slips back of a rock, know
+from the flight of a grasshopper that he has gone a certain way, and
+that is all. Or, coming upon him suddenly, we surprise him into
+flight; note his short, rounded wings, long tail, and coarsely streaked
+plumage; watch him sail down the arroyo; and marvel that with the
+shutting of his wings and reckless plunge into the thicket he is so
+instantly lost to view.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, traveling in a motorcar, we come upon him perched on
+a fence post or telegraph pole close to the highway. Now we have
+opportunity to observe how slim he is, how long his legs, how noticeable
+his crest. But as we pass he leaps to the ground, swings off
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</span>through the cactus clumps, and is gone. Once more only a glimpse!
+Once more only the retreat of a timid desert creature that appears
+to be half bird, half reptile.</p>
+
+<p>But lie in wait for the roadrunner! Watch him race across the
+sand, full speed, after a lizard. Watch him put out a wing, change
+his course, throw up his tail, change his course again, plunge headlong
+into a clump of cactus, and emerge, whacking his limp victim
+on the ground. Watch him jerk a slender snake from the grass,
+fling it into the air, grasp it by the head or neck, pummel it with
+his hard mandibles, and gulp it head first. Watch him stalk a
+grasshopper, slipping quietly forward, making a sudden rush with
+wings and tail fully spread, frightening the doomed insect into
+flight, then leaping 3 or 4 feet in air to snatch it flycatcherwise in
+his long bill. Watch the roadrunner for an hour at his daily business
+of catching food and you will deem him among the most amazing
+of all the desert’s amazing creatures. Snake-killer indeed! Chaparral
+cock! Not by sitting quietly on fence posts, not by slipping shyly
+from the path, has the roadrunner earned for himself these bloodstirring
+names!</p>
+
+<p>So odd, so even <em>funny</em> a creature is the roadrunner that it is natural
+to caricature him a bit in describing him. This J. L. Sloanaker
+(1913) has done when he writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Of all the birds on our list the Roadrunner is doubtless the most unique;
+indeed, he is <em>queer</em>, and would certainly take first prize in the freak class at the
+Arizona state fair. He is about two feet in length, with a tail as long as his
+body, color above brown streaked with black, bare spaces around eyes blue and
+orange, feathers of head and neck bristle-tipped, eyelids lashed, * * * his
+whole plumage coarse and harsh. Could you imagine such a looking creature?
+Try and think of a long striped snake on two legs, a feather duster on his head
+and another trailing behind; or a tall, slim tramp in a swallow-tailed coat,
+a black and blue eye, and a head of hair standing straight on end! There
+you are!</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Elliott Coues (1903) describes roadrunners as “singular birds—cuckoos
+compounded of a chicken and a Magpie.” Mrs. Bailey
+(1902) considers them among the “most original and entertaining of
+western birds.” Other writers call them “odd,” “anomalous,” and
+“unique.” They are.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout much of his range the roadrunner is known as the
+chaparral cock, or merely the chaparral. He also is called lizard
+bird, ground cuckoo, cock of the desert, and, as we have stated above,
+snake killer. The Mexicans call him the <i xml:lang="es" lang="es">paisano</i> or the <i xml:lang="es" lang="es">correo del
+camino</i>. The first of these names means <dfn>compatriot</dfn> or <dfn>fellow countryman</dfn>;
+according to some writers it expresses affectionate regard, and
+is to be freely translated “little friend.” The latter is almost the
+equivalent of our name roadrunner.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</span></p>
+
+<p>That the roadrunner has at times been known as the <dfn>churca</dfn> we
+learn from an interesting note by Elliott Coues (1900) who quotes
+from an anonymous Franciscan priest the following description, published
+in 1790: “The <dfn>Churca</dfn> is a kind of pheasant which has a long
+bill, dark plumage, a handsome tail and <em>four feet</em>. It has these latter
+facing outward in such fashion that when it runs it leaves the track of
+two feet going forward and two going backward.”</p>
+
+<p>Coues himself calls attention to the fact that the word “toes” must
+replace the word “feet” in the above paragraph if the description is to
+fit the roadrunner. The error may well have been the translator’s.
+At any rate, anyone who has observed a roadrunner’s tracks in the
+sand knows how faithfully these record the zygodactylism of the
+bird’s foot.</p>
+
+<p>Many a fanciful tale is told of the roadrunner. According to the
+best known of these, the bird builds a fence of cactus spines about a
+sleeping rattler, letting the doomed reptile buffet itself to weariness
+until finally, in desperation, it is impaled on the spines or bites itself
+to death! According to other stories (some of which probably have a
+grain of truth in them), the bird will deliberately race the swiftest
+horse across the plains!</p>
+
+<p>The speed of the roadrunner <em>is</em> remarkable. Not when he is flying—a
+flying roadrunner is as much out of his element as a swimming
+chicken—but when he is afoot. A. W. Anthony (1892) tells us of a
+pair of birds that apparently enjoyed being chased by a hound that
+could never catch them. He says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>At Hatchita [New Mexico] a pair came regularly to one of the mines for
+water, a small pool having been formed near the shaft, from the pumps. The
+visit was made at nearly the same hour each forenoon, and was eagerly looked
+forward to by a foxhound owned by one of the workmen. The dog never failed
+to give chase as soon as the birds were sighted, and the race was as much
+enjoyed by the birds as by the dog; they seemed to have no difficulty whatever
+in keeping well out of danger without taking wing, and usually found time
+during the chase to stop at the water hole and get their daily drink, after
+which they quickly disappeared.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>H. C. Bryant (1916) quotes from Heermann that the roadrunner
+“may, however, be overtaken when followed on horseback over the
+vast open plains,” and Heermann is known to have seen “one captured
+by a couple of dogs.”</p>
+
+<p>Richard Hunt (1920), who was able to check with a speedometer
+the actual speed of a roadrunner encountered “en route from Soledad
+to the Galiban Range” in California, writes: “At the top speed to
+which we provoked our victim, the famous runner was moving at
+the tremendous rate of 10 miles an hour on a practically level piece
+of road.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</span></p>
+
+<p>H. H. Sheldon (1922a), who also checked the roadrunner’s running
+speed with a speedometer, writes of the incident: “The car
+gained on the bird until about five yards separated us, and I saw it
+was running at its utmost speed. I instructed my friend, who was
+driving, not to press him further, and for fully three hundred yards
+the bird ran from the big monster in pursuit, the while the speedometer
+registered exactly fifteen miles per hour. When finally we
+approached very closely, the bird gave up and flew into a palm,
+where I plainly saw it, beak agape and apparently very much fatigued
+from the unusual exertion.”</p>
+
+<p>There is no doubt in my own mind that a fully adult roadrunner,
+can, for short distances, run faster than 15 miles an hour. Athletic directors
+tell us that an average man (not an athlete) can run 9 yards
+a second, or about 18 miles an hour. I know I can run as fast as the
+average man, and I know I have failed many a time to gain on a
+roadrunner that happened to appear on the road a short distance
+ahead of me. I distinctly recall catching two <em>young</em> roadrunners
+(with tails 7 or 8 inches long) in a little gully near Fort Worth, Tex.,
+in about the year 1913. I had quite a chase and might never have
+caught them had they not been forced to run up a steep embankment.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—We have seen the roadrunner sneak off through the
+weeds—a frightened bird. We have seen him capture lizards, snakes,
+scorpions, centipedes, tarantulas—a veritable monster. But not until
+we have heard him sing do we know the finer side (as Aldrovandus
+of old would say) of his nature. On fine spring mornings he sings
+as the sun rises, and he may continue his fervent if somewhat
+monotonous performance for an hour or more. His favorite songperch
+is the eastern rim of a mesa where, full in the fresh sunlight,
+he can see far and wide. If there is no mesa, he chooses a dead tree
+or a high cactus. Here, directing his bill downward until it almost
+touches his toes, he begins to coo. <i>Coo, coo, coo, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh,
+ooh</i>, he calls, pumping out the syllables in a hoarse, throaty voice,
+his head rising a little with each <i>coo</i>, until the bill points upward,
+the pitch of the song meanwhile dropping gradually lower. So he
+starts with head low and coo high, and ends vice versa. Cattlemen
+say that before he begins his song he “lays his beak on the rock.”</p>
+
+<p>The pumped-out series of coos we have just described doubtless is
+the roadrunner’s love song. Before giving it he may parade in a
+prominent place, strutting with head held stiff and high, and wings
+and tail drooping. On May 2, 1914, I witnessed what I believe were
+certain courtship antics of the male before the female not far from
+Fort Worth, Tex. According to the published account (Sutton, 1922)
+of this performance, the bird’s “wings were spread, and he may have
+been preening and taking a sun bath, but circumstances * * *
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</span>led me to think otherwise. Now and then he bowed, and affected a
+close examination of his feet, only to raise his head again, drop his
+wings, lift them again and spread his tail. * * * Before I knew
+it [I] was discovered * * * and then, without wings spread,
+leaped from the dead branch to the next lower one, whence on outstretched
+wings he sailed to the ground. I rushed up to where he
+had been, and was surprised to see two birds scuttling * * * off
+through the vines.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The nest, which usually is situated in a low tree, thicket,
+or clump of cactus 3 or 4 to 15 feet from the ground, is a rather
+compact, though not deeply cupped affair, about a foot in diameter
+and 6 to 8 inches high, with foundation of sticks and lining of leaves,
+grass, feathers, mesquite pods, snakeskin, roots, and dry flakes of
+cattle and horse manure. It is sometimes well hidden, sometimes
+not. In the Black Mesa country of the far western Oklahoma Panhandle
+John Semple and I found several nests in small cedar trees
+that grew on the mesa sides. Here the nests were well hidden, and
+since cedar trees were numerous our usual method of locating nests
+was watching the parent birds.</p>
+
+<p>Rarely the nest is built on the ground. Such a nest, containing
+six eggs, was found by W. W. Brown in Sonora, Mexico, on May 15,
+1905. This nest is preserved in the John E. Thayer collection.</p>
+
+<p>A. C. Bent writes me of a nest found by F. C. Willard in Cochise
+County, Ariz., on April 23, 1916, “7 feet from the ground on a packrat’s
+nest in a dense thicket of hawthorn.” This nest was “merely
+a few leaves, etc., in a slight hollow in the rubbish of the rat’s nest.”
+While Mr. Bent was hunting ravens’ nests among the abandoned oil
+derricks in the Kettleman Hills, <abbr title="California">Calif.</abbr>, his companion, J. R. Pemberton,
+told him that roadrunners sometimes built their nests in the lower
+parts of the derricks, using the sticks dropped by the ravens. Griffing
+Bancroft (1930) describes a nest with complete set of two eggs
+found in Lower California in the heart of a date palm * * * so
+well concealed that it could not be seen until much of the foliage
+had been cut away.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—Roadrunner nests contain, as a rule, three to five or six
+eggs. Occasionally two eggs comprise a complete set; and sets with
+as many as 12 eggs have been recorded. Where large numbers of
+eggs are found in one nest it is supposed that more than one female
+has deposited them. Coues (1903) describes the eggs as “ovate or
+elliptical, white in ground color with an overlying chalky film which
+may take a slight yellowish tint, ranging in length from 1.45 to 1.75,
+averaging 1.55 x 1.20. They are laid at considerable intervals; incubation
+begins as soon as a few are deposited, and is believed to
+last 18 days for each egg. The development of the chicks is rapid;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</span>perfectly fresh eggs and newly-hatched young may be found together;
+and by the time the last young are breaking the shell the
+others may be graded up to half the size of the adult.”</p>
+
+<p>[<span class="smcap">Author’s note</span>: The measurements of 55 eggs average 39.2 by
+30.1 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>44</b> by
+30, 41 by <b>32</b>, and <b>34</b> by <b>27.5</b> millimeters.]</p>
+
+<p>William L. and Irene Finley (1915) describe a typical nest in
+which there were “one fresh egg, one egg just ready to hatch, two
+featherless, greasy, black young, and two young ones about grown
+and ready to leave home.” These authors were in a position to watch
+this nest almost continuously for several days. They did not observe
+more than one female parent. If, then, the several eggs were laid
+by more than one female, it may be supposed that the species is to
+some extent parasitic or promiscuous in this regard, as the yellow-billed
+and black-billed cuckoos also are thought to be.</p>
+
+<p>Frank L. Burns (1915) also gives the period of incubation as “18
+days.” It is supposed that only the female incubates. That incubation
+sometimes begins with the laying of the first egg rather than
+“as soon as a few are deposited” (see above quotation from Coues)
+has been observed by M. French Gilman (1915), who tells us of a
+nest with four eggs in which “one hatched July 20, the others on the
+three succeeding days.” In cases of this sort it is natural to suppose
+that all eggs are laid by the same female.</p>
+
+<p>Eggs are usually laid in April and May. W. E. D. Scott (1886)
+tells us, however, of several nests found on the San Pedro slope of
+the Catalina Mountains in Arizona, the earliest of which, discovered
+March 17, 1885, at an elevation of 3,000 feet, contained two fresh
+eggs. That two broods of young are sometimes, if not frequently,
+reared in one season has been reported by numerous authors, though
+I believe it has not been proved beyond doubt that fresh eggs found
+in July are laid by females that have already succeeded in bringing
+out one brood.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Newly hatched young are odd, “featherless, greasy,
+black” creatures with a reptilian appearance. I had a good deal
+to do with young roadrunners in the vicinity of Fort Worth, Tex.,
+as a boy, so I quote my own description here (1922):</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The nestling bird, be it ever so young, has an unmistakable cuckoo-like expression
+in its face, though its eyes, upon which a good portion of the facial expression
+depends, are quite different from those of the adult, being of a deep dull
+brown with a bluish pupil. * * * The eyelashes are small, in fact scarcely
+apparent. Its whole external appearance is very sombre, and rather dirty-looking,
+as though the creature had been bathed in some unrefined oil, which
+had not been properly administered. The white hairs, each of which marks a
+coming feather, all lie in rows and look as if they had been rudely combed into
+place. The rather large, pale blue-gray feet are strong in the toes, but very
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</span>weak at the heel, so that the birds cling to the fingers or the twigs of their
+nest with some power, but are quite unable to rise. Whenever there were very
+many young birds in the nest they presented a peculiarly scrambled appearance,
+due, I believe, to the constant disturbance at feeding time more than to
+restlessness, for they usually lie quite still. By May 1 [the birds were taken
+from the nest on April 29] feathers were appearing rapidly on my young birds,
+first on the top of the head, back, and wings, and then on the belly, tail, and
+throat. Once the blood-quills had started to burst, development was very
+rapid. On May 4 the birds were quite well feathered, the tails being one and
+one-half inches long, and they were quite able to walk unsteadily. It is at this
+period, or a little before, that the young leave the nest, though there must be
+innumerable dangers for the rather weak-legged creatures. Several times I
+have come across young birds able to run well, but still in trees, which leads
+me to believe that the young may, like young Green Herons, spend a portion of
+their early active life climbing about from branch to branch.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>During the spring and summer of 1914 I reared these two young
+roadrunners, feeding them uncounted hundreds of grasshoppers,
+cave crickets, tarantulas, centipedes, scorpions, lizards, snakes, mice,
+cotton rats, and small birds. They were the most entertaining pets I
+ever had. Eventually they learned to capture their own food. Concerning
+this period of their life I have published the following
+paragraphs (1936):</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>After three weeks they became sturdy enough to catch part of their own
+food. With patient coaxing they were taught to pick up grasshoppers tossed to
+them, and finally to run after and capture crippled insects. Content at first,
+perforce, with sluggish, wingless nymphs which were abundant, they stole about
+through the weeds, wings pressed neatly against their slender bodies, snapping
+up the insects as fast as they could find them. Grasshoppers, often still alive
+and kicking, they swallowed with a toss of the head and a hollow gulp. Large
+green or gray cave crickets, which live in piles of boards, or in damp, shadowy
+places, were especially prized. When a yellow- or coral-winged grasshopper
+rose noisily from the path, the birds crouched in momentary fear, but soon
+began to mark the return to earth of the clackety aeronaut and to steal up
+behind clumps of grass, intent upon a killing.</p>
+
+<p>Finally they learned to capture the biggest, noisiest, and wariest grasshoppers
+on the prairies. They would watch a coral-wing in his courtship flight and,
+running stealthily, wait until the performer dropped to the ground. With a
+bound over low weeds, a dart across the open, and a final rush with outspread
+wings and tail, they would frighten their prey into the air, leap nimbly after
+him, nab him unerringly with their bills, and descend gracefully on outspread
+wings to beat him to insensibility with a whack or two on a stone.</p>
+
+<p>Once they had learned to capture grasshoppers, their food problem was
+largely solved and, since they showed no inclination to run away, they were at
+liberty most of the time. They ran about the yard, playing with each other,
+or catching insects. In the heat of mid-day they sought the shelter of broad,
+cool leaves, and sprawled in the sand. Daily, often many times daily, I took
+them for a walk across the prairie. Following me closely or running at my
+side, they watched the big world with eyes far keener than my own. Grasshoppers
+which I frightened from the grass they captured in side expeditions.
+If I paused near a flat stone, they urged me on with grunts, bit gently at my
+hands, and raced back and forth in an ecstasy of anticipation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</span></p>
+
+<p>I entertained misgivings concerning these flat stones. What savage creatures
+might not they conceal? Could young Road-Runners manage swift-tailed
+scorpions, sharp-toothed mice, or poisonous spiders? Under the first stone there
+were scorpions. The Road-Runners hesitated an instant, as if permitting an
+untried instinct to take possession of their brains, then rushed forward, thrust
+out their heads, and attacked the scorpions precisely at their tails. Perhaps
+these venomous tails received more than the usual number of benumbing blows,
+but the scorpions were swallowed with gusto.</p>
+
+<p>I had not supposed that a Road-Runner would capture and devour a tarantula.
+One day, however, we paused at the tunnel of one of these big, furred
+spiders. Somewhat in the spirit of experimentation, and following the method
+known to all Texas boys, I teased the black Arachnid from her lair by twirling
+a wisp of grass in her face. She popped out viciously and jumped a good ten
+inches to one side. With a dash one bird was upon the monster before she had
+opportunity to leap a second time. A toss of the bird’s head and one of
+the eight legs was gone. Free again, the spider leaped upon her captor. The
+other bird now entered the combat, snatched up the spider, and flicked off
+another leg. One by one the legs went down, and finally the two birds pulled
+apart and gulped the sable torso.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—The newly hatched roadrunner’s only plumage is
+coarse, long, white or whitish hairs. These do not by any means
+cover the dark-skinned body, but they apparently give the bird all
+the protection it needs. At this stage the light-colored egg tooth is
+noticeable, the feet are dark colored like the rest of the body, the
+mouth lining has a peculiarly blotched appearance, and the irides
+are dull brown.</p>
+
+<p>As blood quills replace the long white hairs, the egg tooth disappears,
+the legs and feet turn blue-gray, the skin about and back of
+the eye lightens, and the blotching of the mouth lining becomes less
+conspicuous. The sprouting feathers now bear at their tips the white
+hairs of babyhood. Some of these hairs cling to the plumage long
+after the bird leaves the nest.</p>
+
+<p>When young roadrunners begin to capture their own food they
+wear a plumage that is much like that of the adult. J. A. Allen
+(Scott, 1886) describes this plumage thus: “The chief difference in
+color consists in the broad shaft stripes of the feathers of the neck
+and breast being less sharply defined in the young than in the
+adult, and in the brown edgings bordering the shaft stripes being
+paler.”</p>
+
+<p>At this stage the bare skin about the eye becomes pale blue, and
+the naked patch back of the eye light orange. Too, the eye itself
+changes, a light-colored ring, which contrasts sharply with the brown
+or gray-brown of the rest of the iris, forming about the pupil. As
+the bird becomes older the bare skin of the face brightens. Fully
+adult males, at the height of the nesting season, are fairly resplendent
+with their high, steel-blue crest, brilliant eye, and bright orange
+patch back of the eye.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</span></p>
+
+<p>The plumage worn by the young bird after it loses its natal hairs
+is apparently the first winter plumage. Judging from such specimens
+as I have seen, the postnuptial molt is the only complete molt
+of the adult bird. Whether there is a partial prenuptial molt in
+young or adult birds I cannot say. The roadrunner’s life is so strenuous
+that he doubtless loses feathers frequently. Spring birds with
+half-grown tail feathers may therefore not be performing a molt in
+the usual sense of the word.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Lizards (including the armored horned “toad”), small
+snakes, scorpions, tarantulas and other spiders, centipedes and millipedes,
+mice, cotton rats, ground-inhabiting small birds and their eggs
+and young, young quail, insects of all sorts, various fruits and seeds,
+including pricklypears: all these are eaten by the roadrunner; and
+this considerable list but hints at the rapacity and digestive powers
+of the gaunt bird. One of the most thorough-going reports on the
+roadrunner’s food habits is that by Dr. Harold C. Bryant (1916).
+Informing us that animal food makes up slightly over 90 percent of
+the total food of the species in California, Dr. Bryant says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Almost any animal, from the smaller rodents down to tiny insects, appears
+to be relished by this bird. Although the stomachs examined showed no large
+percentage of vertebrates, other published records show that reptiles sometimes
+form a large part, if not the entire diet. Even these larger elements of food
+are usually swallowed whole at one gulp. That the digestive apparatus is
+powerful is evidenced by the fact that bone, hair, and feathers pass through
+the digestive tract, and are not thrown back out through the mouth in the form
+of pellets, as is the case with some hawks and most owls.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A diagram in Dr. Bryant’s paper makes it plain that grasshoppers
+and crickets form a considerable part (36.82 percent) of the roadrunner’s
+food in California. Beetles form 18.2 percent; and seeds
+and fruits, cutworms and caterpillars, bugs, ants, bees, wasps, scorpions,
+lizards, mammals, fly larvae, birds, and “miscellaneous” items
+go to make up the rest.</p>
+
+<p>Game officials are usually opposed to the roadrunner, for the bird
+is reputed to be an enemy of young quail. Regarding the bird’s
+reputation as a quail destroyer, W. L. McAtee (1931) tells us that
+“the Road-runner is persecuted almost throughout its range * * *
+as an alleged destroyer of Quail eggs, and state bounties are even paid
+for its destruction. Yet the Road-runner never has been known to
+be a special enemy of Quail,” and it doubtless “eats more scorpions,
+centipedes, and tarantulas, those poisonous nuisances of the Southwest,
+than it does Quail eggs.”</p>
+
+<p>Aldo Leopold (1922) writes of shooting a roadrunner “with a light-colored
+object in his bill.” Examining the spot where the bird had
+fallen he “found a dead [quail] chick, still limber and warm but
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</span>unmutilated * * * still in the downy stage, with ⅛-inch pin
+feathers on the wing—smaller than a domestic chick when hatched.”</p>
+
+<p>S. S. Visher (1910) writing of birds found by him in Pima County,
+Ariz., tells us that roadrunners “have been seen leaving the nest of
+Gambel’s Quails carrying an egg in their beak.”</p>
+
+<p>That the roadrunner will occasionally capture birds as large as a
+mockingbird is apparent from several published accounts including
+that by Robert S. Woods (1927a) who tells us of “an immature but
+full-grown mockingbird” captured though not actually killed by a
+roadrunner near Azusa, Calif.; and that by Dr. W. K. Fisher (1904)
+who reports that a roadrunner was seen to “remove from a nest a
+young mockingbird and devour it” in Mission Valley, near San Diego,
+Calif.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter to A. C. Bent, Mr. Woods (who is quoted above) speaks
+of a short article written by the late Rev. St. John O’Sullivan, of
+San Juan Capistrano Mission, “describing a roadrunner’s method
+of killing a swift by lying in wait in a creek-bed near Palm Springs
+and suddenly springing into the air to knock down one of the birds
+which passed within its reach.” This capturing swifts in air seems
+perfectly plausible to me, for I recall seeing my captive roadrunners
+capturing English sparrows in much the same manner. Walking
+about with a noncommittal air that was comically suggestive of the
+chickens that fed nearby, they gradually grew nearer to a sparrow,
+then with a dash to one side and a tremendous leap snatched the
+fleeing victim from the air.</p>
+
+<p>A. W. Anthony (1896) tells us of suddenly coming upon a roadrunner
+that had just finished despatching a wood rat (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Neotoma</i>).
+“The bird reluctantly withdrew as I came upon the scene,” he writes,
+“leaving the rat, which I found to be quite dead.”</p>
+
+<p>My own captive birds caught and killed a cotton rat (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Sigmodon</i>)
+that lived in a stone wall near our house in Fort Worth, Tex. Two
+or three times a day this rat scurried across a gap in this wall, and
+the birds came to look upon him as a possible meal. At first his
+speed and considerable size kept the enemy at a safe distance, but
+their interest sharpened daily, and eventually they formed the habit
+of loitering near the runway. One day I heard a squeal of terror
+and ran up in time to see the bewildered animal running this way
+and that, trying to escape two lightning-quick demons who never
+really held him, but pinched him, tossed him, dealt him blows, buffeted
+him, made him weary with fighting for life. Over his limp
+form the roadrunners had an argument. He was heavy. No sooner
+would one bird start to swallow than the other would be tugging
+at the hind foot or tail, and down he would drop. I finally cut the
+rat in two.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</span></p>
+
+<p>Carroll Dewilton Scott has contributed a note concerning roadrunners
+that catch half-grown “gophers” in his garden at Pacific Beach,
+Calif. Describing one of the birds he says: “Finally, after ridiculous
+gulpings and twistings of his neck he got the gopher down, balanced
+his tail, and ambled away from another conquest.”</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bailey (1928) tells us of two roadrunners observed at Carlsbad,
+N. Mex., that “snapped their bills and chased each other up into
+a cottonwood on the bank where there were caterpillar nests. To
+determine what they had been eating, one was shot and its gizzard
+was found to contain not only caterpillar skins but a number of large
+grasshoppers, a large black cricket, beetles, a centipede six inches
+long, and part of a garter snake a foot long. The rest of the snake
+was down in the crop and the barely swallowed end up near the
+bill.”</p>
+
+<p>Regarding the economic status of the roadrunner in California,
+Dr. Bryant (1916) says: “A preponderance of evidence favors
+the bird. The destruction of such unquestioned pests as grasshoppers,
+cutworms, caterpillars, and wireworms and of such rodents
+as mice is to be desired even if the amount of destruction be relatively
+small. The taking of this sort of food on wild land is evidence
+that this bird when feeding in cultivated fields is likely to be
+distinctly beneficial.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Anyone who has observed the roadrunner closely knows
+what an entertaining creature it is. Its voracity keeps it on the
+alert for food. To capture a grasshopper one moment, a race-runner
+lizard the next, and a tarantula the next requires strength, speed, and
+prowess. If nymph grasshoppers are numerous, the bird has no
+trouble in obtaining a meal. But flying grasshoppers are difficult to
+overtake; lizards escape because of the brittleness of their tails; and
+tarantulas have burrows into which they can pop when danger
+threatens.</p>
+
+<p>Not often does one see a wild roadrunner capturing its food. I
+recall watching one a year or two ago, not far from Packsaddle Lake,
+a small, artificial body of water in western Oklahoma. I had climbed
+a sandy mound. Peering through the sagebrush, I saw a roadrunner
+under a bush not far away, busy feeding. He ran out into the sunlight
+now and then, but his attention was directed principally to
+grasshoppers that must have been feeding on the leaves. These he
+snatched, with nimble leaps upward, in the tip of his bill. To reach
+the insects that were in the midst of the bush, he scrambled noisily
+through the twigs, caught a few, then sprang back to the ground to
+catch those that had fallen or jumped out.</p>
+
+<p>W. E. Allen (1932) gives us a breezy description of the capture
+of a small bird by a roadrunner that had been running just ahead of
+him. He says:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Before we had gone as much as a hundred yards, however, his [the roadrunner’s]
+pacing routine was broken by a sudden dash from a slouchy pose and
+the development of a brown streak across the road which ended in his emergence
+on a bank beyond a parked automobile. Somewhere beneath the car he
+had struck a full-fledged young bird (probably a “California Linnet”) at full
+speed * * *. The victim appeared to have been caught by the neck, which
+probably accounts for the fact that it made no outcry. It must have been
+badly stunned also by the stroke of the heavy beak because it struggled only
+feebly.</p>
+
+<p>After becoming satisfied that I was not disposed to interfere, the captor
+moved on to a point about 10 feet farther away. Here he hammered the hard
+ground two or three times with the body of his victim, evidently destroying all
+signs of life. Then he dropped it, grasped a wing near its base, and with a
+skilful jerk stripped nearly every feather from it * * *. After stripping the
+wing he spent three or four minutes in picking at the birdling’s body with some
+hammering and jerking mixed in. Apparently this was for the purpose of
+getting rid of feathers. At any rate, they were thrown around profusely, and
+the movements were different from those a little later which seemed to be
+devoted to mauling and crushing the body into a shapeless mass.</p>
+
+<p>Finally this mass (which seemed to be about as large as the roadrunner’s
+head) was picked up with a kind of tossing motion which landed it in the back
+of his mouth. The first effort at swallowing, consisting of tossings of the head
+and spasmodic movements of the jaws and throat, only resulted in getting the
+mass started into the throat. After a short rest another series of these movements
+shifted it along to a visible extent but it was not till the fourth series
+was finished that the food appeared to have been swallowed completely. After
+this was accomplished the bird turned toward me and slouched into a curious
+pose of indifference mixed with satisfaction.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A roadrunner’s program is full enough with only himself to feed.
+But when he has a nestful of hungry young he must indeed wear
+himself ragged catching insects and lizards and snakes. These he
+brings from near and far, going and coming in such a way as to
+keep himself hidden. With what satisfaction must he start a foot-long
+garter snake on its way down the gullet of one of his offspring,
+knowing that one voice at least will be stilled so long as any of that
+snake remains to be swallowed!</p>
+
+<p>Many an interesting account has been written of the roadrunner’s
+foraging activities. A. Brazier Howell (1916) tells us of difficulties
+he had in retrieving small bird specimens before roadrunners stole
+them. He writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>While I was out collecting, these abundant birds would often be seen skulking
+about with eyes open for any opportunity, and it was always necessary, in
+such cases, to make a dash for a specimen after it was shot. On two occasions
+a roadrunner darted in and grabbed a bird when I had almost reached
+it, once hopping two feet in air to nip a sparrow that had lodged in the branches
+of a bush. At another time I was watching a small flock of sparrows as they
+busily fed in the brush, when I noted a roadrunner stealing up like a cat,
+taking advantage of every bit of cover. When at the proper distance, it
+rushed out and sprang into the air at the retreating sparrows.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</span></p>
+
+<p>J. Eugene Law (1923) tells us of a roadrunner that tried to pull
+a dead golden-crowned sparrow through the ¾-inch-mesh wire of
+a sparrow trap. This writer states that he did not actually see the
+roadrunner kill the sparrow, though an autopsy showed “the entire
+brain area” to be “dark with blood infusion.”</p>
+
+<p>My pet roadrunners did not capture horned “frogs” unless other
+food was difficult to obtain. They killed and ate these well-armored
+reptiles, however. A horned lizard, confronted by its ancient foe,
+would flatten out, rise high on its legs, and sway back and forth as
+if about to leap or inflict a dangerous bite. But a roadrunner is not
+to be bluffed. Grasping his tough victim by the head or back he
+beat it against a convenient stone. Thirty or forty blows were
+needed to render it sufficiently quiescent for ingestion. If swallowed
+while yet alive it had to be coughed up for further battering.</p>
+
+<p>When not engaged in pursuing food a roadrunner may rest, seeking
+either a cool spot on the ground or the shadowy heart of a tree.
+In the morning it sometimes takes a sunbath. Henry W. Henshaw
+(1875) tells us that “it loves to meet the first rays of the rising sun,
+ascending for this purpose to the top of the mesquite trees, and,
+standing erect on the topmost branch, loosens its feathers, and appears
+to catch all the grateful warmth possible, remaining in this
+attitude for many minutes.” My captive roadrunners took sunbaths
+every day, spreading their wings and exposing the featherless
+tracts of their backs.</p>
+
+<p>The roadrunner has a streak of domesticity in his nature. Mrs.
+Bailey (1922) has given us a delightful account of a remarkably
+tame though uncaged bird that lived about camp. Concerning this
+bird (which was known as “Koo”), Mrs. Bailey says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>It was not his potential usefulness as a camp watchman or killer of “varmints”
+but his ready friendliness and attractive ways which attached us to our
+rare camp visitor. If we were busy when he came he would call <i>koo, koo</i>, and
+then wait for us to discover him. Sometimes we would look hard before finding
+him and finally make him out standing on the mesquite slope above us, his
+feathers puffed out spreading the streaks on his chest till they and his light
+underparts toned in perfectly with a background of straw-colored ground and
+dry weed-stalks—completely camouflaging him. It was astonishing to see how
+such a large, marked bird could disappear in its background. And what a
+contrast that round, bird-like form made to the grotesque running figure we
+were familiar with—long neck, slender body, and long tail, one straight line.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>J. K. Jensen (1923) tells us of a pair of roadrunners that fed
+“with the chickens on a ranch near Santa Fe,” that “came regularly
+for a ‘hand out’ and often went to roost in the poultry house.” This
+author does not specify what the “hand out” was. Needless to say,
+it hardly could have been corn or wheat.</p>
+
+<p>Frightened from the nest a roadrunner may scuttle off to remain
+hidden for some time. Again, it may stay close by, attempting to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</span>lure the intruder away. M. French Gilman (1915) describes a
+mother bird that was “very anxious about the eggs,” that “ran around
+close to me in a mammalian sort of way, flat on the ground, tail
+dragging, and head stretched out in front only about three inches
+from the soil. She did not look like a bird at all, and though making
+no fluttering demonstration, her antics were calculated to excite curiosity
+and distract attention from the nest.”</p>
+
+<p>J. R. Pemberton (1916) describing a “variation of the broken-wing
+stunt” by a roadrunner, writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>As I was climbing near the nest the bird hopped to the ground. Immediately
+it began to squirm, scramble, and drag itself away across an open space and in
+full view. The bird was simulating a broken leg instead of the conventional
+broken wing! The bird held its wings closed throughout the demonstration
+though frequently falling over on its side in its enthusiasm. The whole performance
+was kept entirely in my view, the bird gradually working away from
+the tree until it was some 35 feet distant when it immediately ran back to the
+base of the tree and repeated the whole show. I had been so interested up to
+now that I had failed to examine the nest which when looked into contained
+five young probably a week old. When I got to the ground the bird continued
+its stunt rather more frantically than before and in order to encourage the
+bird I followed, and was pleased to see it remain highly consistent until I was
+decoyed to a point well outside the grove. Here the bird suddenly ran away
+at full speed and in a direction still away from the nest.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—We have already described the spring song of the roadrunner.
+Howard Lacey (1911) tells us that the bird “makes a loud
+chuckling crowing noise * * * and also a cooing noise that
+might easily be mistaken for the voice of some kind of dove; it also
+makes a sort of purring sound in its throat, <i>perrp, perrp, perrp</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>As for this “purring sound,” I am not at all sure that it is <em>vocal</em>.
+One of the roadrunner’s most characteristic alarm sounds is not a
+<em>cry</em> at all; it is an incisive, clackety noise made by rolling the
+mandibles together rapidly and sharply. Even young birds just out
+of the nest can produce this sound, though the softness of the bill
+muffles the sharpness somewhat.</p>
+
+<p>Young birds in the nest make a buzzing sound when begging for
+food. Well do I remember a nestful of these “infant dragons” that
+I found in April 1914. Concerning these I have written (1936):
+“Accidentally I touched an upturned beak and four great mouths,
+wobbling uncertainly on scrawny necks, rose in unison. I jerked
+back my hand—the pink-blotched lining of those mouths had an
+almost poisonous appearance. From the depths of the small frames
+came a hoarse, many-toned buzzing which gave the impression that
+a colony of winged insects had been stirred to anger.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—There is little doubt in my mind that the roadrunner’s
+worst enemy is man. Man wants quail to shoot. Man sees a roadrunner
+chasing young quail or finds a young quail in a roadrunner’s
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</span>stomach and lo, thumbs turn down, another name goes on the black
+list, and the roadrunner’s doom is sealed. In many a southwestern
+State there have been chaparral-cock drives and contests, bounty on
+roadrunners, newspaper stories and editorials defaming the bird.
+Too, there are those who <em>eat</em> roadrunners, or who chase and shoot
+them for “sport.” In populated sections the roadrunner has a hard
+time. Where man appears the roadrunner all too frequently disappears.</p>
+
+<p>Certain predatory birds and mammals doubtless prey occasionally
+on the roadrunner, though adult birds usually are swift or wary
+enough to evade such enemies as coyotes and hawks. Crows and
+ravens doubtless eat some roadrunner eggs and young. Even the
+snakes themselves may take a hand in keeping the snake killer
+tribe from becoming too numerous. Remains of a roadrunner were
+found in the stomach of a red-tailed hawk collected by Dr. Josselyn
+Van Tyne in Brewster County, Tex., February 28, 1935 (Van Tyne
+and Sutton, 1937).</p>
+
+<p>W. L. McAtee (1931) in his timely “Little Essay on Vermin” so
+justly states the case of roadrunner <em>versus</em> mankind that his comments
+are of special significance here:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Road-runner is persecuted almost throughout its range * * * as
+an alleged destroyer of Quail eggs, and state bounties are even paid for its
+destruction. Yet the Road-runner never has been shown to be a special enemy
+of Quail, and it cannot eat their eggs except during a brief season. The
+Road-runner is as nearly omnivorous as any of our birds, eating anything in
+its habitat that is readily available and swallowable. No doubt it will eat
+Quail eggs, but it is equally certain that not one meal in a thousand of all
+the birds at all times consists of Quail eggs.</p>
+
+<p>The Road-runner actually lives up to its repute of killing rattlesnakes;
+without doubt, it eats more scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas * * *
+than it does Quail eggs, and it is a voracious consumer of grasshoppers. It is
+a unique bird, not only in our fauna but in that of the world, has extremely
+interesting habits, and in its choice of food in the long run undoubtedly does
+more good than harm. Its persecution is all but baseless and is thoroughly
+unjustified.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution50">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southwestern United States south to central Mexico.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the roadrunner extends <b>north</b> to north-central California
+(Navarro River, Owens River, and Death Valley); Colorado
+(Meeker, Cañon City, and Las Animas); and southern Kansas (probably
+Caldwell and Arkansas City). <b>East</b> to Kansas (Arkansas
+City); central Oklahoma (Norman); Texas (Fort Worth, Kerrville,
+and San Antonio); Tamaulipas (Matamoras, Soto La Marina, and
+Tampico); and Pueblo (San Salvador). <b>South</b> to Puebla (San Salvador);
+Mexico (Tenango); and Jalisco (Zapotlan). <b>West</b> to Jalisco
+(Zapotlan); Baja California (Cape San Lucas, San Cristobal Bay,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</span>and Rosario); and California (San Diego, Mentone, Santa Barbara,
+Sebastopol, and Navarro River).</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—The roadrunner is not known outside of its normal
+range, but a remarkable occurrence was the finding of a specimen
+at Marshall Pass, <abbr title="Colorado">Colo.</abbr>, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, on
+October 12, 1907.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Arizona: 20 records, April 5 to June 24; 10 records,
+April 20 to June 3, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>California: 73 records, March 4 to July 16; 37 records, March 25
+to May 2.</p>
+
+<p>Mexico: 5 records, April 16 to May 16.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 57 records, March 18 to July 5; 29 records, May 3 to June 1.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Coccyzus51">COCCYZUS MINOR MAYNARDI Ridgway</p>
+
+<p class="center">MAYNARD’S CUCKOO</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits51">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The mangrove cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Coccyzus minor minor</i>) long remained on
+the A. O. U. Check-list, including the third edition, based on Audubon’s
+record of a specimen taken on Key West and figured in his
+Birds of America. Ridgway (1916) examined this specimen and
+identified it as the Jamaican mangrove cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. minor nesiotes</i>).
+Now the 1931 Check-list makes the statement that all Florida records
+prove to be referable to <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. minor maynardi</i>, and excludes both of the
+above races from the list.</p>
+
+<p>The mangrove cuckoo, of which Maynard’s is a subspecies, is well
+named, for all races of the species seem to be confined almost exclusively
+to the mangroves. The only one I ever saw was encountered
+on our way to Alligator Lake through the mangrove forests near
+Cape Sable, Fla. Arthur H. Howell (1932) collected the only two
+he ever saw “in a black mangrove swamp near the mouth of Allens
+River, below Everglade.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Audubon (1842) says: “The nest is slightly constructed
+of dry twigs, and is almost flat, nearly resembling that of the Yellow-billed
+Cuckoo.” Mr. Howell (1932) says that “a set of two fresh
+eggs (now in the Florida State Museum), which the female was
+beginning to incubate, was taken at Chokoloskee, June 4, 1903, from a
+nest 7 feet up in a red mangrove.”</p>
+
+<p>Oscar E. Baynard tells me that he took two sets of two eggs each,
+on May 25 and 26, 1912, in a dense stand of extra large mangroves
+in Pinellas County, Fla.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The eggs of Maynard’s cuckoo are practically indistinguishable
+from those of the yellow-billed cuckoo. The measurements of
+20 eggs average 30.77 by 23.18 millimeters; the eggs showing the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</span>four extremes measure <b>33.1</b> by 22.6, 31.4 by <b>24.3</b>, <b>27.9</b> by 22, and 30
+by <b>21.6</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Audubon (1842) says that this cuckoo “raises two broods
+in the season, and feeds its young on insects until they are able to go
+abroad.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—I have seen no nestlings of this species, but a fully
+grown juvenal, taken in the Bahamas on June 23, has the upper parts
+everywhere “buffy brown” to “wood brown,” including the crown,
+which in the adult is grayer than the back; there are narrow white
+tips on the secondaries, tertials, and all the wing coverts; there are
+still narrower white tips on the primaries, which soon wear away;
+the black space below and behind the eye, so conspicuous in the
+adult, is lacking; the central tail feathers are paler grayish brown
+terminally than in the adult, and the lateral tail feathers are pale
+“wood brown,” instead of black, with whitish, instead of pure white,
+tips, which are also less clearly defined than in the adult. I have seen
+young birds in this plumage in July, August, and September. The
+body plumage is probably molted during the fall, but the juvenal
+wings and tail are apparently retained until the following spring or
+summer; I have seen young birds molting wings and tail in February,
+June, and August, thus assuming a fully adult plumage.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The food of Maynard’s cuckoo consists mainly of caterpillars,
+spiders, moths, flies, grasshoppers, and other insects; probably
+a few small fruits and wild berries are eaten at times. Mr. Howell
+(1932) says: “The stomachs of two birds taken at Everglade, Florida,
+in March, were examined in the Biological Survey; the food in one
+consisted mainly of hairy caterpillars (Arctiidae), the stomach being
+well lined with caterpillar spines; the remains of 3 mantids (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Stagmomantis</i>)
+composed the remainder. The other stomach contained 4
+long-horned grasshoppers, lepidopterous larvae, locustid eggs, mantids,
+and spiders.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Maynard (1896) says of the habits of this cuckoo in
+the Bahamas:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>They frequent thickets near fields, and often venture into the open grounds to
+feed, but usually when taken by surprise in such places, quickly retreat to the
+thickets, into which they glide easily. Once within the cover of the shrubbery,
+their movements are quite deliberate, but when approached, they will jump
+from branch to branch, and although not appearing to hasten, will manage
+to elude their pursuer, and become quickly lost in the foliage.</p>
+
+<p>The flight of this Cuckoo is rapid, the wings being moved quickly, much more
+so than in the Black or Yellow Billed Cuckoos. They generally move straight
+forward, without doubling, and when they wish to alight, they do so suddenly
+without any preliminary lessening of their speed, and as soon as their feet
+touch the branch the tail is dropped perpendicularly. As a rule, this Cuckoo
+is rather shy, especially when in open fields, but I once came across one near
+Mathewstown, Inagua, that was feeding in an old field, that was very tame,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</span>allowing me to approach within ten feet of it, as it deliberately searched for
+food among the remains of partly decayed stubs of trees which stood in the
+clearing.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—On this subject Maynard says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>All through the winter Maynard’s Cuckoo is rather silent, but as spring approaches
+they begin to utter their singular cries, and at times, more especially
+before rain, are quite noisy. The notes may be represented by the syllables
+“ou, ou, ou, ou, qua, qua, qua, coo, coo, coo.”</p>
+
+<p>The “ous” are given very rapidly, with a decided Cuckoo-like intonation.</p>
+
+<p>The “quas” are harsher, more like the notes of the Bahama tree frog, and
+are not hurriedly given. The last three notes are more Cuckoo-like than any
+of the others. The first four notes are often omitted, then the harshly and
+gravely given “quas” begin the song and on occasions these quaint sounds
+are not followed by any other notes, then it is sometimes difficult to distinguish
+the notes uttered from some of those uttered by the large Andros
+Island Cuckoo, Saurothera andrea. This varied song is uttered in the early
+morning with rather more energy than at any other time in the day.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—The Maynard’s cuckoo might easily be mistaken for
+a yellow-billed cuckoo, as it doubtless often has been, the tail markings
+being practically the same. But the underparts are decidedly
+washed with “pinkish buff” and “cinnamon-buff,” though these parts
+are not so deeply colored as in the mangrove cuckoo. If clearly seen
+at close range, the grayish crown and the black area behind and,
+narrowly, below the eye are good field marks.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution53">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Northeastern South America, Central America to central
+Mexico, the West Indies, and southern Florida.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the mangrove cuckoo extends <b>north</b> to Nayarit (Tres
+Marias Islands and San Blas); Tamaulipas (Alta Mira); Yucatan
+(Izamal, Temax, Chichen-Itza, Cozumel Island, and Mujeres
+Island); western Cuba (Isle of Pines); Florida (Anclote Keys and
+Cape Florida); the Bahama Islands (Berry, Eleuthera, and Watling
+Islands); the Dominican Republic (Monte Cristi, Sosua, and Seibo);
+Puerto Rico (Desecheo, Culebra, and Vieques Islands); and the Virgin
+Islands (St. Thomas, Tortola, and Virgin Gorda). <b>East</b> to the
+Virgin Islands (Virgin Gorda); the Leeward and Windward Islands
+(Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, Santa Lucia, St. Vincent,
+and Grenada); and Trinidad. <b>South</b> to Trinidad; northern
+Venezuela (Aruba Island); Panama (Chiriqui); and Costa Rica
+(San Jose and Puntarenas). <b>West</b> to Costa Rico (Puntarenas, Pozo
+del Rio Grande, and Pigres); Nicaragua (Greytown and Chinandega);
+Honduras (Roatan Island and Puerto Caballo); El Salvador
+(La Libertad); western Guatemala (near Ocos); Oaxaca (Cacoprieto);
+and Nayarit (Tres Marias Islands).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</span></p>
+
+<p>The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been
+separated into several subspecies, only one of which is found in North
+America. This race, known as Maynard’s cuckoo, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. maynardi</i>,
+is found in the Bahamas, Cuba, and the southern part of Florida,
+including the Florida Keys.</p>
+
+<p><i>Migration.</i>—Apparently only Maynard’s cuckoo is migratory, and
+this only in the Florida part of its range. Early dates of arrival
+in Florida are: Gator Lake in Monroe County, March 22, and Punta
+Rossa, March 29. A late date of departure from Key West is September
+19.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Florida and the Keys: 13 records, May 17 to July 10.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Coccyzus54">COCCYZUS AMERICANUS AMERICANUS (Linnaeus)</p>
+
+<p class="center">YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap"><a href="#Plate6">Plates 6</a>, <a href="#Plate7">7</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits54">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The yellow-billed cuckoo, with its western subspecies, covers practically
+all the United States and some of southern Canada. It is mainly
+a bird of the Austral Zone, being much commoner in the Southern
+States than in the northern portions of its range. In New England
+it is not so common as the black-billed cuckoo, though in some seasons
+it seems to be a familiar bird. Originally it was probably a woodland
+bird, but, like many other species, it has learned to frequent the
+haunts of man, where it is not molested and where it finds an abundant
+food supply in our shade trees, orchards, and gardens. Its favorite
+haunts are still the woodland thickets, where the tree growth is not
+too heavy, brush-grown lanes, shady roadsides, dense thickets along
+small streams, and apple orchards in rural districts. In dense, heavy
+woods it is seldom seen.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Unlike the European cuckoo, both of our North American
+species usually build their own nests and rear their own young,
+though they are very poor nest builders and are often careless about
+laying in each other’s nests or the nests of other species. Major
+Bendire (1895) gives the following very good account of the nesting
+habits of the yellow-billed cuckoo:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Yellow-billed Cuckoo is one of the poorest nest builders known to me,
+and undoubtedly the slovenly manner in which it constructs its nest causes the
+contents of many to be accidentally destroyed, and this probably accounts to
+some extent for the many apparent irregularities in their nesting habits. The
+nests are shallow, frail platforms, composed of small rootlets, sticks, or twigs,
+few of these being over 4 or 5 inches in length, and among them a few dry
+leaves and bits of mosses; rags, etc., are occasionally mixed in, and the surface
+is lined with dry blossoms of the horse-chestnut and other flowering plants, the
+male aments or catkins of oaks, willows, etc., tufts of grasses, pine and spruce
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</span>needles, and mosses of different kinds. These materials are loosely placed on
+the top of the little platform, which is frequently so small that the extremities
+of the bird project on both sides, and there is scarcely any depression to keep
+the eggs from rolling out even in only a moderate windstorm, unless one of the
+parents sits on the nest, and it is therefore not a rare occurrence to find
+broken eggs lying under the trees or bushes in which the nests are placed.
+Some of these are so slightly built that the eggs can be readily seen through the
+bottom. An average nest measures about 5 inches in outer diameter by 1½
+inches in depth. They are rarely placed over 20 feet from the ground, generally
+from 4 to 8 feet upon horizontal limbs of oak, beech, gum, dogwood, hawthorn,
+mulberry, pine, cedar, fir, apple, orange, fig, and other trees. Thick bushes particularly
+such as are overrun with wild grape and other vines as well as hedgerows,
+especially those of osage orange are most frequently selected for nesting
+sites. The nests are ordinarily well concealed by the overhanging and surrounding
+foliage and while usually shy and timid at other times, the Yellow-billed
+Cuckoo is generally courageous and bold in the defense of its chosen home; the
+bird on the nest not unfrequently will raise its feathers at right angles from the
+body and occasionally even fly at the intruder.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Of five Massachusetts nests, on which I have notes, the lowest was
+only 2 feet above the ground in some bushes, and the highest was 12
+feet up in a crotch near the top of an oak sapling in a swampy
+thicket near a brook. Owen Durfee mentions in his notes a nest 5
+feet up in a juniper on the edge of a swamp. The others were at
+low elevations in thickets along brooks.</p>
+
+<p>A. D. DuBois has sent me his notes on five Illinois nests; one of
+these was on the end of a branch of an apple tree, 8 feet from the
+ground, near a country schoolhouse; this nest contained 3 eggs of the
+cuckoo and a robin’s egg. Another was near the end of a branch
+in an osage-orange hedge, 10 feet up; still another was in an isolated
+clump of willows, between a field and a pasture, 6 feet from the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>But cuckoos do not always nest in such low situations; there are
+several records of their nesting well up in elm trees. Grant Foreman
+(1924) tells of a pair that nested on his place in Muskogee, <abbr title="Oklahoma">Okla.</abbr>,
+for one or two years, high up in an elm tree; he says: “The next year
+after nesting in this inaccessible place, they built their nest in a little
+elm tree in the parking, in a low limb overhanging the curb on an
+asphalt street where hundreds of automobiles were passing every day,
+and here in this exposed, noisy place they raised a brood of young.
+This year they built their nest in a little hackberry tree in the parking
+along the side of my lot; but here also the nest was on a low
+limb overhanging the curb on a paved street, and the ice wagon
+stopped every morning directly under this nest, which was so low
+down that the driver might have put his hand in it.”</p>
+
+<p>George Finlay Simmons (1915) mentions a nest that he found
+near Houston, Tex., on the horizontal limb of a young pine near the
+edge of some woods. He says of it: “The nest was a slight platform
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</span>about eleven feet up, through which I could see with ease; it was
+composed of small pine twigs, about an eighth of an inch in diameter
+and averaging six or eight inches long, and was much more concave
+than I had expected. This shallow saucer was neatly, though quite
+thinly lined with a few pine needles, a small quantity of Spanish
+moss and several tiny buds.”</p>
+
+<p>George B. Sennett (1879) says that in the Lower Rio Grande
+region of Texas “ebony trees near the ranch, mesquites among cactuses,
+thorny bushes in open chaparral, and open woodland, were
+favored breeding places.”</p>
+
+<p>Wright and Harper (1913) found a well-made nest in Okefinokee
+Swamp, in a tupelo tree at the margin of the Suwannee. “It was
+placed in a cluster of mistletoe on a horizontal branch four feet above
+the water, and consisted of sticks interwoven with Spanish ‘moss’
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Tillandsia usneoides</i>).”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1896) gives the measurements of four
+nests; the average height of the nests was 4 inches, and the greatest
+outside diameters averaged 7.63 by 6.25 inches.</p>
+
+<p>Both species of North American cuckoos often lay their eggs in
+each other’s nests. The eggs of the yellow-billed cuckoo have been
+found several times in nests of the robin and catbird. H. P. Attwater
+(1892) writes: “In 1884 I found a Dickcissel’s nest which contained
+five eggs and one Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s egg. The next year some
+boys brought me three Black-throated Sparrow’s eggs and one Yellow-billed
+Cuckoo’s, from the same field, which they said they found
+all together in one nest.” J. L. Davison (1887) says: “I also found
+a nest of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Merula migratoria</i>, taken possession of by <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Coccyzus americanus</i>
+before it was finished, which was filled nearly full of rootlets;
+and in this condition the Robin laid one egg and the Cuckoo laid two
+and commenced incubation, when a Mourning Dove (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Zenaidura
+macroura</i>) also occupied it and laid two eggs and commenced incubation
+with the Cuckoo. I found both birds on the nest at the same
+time, when I secured nest and eggs. The eggs of the Robin and
+Cuckoo were slightly incubated; those of the Mourning Dove were
+fresh.”</p>
+
+<p>Bendire (1895) adds the wood thrush, cedar waxwing, and cardinal
+to the list of birds that have been imposed upon, and says: “Such
+instances appear to be much rarer, however, than those in which
+they interlay with each other, and the majority of these may well
+be due to accident, their own nest having possibly been capsized, and
+necessity compelled the bird to deposit its egg elsewhere. Such
+instances do occur at times with species that can not possibly be
+charged with parasitic tendencies.”</p>
+
+<p>Marcia B. Clay (1929) thus describes the cuckoo’s method of
+gathering twigs for her nest:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Flying into an adjacent apple tree containing a considerable quantity of dead
+material, the Cuckoo landed on a limb, selected a dead twig, and grasping it
+in her bill bent it back and forth until it snapped from the limb, whereupon
+she flew with it to her nesting-site in the next tree, arranged this twig and
+quickly returned for another. As she tugged at a stubborn twig, her back was
+arched and her long tail curved under or waved about. If a twig resisted too
+well her attack, the bird desisted at once and tried another. Always she
+worked rapidly with great energy, attacking a twig as soon as she landed in
+the tree, never carrying more than one twig at a time, holding it squarely at
+right angles to her bill and flying rapidly with long tail streaming.</p>
+
+<p>The Cuckoo’s concentration in the work, coupled with her indifference to observers,
+was remarkable. Not once did she descend to the ground for material.
+Not once did she gather material in the tree in which her nest was located.
+With two exceptions the twigs were all gathered from the same tree. Working
+thus off and on for an hour or two at a time, the bird completed the nest.
+The third night the Cuckoo was sitting on the nest at dusk, but after two days
+she deserted.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The yellow-billed cuckoo lays ordinarily three or four eggs,
+sometimes only one and rarely five; as many as six, seven, or even
+eight eggs have been found in a nest, but these larger numbers may
+be the product of more than one female. The eggs vary in shape
+from elliptical-oval to oval, oftener nearer the former, and about
+equally rounded at both ends. The shell is smooth, but without
+gloss. Bendire (1895) says that the “color varies from a uniform
+Nile blue to pale greenish blue when fresh, fading out in time to a
+pale greenish yellow.” Eggs that I have examined in collections vary
+in color from “pale glaucous green” to “pale fluorite green.” The
+measurements of 53 eggs average 30.4 by 23 millimeters; the eggs
+showing the four extremes measure <b>34.64</b> by 23.11, 33.53 by <b>25.40</b>,
+<b>27.43</b> by 22.86, and 29.21 by <b>20.83</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—The period of incubation is said to be about 14 days; it is
+shared to some extent by both sexes, but is probably performed
+mainly by the female. The eggs are sometimes laid on succeeding
+days, but oftener at more or less infrequent intervals; the young,
+therefore, frequently hatch at irregular intervals, and young of different
+ages are often found in the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Snyder and Logier (1931) say of a brood of young that they examined:
+“The young were quite active when disturbed. They
+scrambled about the bush, using the wings and bill for climbing.
+One young which was brought to our camp demonstrated a remarkable
+reptile-like behaviour. When it was placed on the table and one
+reached to pick it up, it erected its somewhat horny plumage and
+emitted a buzzing hiss like the sound of bees escaping from a tunnel
+in dry grass. This performance was certainly unbirdlike in all respects.”</p>
+
+<p>Francis H. Allen writes to me: “I found a young one in an open
+field on the ground. I was attracted to the spot by its loud rasping
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</span>cry. It fluttered along when I approached, but it could not fly from
+that position, in rather long grass, though wings and tail were
+pretty well fledged. When I picked it up, it pecked at my finger
+angrily. It seemed as fierce as a young hawk, and its rasping cry was
+probably calculated to inspire terror in its enemies. I placed the
+bird on a bough of a Norway spruce, where it took a characteristic
+cuckoo attitude and seemed much more at home than on the ground.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Lawrence H. Walkinshaw has sent me some notes on the
+weights and development of young yellow-billed cuckoos. One
+“well-grown” young was weighed for three days in succession before
+it left the nest, at 6 a. m. each morning. It weighed 28.8 grams the
+first morning, 31 grams the second, and only 26 grams on the third,
+August 6. The interesting point is that the loss of weight came with
+the sudden development of the plumage, of which he says: “When I
+visited the nest on August 5, at 6 a. m., his feathers resembled the
+quills of a porcupine, long and bluish, stretched out over his wings
+and back. At 7 p. m., these quills had all opened and the bird had
+taken on the resemblance of an adult cuckoo. Correspondingly, the
+following morning, he had lost 5 grams in weight. He left the
+nest on August 6.”</p>
+
+<p>At another nest a young bird weighed 25 grams on August 25,
+27.6 on the 26th, 32.9 on the 27th, and only 28.9 grams on the 28th;
+this bird left the nest on August 29, with feathers unsheathed. He
+says that during the unsheathing process the young bird dressed its
+feathers continually; “the wings, the tail, the scapulars, the rump,
+and breast all shared alike, then with the feet he would work about
+the head and throat. When hungry he would pause and call a low
+<i>cuk-cuk-cuk-cur-r-r-r-rrr</i>. If the parent did not come soon, these
+calls increased in number. While feeding, his wings would vibrate
+rapidly, and after the parent left his call was more of contentment,
+a short <i>curr</i>, or a <i>cuk-currrrr</i>. When excreting, he simply backed
+up to the edge of the nest.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Bendire (1895) says: “The young when first hatched
+are repulsive, black, and greasy-looking creatures, nearly naked, and
+the sprouting quills only add to their general ugliness.” This is a
+very good description, and the young birds do not improve much
+in appearance during the period of early growth. The body is well
+covered with the long, pointed feather sheaths until the young bird
+is more than half grown. But the sheaths burst, the juvenal plumage
+appears, and the young bird is well feathered before the time
+comes to leave the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. A. H. Cordier (1923) describes this process very well as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>At the end of seven days the young Cuckoo resembled a porcupine more than
+a bird. I now cut the limb holding the nest and brought it to the ground.
+Within three feet of it I then put up the umbrella tent that I might at close
+range observe minutely the rapid transition of the porcupine-looking object
+into a fully feathered, beautiful Rain Crow. * * *</p>
+
+<p>The first picture was made at nine o’clock. * * * This shows the young
+by the unhatched egg; the horny, sheathed feathers were fully two inches
+long, making the bird look like a porcupine. About ten-thirty the sheaths
+began to burst, and with each split a fully formed feather was liberated.
+This process took place with such rapidity that it reminded me of the commotion
+in a corn popper or a rapidly blooming flower. All the while I was
+within three feet of the bird, and could see every new feather, as it blossomed,
+so to speak.</p>
+
+<p>At three p. m., six hours after the first picture was taken, I made another
+photograph, showing this same bird in the full plumage of a Cuckoo, except
+the long tail.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>In this first plumage the young cuckoo looks very much like the
+adult, perhaps slightly paler above and with a slight wash of tawny
+or pale buff on the throat and breast; but the tail is quite different,
+lacking the conspicuous black and white markings so prominent on
+the sides of the adult tail; in the young bird the dark spaces in the
+tail are not black, but dark gray or lighter gray, variable in different
+individuals or in different feathers in the same individual; the light
+spaces are not so sharply defined as in the adult and are grayish
+white instead of pure white.</p>
+
+<p>The juvenal body plumage appears to be molted in fall, from
+August to October; but the juvenal wings and tail are worn through
+the first winter at least; I have not been able to detect this plumage
+in spring birds, so I suppose that a more or less complete molt occurs
+while the birds are in their winter homes, producing a practically
+adult plumage before they return in the spring. Adults have a
+complete molt between July and October, and possibly a more or
+less complete molt in spring before they arrive here, but winter
+specimens to show it are lacking.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Cuckoos are among the most useful of our birds, mainly
+because of their fondness for caterpillars, which are some of our
+most injurious insect pests and which constitute the principal food
+of these birds during their seasons of abundance. Edward H.
+Forbush (1907) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Cuckoos are of the greatest service to the farmer, by reason of their
+well-known fondness for caterpillars, particularly the hairy species. No caterpillars
+are safe from the Cuckoo. It does not matter how hairy or spiny they
+are, or how well they may be protected by webs. Often the stomach of the
+Cuckoo will be found lined with a felted mass of caterpillar hairs, and sometimes
+its intestines are pierced by the spines of the noxious caterpillars that it
+has swallowed. Wherever caterpillar outbreaks occur we hear the calls of
+the Cuckoos. There they stay; there they bring their newly fledged young;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</span>and the number of caterpillars they eat is incredible. Professor Beal states
+that two thousand, seven hundred and seventy-one caterpillars were found in
+the stomachs of one hundred and twenty-one Cuckoos—an average of more
+than twenty-one each. Dr. Otto Lugger found several hundred small hairy
+caterpillars in the stomach of a single bird. The poisonous, spined caterpillars
+of the Io moth, the almost equally disagreeable caterpillars of the brown-tail
+moth, and the spiny elm caterpillar, are eaten with avidity.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>He says elsewhere (1927):</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>When, in time, the inside of the bird’s stomach becomes so felted with a
+mass of hairs and spines that it obstructs digestion, the bird can shed the
+entire stomach-lining, meanwhile growing a new one. * * * Mr. Mosher,
+a competent observer, watched a Yellow-billed Cuckoo eat 41 gypsy caterpillars
+in fifteen minutes, and later he saw another consume 47 forest tent caterpillars
+in six minutes. * * * Dr. Amos W. Butler [1897] says that he has
+known these Cuckoos to destroy every tent caterpillar in a badly infested
+orchard and tear up all the nests in half a day. This species frequently feeds
+on or near the ground, and there gets an enormous number of locusts and
+other pests. In summer and autumn it feeds to some extent on small wild
+fruits, such as the raspberry, blackberry and wild grape.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The fall webworm is a destructive pest on certain trees, but few
+birds will eat it. Dr. Sylvester D. Judd (1902) noted that, on a
+Maryland farm, “a pair of yellow-billed cuckoos continually extracted
+them from the webs. The destruction of this insect is an
+habitual practice with the cuckoo. In a single stomach of the species
+examined by Professor Beal there were 325 of the larvæ.”</p>
+
+<p>Henry C. Denslow writes to me that he fed many hairy caterpillars
+to a cuckoo that he had in captivity, and says: “Many of
+these this bird sheared the hairs from by slowly moving them from
+end to end through its beak by a side-shifting motion of the mandibles.
+The removed hairs collected in a little bunch and, at the end
+of the caterpillar, fell to the floor. Most of the hairs were thus
+shorn from these caterpillars. Other caterpillars were swallowed
+entire, as I gave them to him, hairs and all.”</p>
+
+<p>Walter B. Barrows (1912) says that this cuckoo feeds freely on
+elderberries and mulberries and that “large quantities of beetles and
+bugs also are consumed, and both species of cuckoo seem to be very
+fond of grasshoppers, eating especially such forms as frequent shrubbery
+and trees, among these the destructive tree crickets (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Oecanthus</i>).
+Ten specimens examined by Professor Aughey, in Nebraska, contained
+416 locusts and grasshoppers, and 152 other insects.”</p>
+
+<p>Audubon (1842) writes: “In autumn they eat many grapes, and
+I have seen them supporting themselves by a momentary motion of
+their wings opposite a bunch, as if selecting the ripest, when they
+would seize it and return to a branch, repeating their visits in this
+manner until satiated.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</span></p>
+
+<p>In addition to those mentioned above, yellow-billed cuckoos have
+been known to eat many other insects, such as armyworms, ants,
+wasps, flies, and dragonflies. Several of the earlier ornithologists
+accused this cuckoo of eating the eggs of other small birds and produced
+some evidence of the bad habit, but some modern observers
+seem to think that they do very little, if any, nest robbing. C. J.
+Maynard (1896) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>This species in company with the former [black-billed cuckoo] are the terror
+of other small birds during the nesting season for they will constantly rob
+their nests. I have frequently seen a Cuckoo enter a thicket in which a Robin
+or a Cat Bird had built a home and in a moment the air would resound with
+the shrill cries of distress given by the parents, causing all the small birds in
+the immediate vicinity to rush to the spot and as each joins in the outcry, the
+noise produced is apparently enough to frighten away a bolder bird than a
+Cuckoo.</p>
+
+<p>But in spite of all this din, the glossy thief nearly always succeeds in accomplishing
+his purpose and emerges from the thicket, carrying an egg impaled
+on his beak. He does not always escape unscathed, however, for he is pursued
+by a motley crowd consisting of Robins, Cat Birds, Thrushes, Warblers, etc.
+that follow him closely, harassing him on all sides, and some of the more
+courageous will even assault him with blows from their beaks so that he frequently
+leaves some of his feathers floating in the wind behind him. As the
+long and broad tail of the Cuckoo is a prominent object and as it is also a
+portion of the bird which its enemies can seize with comparative safety to
+themselves, this member often suffers in these forays, in so much, that by the
+middle of summer, it is quite difficult to find a Cuckoo of either species which
+has a full complement of tail feathers.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>On the other hand, Major Bendire (1895) says: “I am aware that
+this species has been accused of destroying the eggs and even of eating
+the young of smaller birds, but I am strongly inclined to believe
+that this accusation is unjust, and in my opinion requires more substantial
+confirmation. I have never yet had any reason to suspect
+their robbing smaller birds’ nests, and the very fact that they live in
+apparent harmony with such neighbors, who do not protest against
+their presence, as they are in the habit of doing should a Blue Jay,
+Grackle, or Crow come too close to their nests, seems to confirm this
+view.”</p>
+
+<p>But then he goes on to quote from a letter from William Brewster,
+who says: “While I have never seen either of our Cuckoos destroy the
+eggs of other birds, nevertheless I think they do it occasionally. One
+of my reasons for this belief is that many of our small birds,
+Warblers, Sparrows, etc., show great anxiety whenever the Cuckoos
+approach their nests, and they pursue and peck at them, when they
+take wing, behaving toward them, in fact, exactly as they do toward
+the Crows, Jays, and Grackles, which we know eat eggs whenever they
+can get a chance. My other reason is that one of my friends once
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</span>shot a Cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. americanus</i>, I think it was) whose bill was
+smeared all over with the fresh yolk of an egg.”</p>
+
+<p>Yellow-billed cuckoos sometimes eat tree frogs and other small
+frogs, and, in the Southern States, an occasional small lizard.
+Marcia B. Clay (1929) relates the following incident: “For an hour
+a Cuckoo searched about the dead under limbs of a huge untrimmed
+apple tree, peering and gliding noiselessly around and around. At
+last, after long and patient search, it dashed to the ground and began
+to walk directly toward me through the scant grass and weeds, and
+only then did I see a frog trying to slip away unseen. The bird
+followed the frog a rod, pecking its victim and gloating softly <i>Cuk,
+Cuk</i>. Having vanquished its prey, the Cuckoo deftly gathered it
+into its bill and flew away, the frog’s legs sticking out stiff and
+straight together, exactly like the dead twigs which the Cuckoo carries
+to its nest.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Mr. Forbush (1927) has described the quiet, retiring
+behavior of the yellow-billed cuckoo very well as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The cuckoo is a graceful, elegant bird, calm and unperturbed; it slips quietly
+and rather furtively through its favorite tangles and flies easily from tree
+to tree in the orchard, keeping for the most part under protection of the leaves,
+which furnish excellent cover for its bronzy, upper plumage, while the shadows
+of the foliage tend to conceal the whiteness of its under parts. It has a way also
+of keeping its back with its greenish satiny reflections toward the intruder in
+its solitudes, and while holding an attitude of readiness for flight it sits motionless,
+and its plumage so blends with its leafy environment that it does not
+ordinarily catch the eye. In the meantime it turns its head and regards the
+disturber with a cool, reserved, direct gaze, looking back over its shoulder,
+apparently unafraid and giving no indication of nervousness or even undue
+curiosity; but if the observer approaches too closely, the elegant bird slips
+quietly away, vanishing into some leafy, cool retreat where it may enjoy the
+silence and solitude, dear to the woodland recluse.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The flight of the cuckoo is rather swift, easy and graceful, exceedingly
+direct and horizontal, but turning frequently from side to side
+as it threads its way through the branches of the trees, giving occasional
+glimpses of its white under parts and the telltale black-and-white
+markings in its tail; it is stream-lined to perfection and glides
+noiselessly through the air with its long tail streaming out behind.
+It is very quiet in its movements in its shady retreats; it seldom
+perches in a conspicuous place but sits motionless for long periods
+in the dense foliage, watching, or moves about stealthily in search of
+its prey. It might easily be overlooked, were it not for its characteristic
+notes, which lead the observer to look for it.</p>
+
+<p>About its nest it is rather shy, while incubating on its eggs, slipping
+away cautiously when approached, but when there are young
+in the nest its behavior is quite different. It then becomes quite
+solicitous and will often remain on the nest until almost touched, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</span>then perhaps throw itself down to the ground, fluttering and tumbling
+along, feigning lameness, after the manner of many ground-nesting
+birds, uttering loud, guttural cries of distress.</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—We hear the voice of the cuckoo much oftener than we see
+the bird; the well-known sound comes to us, like a wandering voice,
+from the depths of some shady retreat, but we cannot see the hidden
+author. We can recognize it easily as the voice of a cuckoo, but it
+is not always so easy to identify the species by its notes, though
+some keen observers claim that they can do so. Certain songs are
+characteristic of each of the two species, but both have a great variety
+of notes and many notes that are much alike in both. The
+notes of the yellow-billed cuckoo may be a trifle harsher and a little
+louder, but they are not always recognizable. The characteristic note
+of the yellow-billed cuckoo is well described by Charles J. Spiker
+(1935) as follows: “What may be considered the song of this species
+is a series of rapid, wooden-sounding syllables resembling the following:
+<i>Kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-kuk-ceaow-ceaow-ceaow-ceaow</i>; the <i>kuks</i> being
+given rapidly, the <i>ceaows</i> more deliberately and with longer intervals.”</p>
+
+<p>Bendire (1895) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>One of their commonest notes is a low “noo-coo-coo-coo;” another sounds
+more like “cow-cow-cow” or “kow-kow-kow,” several times repeated; others
+resemble the syllables of “ough, ough, ough,” slowly and softly uttered; some
+remind me of the “kloop-kloop” of the Bittern; occasionally a note something
+like the “kiuh-kiuh-kiuh” of the Flicker is also uttered; a low sharp “tou-wity-whit”
+and “hweet hwee” is also heard during the nesting season. Though
+ordinarily not what might be called a social bird, I have sometimes during
+the mating season seen as many as eight in the same tree, and on such occasions
+they indulge in quite a number of calls, and if the listener can only
+keep still long enough he has an excellent opportunity to hear a regular Cuckoo
+concert.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Various other interpretations of the different notes have been given
+by other writers, but the above quotations cover fairly well the ordinary
+variations. The song, as given by Mr. Spiker above, is sometimes
+more prolonged by lengthening the series of <i>kuks</i>, with increasing
+speed of utterance and adding to the series of <i>ceaows</i>, with slowly
+decreasing speed. I believe that the black-billed cuckoo never gives
+this prolonged song, accelerated during the first half and retarded
+during the last half; its song is given in more even time, and is generally
+shorter. The song of the yellow-billed cuckoo is often heard
+during the night, and its notes are often uttered while flying.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—A cuckoo may be easily recognized as a cuckoo by
+its size, shape, and color—a long, slender bird, longer than a robin,
+with a long tail, olive-brown above and white below; but the two
+species look very much alike unless the distinctive markings can be
+clearly seen. The yellow lower mandible of this species can be seen
+only at short range. But the rufous in the wing feathers is evident
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</span>in flight, and the lateral tail feathers are conspicuously black, with
+large terminal white areas clearly defined. At very close range the
+yellow eyelids of this species may be seen.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution64">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Temperate North America, the Caribbean region, South
+and Central America; casual on Bermuda and accidental in western
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The breeding range of the yellow-billed cuckoo
+extends <b>north</b> to southern British Columbia (Kamloops); northeastern
+Oregon (Keenys Ferry); northern Utah (Salt Lake City);
+northern Colorado (Loveland, Greeley, and Fort Morgan); South
+Dakota (White River, Yankton, and Sioux Falls); Minnesota (Fosston
+and St. Paul); Wisconsin (Ladysmith, Waupaca, and New London);
+northern Michigan (Blaney and Sault Ste. Marie); southern
+Ontario (Listowel, Rosseau, and Ottawa); northern New York
+(Watertown and Plattsburg); and southern Maine (Auburn). From
+this point the breeding range extends southward along the Atlantic
+coast to Florida (New Smyrna and Kissimmee); the Bahama Islands
+(Inagua Island); probably the Dominican Republic (Dajabon); and
+the Virgin Islands (St. Croix). <b>South</b> to the Virgin Islands (St.
+Croix); Jamaica (Port Henderson); Coahuila (Sabinas River);
+southern Sonora (Guaymas); and southern Baja California (San
+Jose del Rancho). <b>West</b> to Baja California (San Jose del Rancho
+and Cerro Prieto); California (Wilmington, Watsonville, Santa
+Clara, and Redding); Oregon (Salem); Washington (Grays Harbor,
+Tacoma, and Seattle); and British Columbia (Victoria, Chilliwack,
+and Kamloops).</p>
+
+<p>The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been
+separated into two geographic races. The yellow-billed cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. a.
+americanus</i>) occupies the eastern part of the range west to South
+Dakota, Nebraska, eastern Colorado, and Oklahoma, while the California
+cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. a. occidentalis</i>) is found over the rest of the country
+to the Pacific coast.</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—The winter home of this species has not been accurately
+determined, but it extends <b>north</b> to northern Colombia (Santa
+Marta, Bonda, Medellin, and Antioquia); and Venezuela (San Cristobal,
+Altagracia, the Orinoco River region, and Nericagua). It has
+been found at this season <b>east</b> to southeastern Brazil (São Paulo);
+Uruguay (Rio Negro); and eastern Argentina (Buenos Aires and
+Lomas de Zamora). <b>South</b>, probably only casually to central Argentina
+(Lomas de Zamora and Saladillo). <b>West</b> to Argentina (Saladillo
+and La Riojo); Ecuador (Nono, Chimbo, Cumbaya, and
+Guapulo); and Colombia (Cienaga and Santa Marta).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Melrose,
+March 12; Daytona Beach, April 9; Pensacola, April
+13. Alabama—Autaugaville, April 16. Georgia—Savannah, March
+24; Kirkwood, April 7. South Carolina—Charleston, April 14.
+North Carolina—Raleigh, April 25; Weaverville, May 1. Virginia—Lawrenceville,
+April 23; New Market, April 26. District of Columbia—Washington,
+April 27. Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, April
+20; Beaver, May 6; Renovo, May 11. New Jersey—Morristown,
+April 7; Elizabeth, May 9. New York—Shelter Island, May 2;
+Rhinebeck, May 3; Watertown, May 12. Connecticut—Hartford,
+May 9; Jewett City, May 10. Rhode Island—Providence, May 11.
+Massachusetts—Boston, May 4; Beverly, May 15. New Hampshire—Milford,
+May 11. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, May 27. Maine—Lewiston,
+May 6; Fryeburg, May 19. Mississippi—Biloxi, April 6; Rodney,
+April 8; Oakvale, April 10. Arkansas—Helena, April 19; Delight,
+April 24. Tennessee—Chattanooga, April 10; Knoxville, April
+27. Kentucky—Eubank, April 22; Bowling Green, April 24. Missouri—St.
+Louis, April 28; Kansas City, April 30; Concordia, May
+1. Illinois—Rantoul, May 2; Chicago, May 4; Olney, May 5.
+Indiana—Terre Haute, April 17; Fort Wayne, April 29; Waterloo,
+May 4. Ohio—Oberlin, April 26; Columbus, April 29; Youngstown,
+May 7. Michigan—Detroit, May 4; Battle Creek, May 11. Ontario—London,
+May 8; Guelph, May 12. Iowa—Sioux City, April
+30; Grinnell, May 9. Wisconsin—Madison, May 10; Racine, May
+10; La Crosse, May 12. Minnesota—Minneapolis, May 6; Winona,
+May 8. Texas—Fredericksburg, April 1; Kerrville, April 7; San
+Antonio, April 14. Oklahoma—Skiatook, April 20; Oklahoma City,
+May 3. Kansas—Ottawa, April 25; Onaga, April 28. Nebraska—Red
+Cloud, April 29; Lincoln, May 7. South Dakota—Vermillion,
+May 17. New Mexico—State College, May 25. Arizona—Phoenix,
+May 1; Tombstone, May 20. Colorado—Longmont, May 20; Denver,
+May 28. California—Petaluma, April 18; Pico, May 5; Berryessa,
+May 13. Oregon—Sauvies Island, April 24. Washington—Tacoma,
+May 3.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Late dates of fall departure are: California—Murphys,
+September 1; Vineland, September 22. Colorado—Yuma,
+September 3; Clear Creek, September 8. Arizona—Tucson, September
+8. New Mexico—Mesilla Park, September 7; State College,
+September 18. North Dakota—Grafton, September 4. South Dakota—Lennox,
+September 15; Yankton, September 24. Nebraska—Dunbar,
+September 27; Lincoln, October 5. Kansas—Onaga, October
+1. Oklahoma—Copan, September 23; Kenton, September 30.
+Texas—Bonham, September 25; Swan, September 28; Kerrville, October
+19. Minnesota—Minneapolis, October 1; Hastings, October 20.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</span>Wisconsin—Madison, September 27; Racine, October 6. Iowa—Grinnell,
+October 22. Ontario—Galt, October 2; London, October
+11; Point Pelee, October 16. Michigan—Detroit, October 8. Ohio—Youngstown,
+October 12; Columbus, October 19; Oberlin, October
+21. Indiana—Sedan, October 13. Illinois—Chicago, October 18;
+Rantoul, October 24. Missouri—Concordia, October 10. Kentucky—Lexington,
+October 10. Tennessee—Nashville, October 11.
+Arkansas—Delight, October 20. Mississippi—Biloxi, October 11.
+Maine—Fryeburg, September 1. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, September
+12. Massachusetts—Marthas Vineyard, September 24; Lanesborough,
+September 29; Hadley, October 18. Connecticut—Meriden,
+October 12; New Haven, October 16; Portland, October 17. New
+York—Rhinebeck, October 1; New York City, October 12. New
+Jersey—Morristown, October 9; Elizabeth, October 12. Pennsylvania—Beaver,
+September 27; Philadelphia, October 17; Renovo,
+November 12. District of Columbia—Washington, October 13. Virginia—Lawrenceville,
+October 12. North Carolina—Raleigh, October
+17. South Carolina—Mount Pleasant, November 7. Georgia—Savannah,
+October 19. Florida—Pensacola, November 2.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—While the yellow-billed cuckoo may be considered
+only as a casual visitor to Bermuda, an extraordinary invasion was
+recorded on October 9, 1849, when thousands of individuals suddenly
+appeared in all parts of the island; a few more have been subsequently
+reported. During the period from 1825 to 1921 it was recorded
+fully a dozen times from England, Scotland, Ireland, and
+Wales, all these occurrences being in fall and mostly during October.
+One was taken at Bois de Lessines, Belgium, in October 1874, and
+one was collected at Turin, Italy, on October 28, 1883. Two occurrences
+have been recorded from the southern part of France, but
+there is some question that they were correctly identified.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Arizona: 13 records, June 28 to August 24; 7 records,
+July 19 to August 22.</p>
+
+<p>California: 55 records, May 15 to August 20; 28 records, June 17
+to July 10, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Florida: 19 records, April 12 to August 25; 10 records, April 16
+to May 16.</p>
+
+<p>Illinois: 39 records, May 20 to July 19; 20 records, June 4 to 26.</p>
+
+<p>New York: 23 records, May 24 to August 19; 12 records, June 4
+to 11.</p>
+
+<p>Pennsylvania: 13 records, June 6 to July 29.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 34 records, March 22 to June 30; 17 records, May 6 to
+June 5.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Coccyzus67">COCCYZUS AMERICANUS OCCIDENTALIS Ridgway</p>
+
+<p class="center">CALIFORNIA CUCKOO</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate6"><span class="smcap">Plate 6</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits67">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This western race of our common yellow-billed cuckoo has been
+separated on very slight average characters, hardly worthy of recognition
+in nomenclature. I am inclined to agree with Harry S.
+Swarth (1929), who says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Between the eastern and western races of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo there is
+a slight average difference in size, the western bird being the larger and with
+a somewhat heavier bill. There is a rather wide range of variation in specimens
+from any one locality, * * * and the largest eastern birds do not fall far
+short of the maximum measurements of western specimens. Birds from the
+Pacific coast are the largest, those from central Arizona near the type locality
+of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">occidentalis</i> (the Santa Rita Mountains) are intermediate in size. The subspecies
+would have a better claim to recognition if restricted to the Pacific
+coast. * * * The subspecies is certainly as slightly differentiated as any
+in our <em>Check-list</em>, and I feel that no violence to the facts would result from
+suppression of the name.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The California cuckoo is nowhere abundant but seems to be generally
+distributed, in suitable localities, throughout its range from
+British Columbia to Lower California and other parts of Mexico. In
+southern California, its favorite haunts seem to be the willow thickets
+and groves along the beds of streams, or in willow-bottom sloughs,
+such as the famous Nigger Slough, which formerly existed near Los
+Angeles. Alfred C. Shelton (1911) describes a favorite haunt in
+Sonoma County, Calif., as follows: “In the locality of which I write,
+about five miles southeast of Sabastopol, this stream, known locally
+as the ‘Lagoon’, becomes, after some winter storm, a turbulent river,
+flooding acres upon acres of bottom land. In summer its course is
+marked by a chain of long, rather narrow ponds, many of which
+are deep. The banks, and much of the intervening space between
+these ponds, are covered with a thick growth of willow, small ash
+and scrub oak, while the whole is tangled together with an undergrowth
+of poison oak, wild blackberry and various creepers, forming,
+as it were, an impenetrable jungle, hanging far out over the water.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—Mr. Shelton (1911) has this to say about the spring
+movements of the California cuckoo:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Of all migratory birds breeding in this vicinity, the Cuckoo is the last to
+arrive in the spring, usually appearing during the latter part of May or the
+first week of June. Upon its arrival, this bird keeps to the higher land, among
+the oaks and other timber, for a period of two or three weeks before retiring
+to the willow bottoms to breed. During this period it is wild and shy and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</span>difficult to approach. Most active in the early morning, its characteristic note,
+a loud, clear “kow-kow-kow,” may be heard coming from some tree or group
+of trees, and perchance an answering “kow-kow-kow,” may come from another
+tree, some distance away. * * *</p>
+
+<p>After the birds retire to the willow bottoms to breed, their entire attitude
+changes. When watched and studied in the seclusion of their brush grown
+haunts, while engrossed with the cares of their domestic duties, the Cuckoos
+cease to be the wild, shy birds of the upland timber. The familiar “kow-kow-kow”
+is now forsaken for another note, a low guttural note, “kuk-kuk-kuk,”
+always uttered by a brooding bird and is the most common call of the cuckoo
+during the breeding season.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—J. H. Bowles (Dawson and Bowles, 1909) writes:
+“While standing in an open woodland listening to a pair of Cuckoos
+calling to each other, I saw the male suddenly fly past with a large
+green worm in his bill. He flew directly to the female, who was
+perched in a tree a few yards distant, and for a moment or two they
+sat motionless a few inches apart looking at each other. The male
+then hovered lightly over his mate and, settling gently upon her
+shoulders, gracefully bent over and placed the worm in her bill. It
+was a pretty and daintily performed piece of love-making.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The nesting habits of the California cuckoo are much
+like those of its eastern relative. In California its favorite nesting
+sites are in willow thickets in the river bottoms, or in such swampy
+lowlands as those referred to above. D. E. Brown writes to me that
+it is a rare bird in western Washington, and says: “It is found mostly
+in willow swamps, on the shores of fresh-water lakes, and along
+streams where the underbrush is thick. I have seldom seen it very
+far away from fresh water and never in real thick woods. It is a
+late arrival and does not begin nest building until about the fourth
+of July. I have found about a dozen occupied nests and only one of
+these was earlier than the above date; this one was on June 19. All
+these nests were in willow or wild-rose bushes, except one which was
+in a spirea bush. All nests were 2 to 8 feet from the ground, or water
+when built in swamps. The nest is a very frail, small affair composed
+of twigs loosely put together and lined with finer twigs and sometimes
+a few leaves. Most of the nests that I have seen have been so
+very flat and small that they would be exceedingly hard to find if
+the birds were not on them.”</p>
+
+<p>A nest in the Thayer collection, taken near Kirkland, <abbr title="Washington">Wash.</abbr>, on
+July 7, 1909, was found in an open space in a fir forest in low ground,
+which was dotted with a second growth of fir and some <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Osmaronia</i>
+and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Spiraea</i>; it was placed on a branch of a fir on the exposed side
+of the tree, 9 feet from the ground; it was made of old fir twigs and
+lined with fresh fir twigs. I have heard of other Washington nests
+in fir trees.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</span></p>
+
+<p>Major Bendire (1895) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The nests here [Arizona] were placed in willow or mesquite thickets, from
+10 to 15 feet from the ground, and they were usually fairly well concealed by
+the surrounding foliage. * * * If the California Cuckoo showed the same
+parasitic habit of occasionally depositing one or more of its eggs in the nests
+of other birds, as its eastern relatives are now and then known to do, I believe
+that I should have observed the fact in southern Arizona. Here I found eight
+of their nests with eggs, and fully five hundred nests of smaller birds, which
+nested in similar localities among the willow thickets and mesquite bushes,
+overrun with vines, in the creek bottoms, but not a single instance of parasitism
+came under my observation.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Wilson C. Hanna (1937) has published an interesting paper on the
+nesting habits of the California cuckoo in the San Bernardino Valley,
+Calif., with a photograph of a nest containing the unusual number
+of seven eggs; he writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>I have rather complete notes on twenty-four nests that I have examined
+in the field, six along Warm Creek and eighteen along the Santa Ana River,
+and with two exceptions all were in willow trees. In one case the nest was
+11 feet up in an alder tree next to the trunk, and in the other case 30 feet
+up in a cottonwood tree on top of a bare limb partly supported by a few twigs
+and therefore conspicuous. The last mentioned nest was ten feet higher than
+any other nest I have seen. Six of the nests in willows were either partly
+supported by or covered with wild grape vines, another nest was well concealed
+in the center of live mistletoe, while still another was well hidden in
+poison oak that was <a id="chg6"></a>growing over the dead willow tree. A few nests were
+placed next to the trunks of trees, but by far the most common location was
+well out on a horizontal or leaning limb. The average height above ground
+or water was less than thirteen feet and two were only four feet up.
+A good supply of rope and a ladder were necessary for examining some of the
+nests without disturbing them or the surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>Nests were always loose structures, of coarse twigs for a foundation, sometimes
+with a little superimposed grape-vine bark, cottonwood bark, or rootlets.
+In some cases there was no other lining and eggs could be seen through the
+bottom of the nest; but usually there were fresh or old leaves, bark strips,
+or willow cotton. In only one nest was there a feather in the lining. Often
+the nests were much longer in one dimension than the other, in one case four
+inches wide and twelve inches long.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The California cuckoo lays usually three or four eggs, occasionally
+only two. These are indistinguishable from those of the
+eastern yellow-billed cuckoo and average only slightly larger. The
+measurements of 43 eggs average 31.1 by 23.1 millimeters; the eggs
+showing the four extremes measure <b>35.5</b> by 23.5, 33.5 by <b>25</b>, and <b>27.5</b>
+by <b>21</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Bendire (1895) says that in a brood that he watched, the
+young were fed “always with a large black cricket (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Anabus simplex</i> or
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">purpuratus</i>) * * *. They picked most of these repulsive-looking
+creatures from grass stalks and low shrubs on which they were feeding,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</span>and although there were numbers of them to be found all around,
+as well as in camp, they generally went off some little distance to get
+them.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Swarth (1929) says that a female, collected in Arizona, “contained
+in its stomach two green caterpillars and a lizard 100 millimeters
+long, the latter swallowed entire and rolled into a coil. This
+seems a startling diet for a tree-dwelling cuckoo, but there is at least
+one other instance reported, also from the vicinity of Tucson, of a
+lizard being taken by one of these birds.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Coccyzus70">COCCYZUS ERYTHROPTHALMUS (Wilson)</p>
+
+<p class="center">BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate8"><span class="smcap">Plates 8–11</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits70">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The black-billed cuckoo is not so widely distributed as the yellow-billed,
+being confined in the breeding season to practically the
+northern half of the United States and southern Canada east of the
+Rocky Mountains. Within this range it seems to be commoner northward
+and rarer southward than the other species, ranging farther
+north and not so far south.</p>
+
+<p>In appearance and habits our two cuckoos are very much alike, and
+their haunts are similar; both are often found together, or in similar
+places, though the black-billed is rather more of a woodland bird
+and rather more retiring than the yellow-billed. William Brewster
+(1906) says that in the Cambridge region it is “more given to haunting
+extensive tracts of dry upland woods and to nesting in wild
+apple trees, Virginia junipers and barberry bushes in remote rocky
+pastures such as those which lie scattered along the crest and
+sides of the high ridge between Arlington and Waverley.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—William Brewster (1937a) writes: “On July 15, 1908,
+I witnessed the coition of two Black-billed Cuckoos in woods near
+Bethel, Maine. It took place on a branch only three or four feet
+above the ground. Although performed listlessly and intermittently,
+it was singularly protracted, for the two birds remained together at
+least four or five minutes, and did not finally separate until disturbed
+by my approach, when the male flew away and presently sang
+once. The female stayed quietly on her perch until I got near
+enough to see that she was a fully adult bird.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Most of the New England nests on which I have data
+were placed at low elevations, 2 to 4 feet above ground, in various
+small trees, bushes, or thickets. My first nest was the highest, 10
+feet up, in the top of a leaning black birch in a strip of swampy
+woods and brushy thickets along a small brook. Another was 8
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</span>feet from the ground in a dense thicket of shrubbery and blackberry
+vines. Three nests were in small white pines, 3 to 4 feet up,
+in rather open spaces overgrown with various shrubs and small trees
+near the edges of the woods; the nests were placed on horizontal
+branches, against the trunk, and well concealed among the dense
+branches. Near Asquam Lake in New Hampshire I saw two nests
+in thick clumps of mountain-laurel in some dense and heavy deciduous
+woods, where the land sloped down to the lake; the mountain-laurel
+grew here in extensive patches, but not very high, seldom
+over 3 or 4 feet; the large and well-made nests were only 2 and 3
+feet from the ground, but fairly well concealed.</p>
+
+<p>Some nests of the black-billed cuckoo are very flimsy affairs, but
+often they are much more substantially built than the nests of the
+yellow-billed cuckoo. Owen Durfee describes in his notes a well-made
+nest that he found in a clump of chinquapin oaks near a road
+in Rehoboth, Mass. It was made of oak twigs and dry fern stalks,
+many of the twigs being fresh, with leaves attached; it was lined with
+dry oak leaves and a few fresh ones. It measured 8 inches in outside
+diameter and 3 by 3½ inches in inside diameter, being hollowed to a
+depth of 1 inch. There is a beautiful nest in the Thayer collection,
+taken from a thicket in Lancaster, Mass., 7 feet from the ground;
+it has a well-made foundation of coarse twigs, tufts of grass, and
+burs; and it is profusely lined with the green leaves and the cottony
+catkins of the poplar. S. F. Rathbun writes to me of an interesting
+nest that he found: “The nest was a saucer-shaped affair made entirely
+of the burs from the burdock plant, simply stuck together so as
+to form a shallow receptacle for the eggs. As a lining for the nest
+a few dry grasses were used, and the burs with the grasses represented
+the entire structure. The cuckoo certainly showed ingenuity
+when it made this nest, for it could not have been more simply or
+easily constructed.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. T. C. Stephens has sent me some fine photographs (<a href="#Plate8"><abbr title="plate">pl.</abbr> 8</a>) of
+a black-billed cuckoo’s nest taken at the base of a willow sapling, near
+the shore of Lake Goodenough, in Union County, <abbr title="South Dakota">S. Dak.</abbr>, and says:
+“I have observed a rather marked tendency for the black-billed cuckoo
+in this region to build its nest within a very few inches of the ground
+or on the ground. This nest in the photograph was several inches
+above the ground outside the clump, but it might be regarded as a
+ground nest, because there was quite an accumulation of dirt and
+weed growth immediately below it. Of course, I have found nests
+of this species at heights about level with a man’s eyes, also.”</p>
+
+<p>A. Dawes DuBois has sent me the data for eight nests of this cuckoo,
+as found by him in Tompkins County, N. Y., and Hennepin County,
+Minn. Two of them were 5 feet above ground, one in the top of a
+bush covered with grape vines on the steep slope of a ravine and the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</span>other in a small larch, in the midst of an extensive willow thicket,
+half a foot from the trunk of the tree on a branch where two branchlets
+were attached. One of the lowest two was not over a foot above
+ground, among weeds 2 feet high; the nest was supported by a small
+dead branch that had fallen from a tree and lay hidden in the weeds.
+Others were at intermediate heights in more normal situations. The
+nest in the small larch tree he describes as made first of some cottony
+seed pods (ripened willow catkins), then a main structure of woody
+twigs, and lined with finer twigs, a few grasses and bits of the
+cottony seed pods; two tufts of dry grass, with roots attached, were
+at opposite sides of the rim.</p>
+
+<p>Major Bendire (1895) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The nests of the Black-billed Cuckoo appear to be slightly better built than
+those of the Yellow-billed species; the platform is usually constructed of finer
+twigs, the soft inner bark of cedar, fine rootlets, weed stems, etc., and there is
+generally more lining. This consists of the aments of oak, white and black
+ash, and maple, willow catkins, and the flowers of the cudweed or everlasting
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Gnaphalium</i>), dried leaves, and similar materials. The majority of the nests
+are placed in rather low situations, mostly not over 6 feet from the ground, on
+horizontal limbs of bushy evergreens, pines, cedars, and hemlocks, or in deciduous
+trees and shrubs, such as the box elder, chestnut, thorn apple, and beech
+trees; also in hedges, briar and kalmia patches, occasionally on old logs, and
+now and then even on the ground.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A rather high nest was found by P. G. Howes (1908) near Stamford,
+<abbr title="Connecticut">Conn.</abbr> It was about 15 feet from the ground, at the extremity
+of a limb of “a scrubby apple tree at the foot of a hay-covered field.”
+He says that, in his experience, the nest “has always been lined with
+maiden-hair ferns.”</p>
+
+<p>H. W. Flint, of Stamford, Conn., in a letter to Major Bendire
+(1895), mentions a still higher nest, and says: “I know of one spot
+in this vicinity where the Black-billed Cuckoo might almost be said
+to breed in colonies—a sloping hillside near a traveled road. Here I
+have found seven nests of this species within an hour, none of them
+placed over 3 feet from the ground. I have also frequently found
+their nest on a fallen limb, the top of which was resting upon underbrush.
+As an exception to their low nesting, I once found a nest containing
+two well-feathered young and two fresh eggs over 18 feet
+from the ground, placed in the top of a cedar tree, in a dense thicket
+of other cedars.”</p>
+
+<p>As already mentioned under the preceding species, both cuckoos
+often lay their eggs in each other’s nests. Thomas McIlwraith (1894)
+mentions three cases of parasitism on the part of the black-billed
+cuckoo, as observed by Dr. C. K. Clarke, of Kingston, Ontario; he
+says:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The first birds Dr. Clarke observed being imposed upon were a pair of chipping
+sparrows, who raised the young cuckoo at the expense of the family.</p>
+
+<p>Next came a pair of yellow warblers, whose <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">protégé</i> soon crowded out the
+legitimate occupants of the nest. They were raised from the ground and placed
+within reach, but the big boy required all the attention of the foster-parents,
+and the others died. During the whole period, the old cuckoo was always to be
+found flitting about in a restless manner, as if she had some doubt in regard to
+the ability of the warblers to take care of her child.</p>
+
+<p>The third case was another pair of chipping sparrows, in whose nest the cuckoo
+was observed sitting, and from which she did not move till the observers almost
+touched her. The result was the same as in the other cases. The young
+cuckoo threw the sparrows out as soon as he had strength to do so.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Eggs of the black-billed cuckoo have also been found in nests of
+the wood pewee, cardinal, cedar waxwing, catbird, and wood thrush.
+Under the preceding species will be found a note, published by J. L.
+Davison (1887), describing the finding of a nest occupied by a robin,
+a yellow-billed cuckoo, and a mourning dove. Bendire (1895) published
+an almost identical account of such a remarkable occurrence,
+on the authority of the same observer, but with the black-billed substituted
+for the yellow-billed cuckoo. It seems hardly likely
+that such an unusual happening could occur with both species in exactly
+the same way, and leaves us in doubt as to which species of
+cuckoo was involved.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The black-billed cuckoo commonly lays 2 or 3 eggs; sets of
+4 or 5 may sometimes be the product of a single pair; but the larger
+numbers that have been found in their nests, 6, 7, or even 8 eggs, were
+probably laid by two or perhaps three females, as these birds are
+notoriously careless about laying in each other’s nests. Bendire
+(1895) says: “The eggs of the Black-billed Cuckoo are more nearly
+oval than elliptical oval, and shorter and rounder than those of the
+Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and much more deeply colored. Like these,
+they are unspotted; the shell is thin and fine grained, with little or
+no gloss. Their color is difficult to describe exactly, varying from
+nile blue to pale beryl green, and occasionally the shell shows a decidedly
+marbled appearance, caused by different shades running into
+each other. * * * Aside from their deeper color, they are also
+readily distinguished from eggs of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo by their
+smaller size.”</p>
+
+<p>Eggs that I have seen in collections I should describe as “pale
+glaucous green,” “dull opaline green,” or “microline green” and varying
+from oval to elliptical-oval. Some of these, as well as some of
+those included in the following measurements, may be yellow-billed
+cuckoos’ eggs, as the two are probably not always recognizable with
+certainty. The measurements of 54 eggs, presumably of this species,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</span>average 27.18 by 20.57 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
+measure <b>30.48</b> by <b>22.86</b>, <b>22.61</b> by 18.80, and 25.40 by <b>18.29</b>
+millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Incubation is shared by both sexes and lasts for about 14
+days. As the eggs are often laid at infrequent intervals, it is not unusual
+to find young birds of different ages, or even eggs and young, in
+the same nest. Both sexes assist in the care of the young and are
+devoted parents; even when an egg is hatched by a foster parent, the
+mother cuckoo does not seem entirely to lose interest in her youngster,
+as related above. On the other hand, William H. Moore (1902a),
+of Scotch Lake, New Brunswick, says: “I have known this bird to
+desert its young when the nest was molested, and after the young
+died they were covered with leaves by the adults.” Cuckoos are careless
+about removing the cast-off shells, which are often found in the
+nest after the young have hatched. The young remain in the nest
+7 to 9 days after hatching and then become quite precocial. While in
+the nest the young are fed by their parents in a rather peculiar manner,
+of which Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>When the old bird returns, the food, which is very likely to be <em>live</em> caterpillars,
+is concealed in the throat. As a nestling raises its head with open
+mouth and rapidly vibrating wings, the parent thrusts its bill deeply into the
+open maw and the young bird grasps securely the smooth bill of the old bird, in
+which action it is greatly aided by several soft papillae or disks in the roof of
+the mouth. Then, with a slow, pumping motion, the squirming caterpillars are
+transferred with some difficulty from one mouth to another. The process is a
+slow one, the birds being attached a minute or more and the transfer aided,
+apparently, by a sucking effort on the part of the nestling.</p>
+
+<p>When a young Cuckoo opens its mouth widely there are visible, in the roof
+of the mouth, a number of large, flat-topped, white papillae or tubercles, arranged
+symmetrically, the function of which is plainly to make it possible for
+the nestling to maintain its hold on the parent’s bill, which is smooth and
+tapering. A small finger-tip inserted well down into the open, upturned mouth
+of a nestling is seized tightly and a sucking motion is distinctly perceptible.
+[Pl. 10.]</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Prof. Francis H. Herrick (1935) has made a thorough study of the
+home life of the black-billed cuckoo, and I cannot do better than to
+quote a few of his remarks on the behavior of the young. After
+describing the peculiar appearance of the newly hatched young, he
+says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>More remarkable than anything about its appearance, however, is the muscular
+vigor and endurance the cuckoo displays at this tender age, for it seems to be
+able to withstand heat, hunger, and general neglect that would be fatal to the
+young of most wild birds. I soon found by experiment that when barely three
+hours out of its shell this little cuckoo could hang suspended by a leg or even
+by a single toe for upwards of a quarter of a minute, and that it could raise itself
+up until its bill was well over the twig that it grasped with both feet; and
+in a short time it was able to raise itself on to the twig, or even to draw itself
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</span>up with the power of one leg, which implies an extraordinary muscular development.
+* * * Though born blind and essentially naked, the young black-bill
+is neither deaf nor dumb, and in proportion to its size it is probably the strongest
+and most enterprising altricial nestling on the North American continent. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Like other nestlings, the cuckoo lies flat, with toes clenched, and holds to its
+fragile nest with a firm grip. Attempt to remove it, and it is likely to pull its
+nest to pieces rather than loose its hold; or it may even drag out a fellow-nestling,
+reminding one of crayfishes or lobsters, in the handling of which one
+may also get a living chain. Should you succeed in displacing a bird, its claws
+will rapidly open and close in its desperate search for any object to clasp, for a
+contact stimulus afforded by any solid body can alone satisfy this strong
+reflex. * * *</p>
+
+<p>At the age of about six days the nestling cuckoo has reached that peculiar
+transitory state which we may call the “quill” or feather-tube stage. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of this brief and unique stage the behavior of the young
+bird changes in marked and rapid fashion. It indulges in new attitudes,
+acquires new call and alarm-notes, shows fear, and begins those preening or
+combing movements which are to effect a relatively sudden and altogether surprising
+change in its appearance. * * *</p>
+
+<p>In one instance the first preening action was noticed on the sixth day; thereafter
+this kind of activity became frequent, and the bird would comb every
+“quill” within reach, drawing the mandibles over it from base to apex. Then,
+with apparent suddenness, at the close of the seventh day the transparent horny
+sheaths began to give way at their base—instead of wearing off gradually from
+apex to base in the usual fashion—and were raked off by the mouthful. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Fear may become manifest as early as the sixth day, when a frightened bird
+will sometimes clear the nest at a bound and, seizing a branch with both feet,
+hold firmly to it. Should it drop to the ground, it can make off with surprising
+speed. If captured and held, it will emit loud, explosive squeals, than which
+nothing seems to arouse its parents to quicker attack or bolder measures. Replace
+it in the nest, and it spreads its wings, stiffens, and lies flat with every
+feather-tube on end; and it will repeat these defensive measures as often as it
+is touched or disturbed. * * *</p>
+
+<p>When from seven to nine days old, with half of its feathers unsheathed, the
+cuckoo suddenly leaves its nest and enters upon a climbing period, which lasts
+about a fortnight or until it is able to fly. At one of my observation stations
+I saw three young birds leave their nest in succession, and the procedure in
+the case of the oldest one was particularly interesting. This bird, which had
+been sitting in the bright sunshine, for the day was not uncomfortably warm,
+of a sudden moved to one side of its platform. After having combed off several
+mouthfuls of feather-sheaths, it sat upright for some minutes and gazed into
+its outer world. Then, directing Its attention to a small branch and ducking
+its head as if contemplating flight, with a leap it cleared the nest, and, catching
+hold of a twig, with both feet, it swung free with acrobatic dexterity. In another
+moment it had pulled itself up and was comfortably perched. If such a
+first perch is placed in the shade and the young bird is promptly fed, it may
+keep to it for a long time; but it can move about, and should it drop to the
+ground, it can mount to safety again.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The vertical position assumed by young cuckoos, probably as a
+hiding pose, has been noted by several observers, but the following
+incident reported to me in a letter from Frederic H. Kennard, is
+quite unusual; he says: “I had just been investigating a big highbush
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</span>blueberry bush, looking for a nest, when I discovered, to my surprise,
+a fledgling black-billed cuckoo, squatting on a twig about 6 feet from
+the ground. The little bird, which really was not able to fly, was
+squatting on a limb, just as little birds ordinarily do; his wing feathers
+were fairly well developed, but his tail was only about a quarter
+of an inch long. When I parted the branches a trifle, so that we
+could see him better, and finding out that he was discovered, he
+promptly assumed an almost perpendicular position, with his neck
+stretched out almost unbelievably and his bill almost straight in the
+air; and there he sat, immovable, with his bill in the air like a bittern,
+only oscillating a trifle when the branch on which he was sitting
+was disturbed a little by the breeze.</p>
+
+<p>“My youngest son, Jack, being interested in the peculiarities of
+cuckoos’ feet, attempted to pick him off the limb; the little bird
+fluttered to the ground, where he picked him up. When we had duly
+examined and discussed the arrangement of his toes, Jack endeavored
+to put the little fellow back exactly where he had been when we
+first disturbed him. Then, as he endeavored to replace him on the
+limb, he suddenly went limp and, apparently, passed out in his hand,
+frightened to death, as I supposed. He was perfectly limp and my
+impression is that his eyes were closed. Jack finally, in trying to
+get him to stay on the limb, hung him across the limb by the neck,
+with his head across one side and his body down the other side.
+Just then there came a little breeze, the body dropped, and that
+little bird simply scuttled in under the ferns. It was the most astonishing
+performance that I ever witnessed, first the stake-driver
+attitude, as a protective position, and then playing dead.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Professor Herrick (1935) says of the newly-hatched
+young cuckoo: “Although most birds emerge from the shell wet
+with the amniotic fluid, the cuckoo just mentioned came out quite
+dry. It was two and one-half inches long and weighed less than a
+quarter of an ounce (or 7.4 grams). Its skin was coal-black, sparsely
+sprinkled with sharply contrasting snow-white ‘hairs’—in reality
+the feather-tubes of a rudimentary down which never unfolds. These
+primitive feather-tubes are later pushed out by those of the juvenal
+contour feathers and for about a week are borne upon their tips,
+thus giving them a peculiar flagellate appearance.”</p>
+
+<p>When about six days old, the young cuckoo “bristles like the
+fretful porcupine in every feather-tract”; these bristles are the
+feather-tubes of the juvenal plumage, referred to above. At about
+this age, the young bird begins the “combing” process, by which
+the sheaths of these feather tubes are removed, as described above,
+and a marvelous change begins to take place in a remarkably short
+time, as the sheaths are removed and fall in a shower in and about
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</span>the nest. Professor Herrick (1935) says: “Thus at one stroke one
+or more of the juvenal contour feathers are exposed and quickly fluff
+out in all their shapely proportions. * * * The change actually
+occupies about twelve hours, and it is really not complete, since the
+sheaths of the wing- and tail-quills flake off gradually, as in other
+birds, and those feathers of head and neck out of reach of the ‘comb’
+remain sheathed for a considerable time longer.”</p>
+
+<p>By the time that the young bird leaves the nest, at the ago of 8
+or 9 days, it is in nearly full juvenal plumage; the wings are fairly
+well grown, but the tail is still very short. In this plumage the soft
+plumage above is “buffy brown,” each feather tipped with white;
+the under parts are silvery white, tinged with pale gray on the belly
+and with pale buff on the breast and throat. During late summer
+and early fall, most, if not all, of this juvenal contour plumage
+is molted and replaced by the first winter plumage, but the flight
+feathers of the wings and tail are retained until spring. This first
+winter plumage is much like that of the adult, but it is more brownish
+on the head and back and more greenish olive on the scapulars
+than in adults; the throat is more buffy and the upper breast more
+grayish buff than in the adult; the young bird’s tail is quite different,
+the grayish white tips are smaller and are not bordered inwardly
+with the dusky space, which is clearly visible in the adult tail. The
+molts are apparently the same as in the yellow-billed cuckoo; the
+adult plumage seems to be acquired before the young birds return
+from their first winter in the south, but we have no specimens showing
+a spring molt.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The black-billed cuckoo is just as good a caterpillar destroyer
+as the yellow-billed; in fact the food habits of the two
+species are almost identical in all respects. An abundance of caterpillars
+in a locality is very likely to bring with it an invasion of
+cuckoos. Frank L. Farley writes to me: “As far as I am aware,
+the black-billed cuckoo was unknown in central Alberta until the
+summer of 1923. That year the central portion of the Province
+was infested with tent caterpillars, which, in 1924–25, assumed plague
+proportions. Entire bluffs of poplar trees, several acres in extent,
+were entirely denuded of their leaves, while houses and other buildings
+were overrun with the pests.” In June 1924 the cuckoos began
+to appear for the first time, birds entirely unknown to the residents.
+“Although caterpillars gradually disappeared after 1925, cuckoos
+were reported from widely separated parts of central Alberta, the
+most northerly one being about 150 miles north of Camrose, which is
+in latitude 53° N. The presence of cuckoos and caterpillars in the
+same territory during these years would tend to bear out the claims
+of other observers, that the insects are particularly relished by these
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</span>birds, which, in some uncanny manner, are able to locate infested
+territory far removed from their usual place of residence.”</p>
+
+<p>Forbush (1927) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In seasons when caterpillars of any species are abundant, cuckoos usually
+become common in the infested localities. They follow the caterpillars, and
+where such food is plentiful, the size of their broods seems to increase. During
+an invasion of forest tent caterpillars in Stoneham, Massachusetts, in May,
+1898, Mr. Frank H. Mosher watched one of these birds that caught and ate 36
+of these insects inside of five minutes. He saw another in Malden eat 29,
+rest a few minutes and then eat 14 more. In July, 1899, he reported a family
+of these birds in a locality infested with the gipsy moth, and said that they
+were eating large quantities of gipsy caterpillars. In June, 1895, Mr. Henry
+Shaw reported great numbers of these cuckoos in Dorchester feeding on the
+same pests. The late Professor Walter B. Barrows, of Michigan, an extremely
+conservative ornithologist, is responsible for the statement that in several instances
+remains of over 100 tent caterpillars have been taken from a single
+cuckoo’s stomach. The Black-billed Cuckoo, because more common than the
+Yellow-billed, is the species that most commonly attacks this insect in New
+England orchards. During an invasion of army worms, Professor S. A. Forbes
+found that 95 per cent of the food of this species consisted of that caterpillar.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>F. H. King (1883), writing of the food of the black-billed cuckoo
+in Wisconsin, says: “Of thirteen specimens examined, nine had eaten
+caterpillars—among them were eight of the fall web-worms (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Hyphantria
+textor</i>), thirty-three of the oak caterpillars (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Dryocampa
+senatoria</i>), one of the Io caterpillars (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Saturnia io</i>), six of the antiopa
+caterpillars (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Vanessa antiopa</i>), and one of the caterpillars of the
+archippus butterfly (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Danais archippus</i>). One contained five larvae
+of the large saw-fly (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cymbex americana</i>); six, twenty-five grasshoppers;
+one, a cricket; two, ten beetles; and two, two harvest-men.”</p>
+
+<p>Other authors have charged this cuckoo with eating minute mollusks
+and other small animals, fishes and aquatic larvae, fruits and
+berries, and even the eggs and young of small birds. On the latter
+point, Henry D. Minot (1877) says that “they do great mischief in
+destroying the eggs of other useful birds. Like arrant cowards, as
+they are, they take opportunities to approach stealthily the nests of
+many birds, whom they would be afraid to encounter, and then feast
+on the eggs of the absent parents, after which they hurry away.
+They are scarcely less destructive in this way than the black snakes,
+though I have never known them to kill young birds.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—The two cuckoos are so much alike in haunts, habits,
+and behavior that most of what I have said about the yellow-billed
+would apply equally well to this species. The black-billed is rather
+more swift on the wing than the other, but it flies in the same graceful
+manner. It is the same shy recluse of the shady retreats, among
+the dense foliage of the woods and shade trees, unafraid to frequent
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</span>the orchards and gardens in search for its food, but shunning any
+intimacy with human beings; we hear its wandering voice but seldom
+see more than a fleeting glimpse of its graceful form as it fades away
+into the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>In defense of its eggs or young the black-billed cuckoo is often
+quite courageous. Olive Thorne Miller (1892) writes charmingly of
+her experiences with an incubating pair of these cuckoos; she watched
+them change places on the nest, and found the female quite confiding,
+but the male never became reconciled to her presence:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>It happened that I arrived when the mother was away, and the head of the
+household in charge. No sooner did I appear on the path than he flew off the
+nest with great bustle, thus betraying himself at once; but he did not desert
+his post of protector. He perched on a branch somewhat higher than my
+head, and five or six feet away, and began calling, a low “coo-oo.” With every
+cry he opened his mouth very wide, as though to shriek at the top of his
+voice, and the low cry that came out was so ludicrously inadequate to his
+apparent effort that it was very droll. In this performance he made fine display
+of the inside of his mouth and throat, which looked, from where I stood,
+like black satin. * * *</p>
+
+<p>Finding that his voice did not drive me away, the bird resorted to another
+method; he tried intimidation. First he threw himself into a most curious
+attitude, humping his shoulders and opening his tail like a fan, then spreading
+his wings and resting the upper end of them on his tail, which made at the
+back a sort of scoop effect. Every time he uttered the cry he lifted wings and
+tail together, and let them fall slowly back to their natural position. It was
+the queerest bird performance I ever saw.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>On another day, she says: “We had not waited long when the head
+of the cuckoo family appeared. He saw us instantly, and, I regret to
+say, was no more reconciled to our presence than he had been on the
+previous occasion; but he showed his displeasure in a different way.
+He rushed about in the trees, crying, ‘cuck-a-ruck, cuck-a-ruck,’
+running out even to the tip of slender branches that seemed too
+slight to bear his weight. When his feelings entirely overcame him
+he flew away, and though we remained fifteen minutes, no one came
+to the nest.”</p>
+
+<p>E. A. Samuels (1883) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Like the other, the Black-billed Cuckoo is very cowardly, and is quickly
+driven from the neighborhood of the nest of almost any of the other birds. If
+a robin, or other bird of equal size, discover one of these, to him pirates, in
+the vicinity of his nest, he immediately assaults the intruder, with loud outcries,
+pouncing upon him, and pecking with great ferocity. Others of his neighbors,
+who are near, join in the attack; the Cuckoo, in retreating, dives into the
+recesses of a stone wall, or the first secure retreat available; very seldom
+taking to his wings, as another bird would do, I have known of a cuckoo
+being driven into a barn by a Blue-bird (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">S. sialis</i>), who sat perching on a fence
+outside for several minutes, keeping his enemy prisoner; and the latter, when
+pursued and captured by myself, preferred being my prisoner to facing his
+enemy outside.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—One cannot always distinguish with certainty <em>all</em> the notes
+of the black-billed cuckoo from <em>all</em> those of the yellow-billed. Many
+of the notes are much alike in both species. The notes of the black-billed
+are, as a rule, softer and more liquid than those of the yellow-billed
+and not so deep-toned.</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary “song” of the black-billed is preceded by a gurgling
+note, and the rest of the long song is uttered in regularly measured
+time, not retarded at the end, as is that of the yellow-billed, and the
+notes are given in couplets or triplets, one syllable in each set being
+accented. Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1920a) describes it very well
+as follows: “The full song may be described as a preliminary harsh
+clearing of the throat followed by from six to twelve short coughs
+which in turn are succeeded by the more pleasing doublets and triplets
+of <em>cows</em>. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo repeats his <em>cows</em> or <em>cowks</em> in
+regular order without dividing them into sets and they sound as
+woodeny as if he were striking a plank with a mallet.”</p>
+
+<p>Aretas A. Saunders (1929) says: “The bird has a variety of calls.
+One consists of a gurgling note followed by single notes in even
+time, ‘krak-ika kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh kuh’. Another is a
+series of groups consisting of two to six notes repeated many times,
+with one of the notes strongly accented, such as ‘<i>kuka kuka kuka</i>,’ or
+‘ka<i>kuk</i>aka ka<i>kuk</i>aka ka<i>kuk</i>aka.’ I have known a bird to repeat
+such phrases over a hundred times without stopping.”</p>
+
+<p>The notes of the black-billed cuckoo are often given on the nest or
+while the bird is in flight, and they may be heard at all hours of the
+day or night. Both cuckoos are said to be more noisy just before a
+rain, hence the name “rain crow.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Brewster (1937a) says that “both species coo in the same subdued,
+mournful, dovelike tones, but when so engaged, the Yellow-bill
+always utters only a single note at a time, and then waits at least
+a second or two before following it with another precisely similar;
+whereas the cooing notes of the Black-bill are invariably doubled or
+trebled or quadrupled, or perhaps even quintupled, yet separated
+from one another within such grouping by scarcely appreciable
+pauses.”</p>
+
+<p>Gerald H. Thayer (1903) has given an interesting account of what
+he calls “the mid-summer, mid-night, mid-sky gyrations of the Black-billed
+Cuckoo, as noted by my father and me for three consecutive
+seasons in the southwestern corner of New Hampshire”:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Several years before we discovered the nocturnal-flight phenomenon, we
+began to be puzzled by the extreme frequency of Cuckoo calls on summer
+nights. * * * They uttered both the <i>cow-cow</i> notes and the rolling guttural
+call; but the guttural was much the commoner of the two, except on dark,
+foggy nights, when the case was usually reversed. * * * The birds were
+often so far up as to be only faintly audible when directly overhead, with no
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</span>obstructions interposed; and this on a still night would seem to mean an
+elevation of at least a hundred and fifty yards. They sometimes flew lower,
+however, and on cloudy nights often moved about barely above the tree-tops.</p>
+
+<p>* * * On the evening of July 11—a pitch-dark evening with a thunder-shower
+lowering,—they were remarkably noisy, both sitting in trees and
+flying high in air. The seated ones, of which I heard only two, made the <i>cow-cow</i>
+notes, while all the flying ones made the liquid gurgle. I heard this note
+overhead between thirty and forty times in the course of about three hours,
+during half of which time I was afoot on the road.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—This bird may be recognized as a cuckoo by its size,
+shape, and general coloration. It can be distinguished from the yellow-billed
+cuckoo by the absence of the distinguishing marks of the
+latter, the cinnamon-rufous in the wings, and the conspicuously black-and-white
+lateral tail feathers.</p>
+
+<p>The wings of the black-billed cuckoo are practically uniform in
+color with its back; and the lateral tail feathers are dark gray, with
+inconspicuous, grayish-white, smaller tips, bordered inwardly with a
+dusky spot. The wholly black bill and the red eyelids can be seen
+only at short range.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution81">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southern Canada and the United States east of the Rocky
+Mountains, south in winter to northwestern South America. Accidental
+in Italy, the Azores, and Ireland.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The breeding range of the black-billed cuckoo
+extends <b>north</b> to southern Saskatchewan (Johnstone Lake, Muscow,
+and Indian Head); southern Manitoba (Carberry, Portage la Prairie,
+and Shoal Lake); northern Minnesota (Crooked Lake); southern
+Ontario (probably Goulais Bay, Toronto, and Stirling); Quebec
+(Hull, Montreal, probably Quebec, and probably Kamouraska); New
+Brunswick (Scotch Lake); probably Prince Edward Island (North
+River); and Nova Scotia (Wolfville and Pictou). From this point
+the range extends <b>south</b> along the seaboard to North Carolina
+(Raleigh and Winston-Salem); Tennessee (Beersheba Springs and
+Nashville); northwestern Arkansas (Rogers); eastern Kansas (Lawrence
+and Clearwater); Nebraska (Red Cloud, Kearney, and Antioch);
+and southeastern Wyoming (Wheatland). <b>West</b> to eastern Wyoming
+(Wheatland and Dayton); eastern Montana (Terry); and Saskatchewan
+(Johnstone Lake).</p>
+
+<p>The species has been detected in summer on several occasions west
+of its breeding range. Among these are: Colorado (Fort Morgan,
+Clear Creek, Fort Collins, and Wray); Wyoming (Laramie); Montana
+(Fort Keogh, Knowlton, and Billings); and western Saskatchewan
+(Eastend, Skull Creek, Medicine Hat, and Big Stick Lake). On
+June 23, 1924, a partially completed nest was found near Camrose,
+Alberta, a range extension that for the time being must be considered
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</span>unusual (see remarks under “Food”). The species also was recorded
+at Godbout, Quebec, on August 11, 1885.</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—Available information indicates that in winter this
+species is concentrated in northwestern South America: Colombia
+(Antroquia, Medellin, and Bogota); Ecuador (Guapulo, La Carolina,
+Daule, Puna Lake, and Lechugal); and northern Peru
+(Huamachuco).</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of spring arrival are: Florida—Hastings,
+April 13; Eau Gallie, April 27; Pensacola, May 2. Alabama—Scottsboro,
+April 18; Barachias, April 22. Georgia—Atlanta,
+April 24; Athens, April 27. South Carolina—Frogmore, April 24;
+Spartanburg, April 29. North Carolina—Raleigh, April 15; Piney
+Creek, May 4. Virginia—Blacksburg, April 26; Lynchburg, May 8.
+District of Columbia—Washington, April 30. Maryland—Baltimore,
+April 20. Pennsylvania—Jeffersonville, April 30; Ridgway, May 6;
+Doylestown, May 9. New Jersey—Milltown, May 2; Passaic, May 7.
+New York—Medina, May 3; New York City, May 9; Rochester, May
+15. Connecticut—Fairfield, May 1; Hadlyme, May 4; New Haven,
+May 7. Rhode Island—Block Island, May 6. Massachusetts—Belmont,
+May 4; Marlboro, May 6; North Amherst, May 12; Danvers,
+May 12. Vermont—Clarendon, May 12; St. Johnsbury, May 13;
+Wells River, May 18. New Hampshire—East Westmoreland, May
+16; South Hooksett, May 16; Concord, May 21. Maine—South Portland,
+May 11; Winthrop, May 15; Waterville, May 20. Quebec—Montreal,
+May 10; Hatley, May 28. New Brunswick—Scotch Lake,
+May 27. Nova Scotia—Halifax, May 12; Wolfville, May 18. Louisiana—Avery
+Island, April 12. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, April 14.
+Arkansas—Fayetteville, April 30; Broma Towns, May 2. Tennessee—Knoxville,
+April 12; Tate, April 26. Kentucky—Lexington,
+May 1; Bowling Green, May 6. Missouri—Jonesburg, May 3; Montgomery
+City, May 4; Columbia, May 7. Illinois—Rantoul, April 17;
+Elgin, May 5; Glen Ellyn, May 7. Indiana—Bloomington, April
+26; Richmond, April 27; Vincennes, May 7. Ohio—Oberlin,
+May 1; Columbia, May 2; Upper Sandusky, May 3. Michigan—Detroit,
+May 1; Brant, May 3; Sault Ste. Marie, May 11. Ontario—Guelph,
+April 19; Ottawa, May 7; London, May 9. Iowa—McGregor,
+April 24; Mason City, April 30; Wall Lake, May 3. Wisconsin—Racine,
+May 8; Beloit, May 10; Whitewater, May 11. Minnesota—Montevideo,
+April 13; Anoka County, May 5; Excelsior,
+May 13. Oklahoma—Tulsa, May 3; Norman, May 5. Kansas—Fort
+Leavenworth, May 6; Bendena, May 8; Clearwater, May 9. Nebraska—Valentine,
+May 1; Red Cloud, May 11; Omaha, May 13.
+South Dakota—Yankton, May 1; Huron, May 13; Forestburg, May 15.
+North Dakota—Grafton, April 25; Antler, May 3; Jamestown, May
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</span>23. Manitoba—Aweme, May 20; Pilot Mound, May 24; Reaburn,
+May 26. Saskatchewan—Muscow, May 12; Indian Head, May 20.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Late dates of fall departure are: Manitoba—Margaret,
+September 3; Aweme, September 14. North Dakota—Fargo,
+September 13; Cando, September 18; Argusville, September 22.
+South Dakota—Forestburg, September 6; Sioux Falls, September 22;
+Lennox, October 14. Kansas—Cimarron, September 2; Osawatomie,
+September 22. Minnesota—Elk River, September 27; Red Wing,
+October 2. Wisconsin—New London, September 24; Racine, September
+24; Madison, September 26. Iowa—Wall Lake, September
+28; Osage, October 10; McGregor, October 20. Ontario—Ottawa,
+September 16; Point Pelee, October 18. Michigan—Charity Island,
+September 20; Grand Rapids, September 26, Detroit, October 9.
+Ohio—Saybrook, October 1; Berlin Center, October 12; Columbus,
+October 15. Indiana—Indianapolis, October 2; Fort Wayne, October
+12; Bicknell, October 18. Illinois—Rantoul, October 4; La
+Grange, October 7; Glen Ellyn, October 21. Missouri—Columbia,
+October 4; St. Louis, October 16. Kentucky—Danville, October 5;
+Bowling Green, October 18. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, October 11.
+Nova Scotia—Sable Island, September 25. Quebec—Montreal, September
+5. Maine—Orono, September 21; Winthrop, October 20.
+New Hampshire—Jefferson, October 3; Durham, October 5. Vermont—Wells
+River, September 14; Woodstock, September 18.
+Massachusetts—West Groton, September 30; North Truro, October
+13; Harvard, October 16. Rhode Island—Providence, October 23.
+Connecticut—New Haven, September 28; East Portland, October 3;
+Meriden, October 8. New York—Hyde Park, October 6; New York
+City, October 10. New Jersey—Elizabeth, October 3; Sandy Hook,
+October 5; Milltown, October 24. Pennsylvania—McKeesport, October
+11; Jeffersonville, October 13; Pittsburgh, October 16. District
+of Columbia—Washington, October 28. Virginia—Naruna, October
+18. North Carolina—Chapel Hill, October 3; Raleigh, October 10;
+Hendersonville, October 12. Georgia—Atlanta, October 14; Thomasville,
+October 21. Alabama—Autauga County, October 16. Florida—College
+Point, September 28; Pensacola, October 23.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—While the black-billed cuckoo does not migrate
+regularly through the Caribbean region it has been recorded on
+Dominica (September 30, 1904), Tobago, and Trinidad. Gundlach
+is alleged to have taken a specimen in May (year?) near Cardenas,
+Cuba, and there is a somewhat doubtful record from the Isle of
+Pines on May 11, 1909. Specimens were taken in Bermuda in
+October 1874 and also in April and May 1875. The Ponta
+Delgada Museum has an undated specimen taken at San Miguel,
+Ponta Delgada, Azores; a specimen taken in 1858 near Lucca, Italy,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</span>is preserved in the Museum of the University of Pisa; and one was
+taken on September 25, 1871, at Killead, County Antrim, Ireland.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Illinois: 13 records, May 7 to July 20; 7 records,
+June 1 to 26, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Massachusetts: 20 records, May 19 to June 20; 10 records, May 30
+to June 10.</p>
+
+<p>Michigan: 14 records, May 25 to September 14; 7 records, June 21
+to July 20.</p>
+
+<p>New York: 23 records, May 11 to July 18; 12 records, May 29
+to June 9.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Cuculus84">CUCULUS OPTATUS OPTATUS Gould</p>
+
+<p class="center">HIMALAYAN CUCKOO</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Contributed by Edward Charles Stuart Baker</span></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits84">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The Himalayan cuckoo very closely resembles the various races
+of the common cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus canorus</i>) in its general habits, but it
+is, I think, a more secretive bird, keeping closely to tall trees with
+dense foliage, so that although one may hear its very distinctive
+call on many occasions quite close by it is often very difficult to see
+until it takes to wing. In Kashmir and the northwest Himalayas
+it is found in summer at all elevations between 5,000 and 10,000 feet
+and occasionally to some 2,000 feet higher but, never, I believe, above
+the forest line. In Sikkim it is common in well-forested land between
+4,000 and 9,000 feet, while Stevens (1925) records having heard
+it calling at an elevation of 3,500 feet on May 25, so that it may
+breed as low down as this in that part of the Himalayas. In Assam
+it is very common between the same elevations as in Sikkim, there
+also keeping closely to forest, either deciduous, pine, or evergreen
+with dense undergrowth. All ornithologists seem to agree as to the
+nature of the country frequented by this cuckoo. In letters to me
+A. E. Jones mentions “dense forest,” “dense deodar forest” as the
+breeding haunts of birds whose eggs he has found; B. B. Osmaston
+(MS.) found it in “open, well-wooded forest.” Mackenzie and Hopwood
+(MS.) took eggs in the nests of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste davisoni</i> in
+the Chin Hills, in “heavy evergreen forest.” The only exception to
+this of which I am aware is an egg taken by T. R. Livesey (MS.)
+found in Kashmir in a nest of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Emberiza cia stracheyi</i> in a “well-wooded
+glade in forest.”</p>
+
+<p>At all seasons of the year it keeps almost entirely to branches of
+high trees, some 40 or 50 feet or more from the ground, descending
+to the undergrowth only when hunting for nests in which to deposit
+its eggs or for the actual deposition of the egg. When so employed
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</span>it is, I believe, always silent and, even in its movements,
+very quiet and secretive unless it is being harassed by small birds
+who hunt it just as they do the common cuckoo. I have not seen
+this bird feeding in bushes or on the ground even when there are
+numerous caterpillars or a flight of termites to tempt it.</p>
+
+<p>When on migration also this cuckoo seems to keep to forest or to
+exceptionally well-wooded country, and I have no record of its having
+been found in the open in India, though obviously it must
+sometimes pass over such country in its movements from one district
+to another, more especially in the northwest.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—In Kashmir and the northwest Himalayas the birds
+arrive from the lower hills and the plains adjoining them in April,
+a few apparently in the first fortnight, but the majority not until
+the last week or so. In Sikkim they arrive a good deal earlier, and
+Stevens (1925) records them as <em>seen</em> at Gopaldhara in the Rambong
+Valley about the middle of March “when it ascends to an elevation
+of 7,000 feet,” while he <em>heard</em> them calling at the same place as
+early as March 12. Farther east in Assam it does not arrive at its
+breeding quarters in the higher hills until about the first week in
+April and then only in small numbers. In Burma at elevations of
+about 4,000 feet and over it breeds about a fortnight earlier and is
+in full call by the last week in March.</p>
+
+<p>This cuckoo is possibly only a partial migrant in India, leaving
+the higher hills for the broken foothills, where it may be found more
+or less throughout the winter, as well as in the plains immediately
+adjoining them. To the east, however, as I show under the fall
+migration notes, it is a true migrant. According to La Touche
+(1931–1936), during the spring migration north the Himalayan
+cuckoo “appears in China from about the 10th April to the end
+of May,” and he records three cuckoos taken at Shaweishan on
+May 1, 16, and 17. These birds were presumably on their way north
+to eastern Siberia or Manchuria.</p>
+
+<p>La Touche does not think that this bird breeds anywhere in the
+Chinese Hills, its place being taken by the local breeding race
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">kelungensis</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The 38 eggs in my collection were taken as follows: Three in
+April, 14 in May, 20 in June, none in July, and 1 in August. The
+earliest date was April 25, 1915, and the latest August 20, 1914. At
+the same time an egg taken in the Chin Hills on April 30 was on the
+point of hatching, so, in the Burmese Hills, some eggs must be laid
+in the middle of that month, birds arriving in their breeding haunts
+at least a fortnight earlier. Other eggs that have passed through
+my hands were all taken within these dates so far as I have recorded
+them, so they may be accepted as confirming my dates for
+migration.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—There is nothing recorded upon this subject but, so
+far as I know, it differs in no way from that of the Khasia Hills
+cuckoo, and both sexes seem to be equally promiscuous in their sexual
+relations.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—This cuckoo is parasitic principally on the small warblers
+of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phylloscopus</i> and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste</i> group, which lay white eggs,
+either immaculate or speckled slightly with various tints of reddish
+brown or red, or the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus</i> group, which lay glossy pure white
+eggs.</p>
+
+<p>In my own collection I have eggs taken from the nests of 16 species
+and subspecies of fosterers (see the following list); of these the first
+10 may be considered to be normal fosterers and the latter abnormal.</p>
+
+<p>The Himalayan cuckoo does adopt a certain territory but hardly
+in the restricted sense that <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus canorus</i> and its various races do.
+The principal reason for this is the comparative rarity of the birds
+that she selects as foster parents to her eggs. For instance, although
+the little <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste</i> breeding in the Khasia Hills is a common
+bird, it nowhere breeds in the numbers in which birds of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya</i> and
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i> genera are found. Perhaps half a dozen pairs may be found
+in one big forest of many square miles, and to find even these six is
+very hard work. In the same forest another half dozen birds of the
+genus <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus</i> of various species may be found. These little warblers
+of the two genera <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste</i> and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus</i> make very
+similar nests, balls of moss, quite green and fresh, which are placed
+in hollows in banks and generally among the same kind of moss as
+that of which the nests are built. They are exceedingly hard to find
+by human beings and, unless the birds are watched on to the nest,
+are generally located only when the female is disturbed from it by
+accident and doubtless the cuckoo also finds they are difficult to mark
+down.</p>
+
+<table data-summary="foster parents" class="smaller">
+<thead><tr>
+ <th scope="col" class="tdc"><span class="smcap">List of Foster Parents</span></th>
+<th scope="col" class="tdc">eggs</th></tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phylloscopus inornatus humei</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phylloscopus proregulus simlaae</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste reguloides harterti</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste reguloides davisoni</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste reguloides reguloides</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste occipitatis occipitatis</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">4</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus cantator</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">3</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus burkii</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus xanthoschista xanthoschista</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus castaneiceps castaneiceps</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ianthia rufilata</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Niltava sundara sundara</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya crinigera assamica</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Napothera brevicaudata striata</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Emberiza cia stracheyi</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</span></p>
+
+<p>I have only two small series of three eggs, each of which I believe
+to have been laid by one cuckoo, one of these being taken in 1909
+by myself. Of this latter the first two eggs were found on June
+16 and 18 in a patch of forest in which we marked down three nests
+of the Khasia crowned willow warbler, one of which contained no
+cuckoo’s egg. On June 13 we found that the pair of warblers first
+seen on May 16 had again built close by their original nest and the
+new one contained a third egg, apparently of the same cuckoo, and
+three of their own. The nests found on May 16 and 18 were between
+a quarter and a half of a mile apart.</p>
+
+<p>On another occasion, June 27, 1935, three eggs were taken, one in
+the nest of the willow warbler and two others in nests of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus</i>.
+These were all in the same forest, but only two close together and
+the third nearly half a mile away. The eggs, however, appeared
+obviously to have been laid by the same bird.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The eggs of this species of cuckoo are all of the same type,
+white eggs sparsely marked with tiny black specks, sometimes confined
+to the larger end only. Several oviduct eggs have been taken,
+the first by Brooks from the oviduct of a female he shot in Kashmir
+on June 17, and three others by Rattray in 1903 on June 10, 15, and
+17, respectively. All these were exactly alike and similar to the description
+given above.</p>
+
+<p>The only two exceptions in coloration I have seen are eggs one of
+which has a faintly green tinge while the other has an equally faint
+pink tinge. The first of these was taken from a forktail’s (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Enicurus
+maculatus guttatus</i>) nest and the second from that of a tailorbird
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Orthotomus atrogularis nitidus</i>).</p>
+
+<p>In shape the eggs are rather long ellipses, and the shell is thin and
+rather fragile for a cuckoo’s.</p>
+
+<p>Forty-one eggs average in size 20.11 by 14.28 millimeters; maxima
+<b>25.3</b> by <b>16.2</b>; minima <b>19.0</b> by <b>13.0</b> millimeters; the same number average
+in weight 141.4 milligrams; maximum 178; minimum 117
+milligrams.</p>
+
+<p>A large double-yolked egg weighs 222 milligrams, while two very
+small, almost pygmy eggs, weigh only 105 and 112 milligrams.</p>
+
+<p>The method of the deposition of the eggs is not known, but in many
+cases they could not possibly be laid direct into the nest. The crowned
+willow warbler makes a nest in a hole in among the roots of trees
+with so small an entrance and so far in that the cuckoo could not possibly
+get in to lay her egg nor could she eject it from the cloaca sufficiently
+far to reach the egg chamber and, if she did, it would certainly
+break. Nests of the genus <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Seicercus</i> and of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste
+reguloides</i> are so shaped and situated that though the cuckoo could
+not enter them she could very often eject the eggs into them without
+much difficulty by clinging to their tops or sides during the operation.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Nothing is recorded, as to incubation, but I believe it
+to take only 10 or 11 days, i. e., much the same period as for the
+eggs of the small warblers the cuckoo selects to cuckold.</p>
+
+<p>Ejection of young undoubtedly takes place in the same manner as
+that by which it is effected by the common cuckoo, the young cuckoo
+hoisting the other occupants of the nest, either eggs or young birds,
+onto its shoulder and then pushing them over the edge of the nest.
+I have seen several young birds from two days to a week old in the
+nests of various warblers, and they have always been alone. The
+young cuckoo has the same dorsal interscapular arrangement as that
+found in the nestling <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">canorus</i> to assist it in carrying out the
+fratricide.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Male: Similar to the male of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus c. canorus</i> and
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. bakeri</i> but less dark on the upper parts than the latter and
+always to be distinguished from all races of the canorus group by
+having the edge of the wing pure white and not barred. On the
+lower surface the white bars are broader and the black bars in consequence
+wider apart, while they are blacker and bolder in appearance.</p>
+
+<p>Female: Similar to the male but generally with a more rufous
+tinge on the breast and abdomen; the under tail coverts are often
+pale fulvous with black crossbars.</p>
+
+<p>The female has a hepatic phase like that of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. canorus</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Juvenile: In first plumage blackish brown above, the feathers all
+broadly edged with white; the wing quills are barred with rufous
+on the outer webs; the chin, throat, and breast are blackish, the
+feathers narrowly fringed with white and the rest of the lower parts
+white, or faintly fulvous-white, heavily barred with strong bands of
+black.</p>
+
+<p>In intermediate stage between juvenile and adult the plumage is
+slaty, the feathers very narrowly edged with white; below, the chin,
+throat, and upper breast are blackish, the feathers broadly fringed
+with white and the remainder of the lower parts like the adult.</p>
+
+<p>Hepatic young are like the hepatic female adult but less richly
+colored and more heavily banded below with blackish, especially on
+the chin, throat, and breast. Some specimens of young birds in the
+British Museum collection seem to be changing from a juvenile
+hepatic plumage into a normal adult plumage.</p>
+
+<p>The white nuchal spot is very seldom seen in the young of this
+cuckoo but is occasionally present.</p>
+
+<p><i>Measurements.</i>—Wing 208 to 226; tail 151 to 176; tarsus about 20
+or 21; culmen 20 to 22 millimeters. The female is little, if any,
+smaller than the male in Indian birds, but of Chinese birds La
+Touche gives the following measurements: Male, 23 (2 examples),
+wing 200 to 226; female, 22 (1 example), 190–200; culmen, male,
+20–22; female, 19 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Colors of soft parts.</i>—Iris yellow or “grey with brown inner circle”
+(La Touche); bill dark horny green, the base of the upper, and most
+of the lower, mandible yellowish horny, the gape still more yellow;
+legs and feet wax-yellow to rather bright yellow.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—This also is the same in character as that of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus
+canorus</i>, but <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. optatus</i> also devours more hard-bodied insects such
+as Cicadae and many small and some quite large beetles, while it
+feeds rather more exclusively on food obtained near the tops of high
+trees. I have never seen it feeding on the ground, nor have I noticed
+it in scrub or bushes except when it was probably hunting for a nest
+in which to deposit its egg.</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—I do not think that this bird could be distinguished
+from <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus canorus</i>, except by its voice, by any field naturalist
+until the bird was actually in his hand. In flight, perching position,
+and general action I have been able to discern no difference of any
+kind between the two birds unless it is that when the two were seen
+together <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">optatus</i> looks a smaller, slighter bird than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">canorus</i> and may
+fly a trifle faster with quicker wing beats.</p>
+
+<p>Both sexes have the habit, as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">canorus</i> has, of sitting, almost motionless,
+for a very long time in one position, possibly in the case of the
+female while she is watching certain birds and waiting for them
+to give away the site of their nest, or when she is waiting for the
+precise moment at which to fly down and place her egg in the nest
+of the foster parent selected to receive it.</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—The call of the male consists of four notes, two rapid, then
+a pause, and then two more, all of the same cadence, sounding like
+<i>hoo-hoo hoo-hoo</i>. When one is close to the bird a fifth note can be
+heard preceding these, much higher pitched and far less resounding
+so that at a little distance only the four notes are heard. The call
+is a typical cuckoo note, and hearing it one would expect to find that
+a cuckoo had uttered it. There is also a sweet trilling note that is
+rarely heard, and I cannot say whether it is uttered by one sex or
+both, but I suspect it to correspond to the bubbling note uttered by
+the female <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">canorus</i>. Although occasionally this cuckoo calls on
+moonlight nights it does not do so with anything like the perseverance
+of the common cuckoo, nor is it so incessantly vocal during the
+day.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—The same as those of the common cuckoo, but the young
+do not suffer so much from exposure by falling out of nests too small
+or too weak to hold them. In the case, however, of eggs laid in holes
+occupied by the nests of the crowned willow warbler the young birds
+have to vacate them at a very early stage or they would be unable to
+do so when full grown and would be incarcerated in them for life.
+As these cuckoos select ground nests so largely in which to deposit
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</span>their eggs, these and the young birds when hatched do not suffer so
+greatly from the crows and magpies who hunt the hedges and bushes,
+but, on the other hand, they are easier for snakes and lizards to get at.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall.</i>—Migration from the breeding grounds in northwest India
+apparently commences in the end of August and continues to the
+end of September or early October. From northeast India they
+would seem to migrate later by about a month, birds continuing to
+call up to the beginning of August, while in 1914 an egg was taken
+as late as August 20. It is a curious fact that in the continent of
+India birds do not seem to move far south and have only been recorded
+in winter from many places in the plains of the northwest
+and Punjab and from Lucknow, Jodhpore, Fategarh, Bihar, Dibrugarh
+and Cachar, in the United Provinces, Bengal, and Assam.
+Farther east it migrates much farther south and has been recorded
+from all over Burma to the extreme south, and from the Andamans
+and Nicobars, while it also ranges throughout the Malay Peninsula
+and the Austro-Malaysian islands to New Guinea and Australia.
+Birds found in winter east of Burma are certainly those that breed
+north of China and probably migrate, more or less, due north and
+south, and I am inclined to think it is possible that birds from the
+Himalayas migrate almost entirely to the east in India and then
+southeast through Burma and the Malay States. Otherwise it seems
+incredible that no specimens should ever be obtained, in south India
+or even central India, of a migrant which in and from China wanders
+so very far south in the winter months.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution90">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p>The Himalyan cuckoo is found throughout the Himalayas and central
+Asia from the extreme west of India and Baluchistan, while in
+central Siberia it extends from Dauria and Lake Baikal to the extreme
+east of the northern Chinese mountains and, possibly, to Japan. In
+China La Touche (1931) summarizes its distribution as follows:
+“China generally, Szechuen, Kwangsi, Fohkien, Lower Yangtse,
+Shaweishan, Shantung, Chihli (migrant).” To this he adds, “On
+the whole this Cuckoo is not common in North China, and very few
+have been noted by Dr. Wilder,” and, again, noting on my distribution
+of the summer range he adds, “Corea and Manchuria should
+probably be added.”</p>
+
+<p>It certainly occurs and breeds in all the higher hills in Burma;
+quite commonly in the Chin Hills and rarely to the east in the Ruby
+Mines district and the Shan States.</p>
+
+<p>Its appearance on the American list is due to a specimen obtained
+on St. Paul Island, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, on July 4, 1890
+(W. Palmer, 1894).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Cuculus91">CUCULUS CANORUS BAKERI Hartert</p>
+
+<p class="center">KHASIA HILLS CUCKOO</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Contributed by Edward Charles Stuart Baker</span></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits91">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This most interesting race of the common European cuckoo was
+given a name in 1912 by Dr. Hartert (1912), no museum possessing
+sufficient material until 1911 to substantiate the differences that both
+Dr. Hartert and I believed to distinguish this subspecies from those
+others already accepted.</p>
+
+<p>The Khasia Hills cuckoo is a race that breeds at considerably lower
+elevations than do either <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. canorus</i> or <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. telephonus</i> and, speaking
+generally, haunts during the breeding season more densely forested
+areas in much hotter and far more humid climates. Thus in the
+Khasia Hills of Assam, where it is extraordinarily common, it may
+be found in all the higher ranges at and about Sherraponji between
+3,500 and 6,500 feet frequenting forest that is always lush and green,
+with luxuriant undergrowth and with an almost impenetrable tangle
+of creepers, beautiful orchids, ferns, and parasites growing on every
+tree. Here the rainfall averages about 550 inches in the year, while
+as much as 72 inches have fallen in 24 hours and over 700 inches in
+the 12 months. They are, however, equally numerous, between 4,000
+and 6,000 feet around Shillong, where the rainfall is less than 150
+inches in the year and where, in many parts, pine woods take the place
+of the wet evergreen forests.</p>
+
+<p>Although on the whole this race of the cuckoo certainly frequents
+denser and thicker forest than do the other forms, individuals vary
+greatly in their tastes and those parasitic on pipits and other species
+of birds, which breed in the open grass plains, also haunt the same
+kind of country as that in which these birds breed. At the same time
+even in these places they always select those that contain a certain
+number of trees on which they can perch and from which they can
+survey the surrounding area and watch the fosterers to their nests.
+In the Khasia Hills many cuckoos are parasitic on the common Indian
+and Blyth’s pipits, which are to be found nesting on the wide stretches
+of open grassland above Shillong, the former on ridges and plateaus
+up to some 5,500 feet and the latter on those above that altitude. Intermediate
+in habits between the evergreen forest cuckoos and the
+open country cuckoos there are others that haunt the more open pine
+forests, especially those that have brooks and small rivers running
+through them, or are broken up by ravines in which small deciduous
+trees, bushes, and brambles grow freely to the exclusion of the somber
+pine trees.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</span></p>
+
+<p>In Burma this cuckoo is commoner in the Ruby Mines district and
+in the Southern Shan States than anywhere else. T. R. Livesey, who
+has had a wonderful experience with them in the latter country, informs
+me that in these districts they frequent both the open deciduous
+forests as well as the open country of scrub and grass land
+around towns and villages, even depositing their eggs in the nests of
+birds breeding in and close to the gardens of houses occupied by
+Europeans or by Shans.</p>
+
+<p>After the breeding season this cuckoo may be found in almost any
+kind of country that is fairly <a id="chg7"></a>well-wooded, while in the plains of
+Bengal and Lower Assam it seems to have a special liking for mango
+orchards and patches of jungles in tea plantations.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—In Assam those individuals that have migrated into the
+plains and lower hills the preceding autumn return to their breeding
+quarters in the end of March or early April, their numbers increasing
+rapidly up to the end of that month, when their mellow call may be
+heard almost continually in every direction at all elevations between
+3,500 and 6,500 feet. Exact dates of arrival are recorded nowhere
+that I can trace, but I have eggs taken on April 14, odd eggs taken
+in the third week in April, and many after the 25th of that month.</p>
+
+<p>In the Chin Hills, between Assam and the Ruby Mines district and
+Shan States, most cuckoos commence breeding about the middle of
+April, arriving in their breeding haunts nearly a month earlier. Here
+they are common at about 4,000 feet upward and haunt much the
+same kinds of country as they do in Assam, certainly breeding up to
+7,000 feet, or a little over, as eggs have been taken on Mount Victoria
+and the hills above Fort White.</p>
+
+<p>In the Shan States Mr. Livesey informs me that few if any birds
+remain above 4,000 feet in winter, in the end of August and early
+September the great majority moving into the lower hills and adjoining
+plains. The first birds returning to the higher hills put in an
+appearance early in March and commence to lay the last of that
+month, March 27 being the earliest date on which he has taken eggs
+and July 1 the latest.</p>
+
+<p>The length of the breeding season is much more extended than is
+that of the European cuckoo (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. canorus</i>) or the central Asian
+bird (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. telephonus</i>), doubtless owing to the same factors of cold,
+food supply, etc., that compel the more northern birds of all families
+to compress their breeding arrangements into a far shorter time than
+that occupied by the southern birds, for whom temperature, food
+supply, and other factors are more or less favorable almost throughout
+the year.</p>
+
+<p>The individual cuckoo, however, is governed in her time of egg-laying
+by the habits of the foster parent that she selects to bring up
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</span>her young, while all cuckoos, as well as the foster parents, are affected
+more or less in their spring migration and breeding time by the late
+or early arrival of the rains and the consequent shortage or abundance
+of insect life. In Assam, where the rainy season is long and
+the rainfall heavy, eggs may be found in some numbers from April
+20 to the middle of June and, then, in decreasing numbers, to the end
+of June, after which they further decrease in number until, after the
+middle of July, few will be taken, though my latest recorded date for
+a cuckoo’s egg is August 24. In Burma, as already noted, birds
+commence laying about a month earlier, and few eggs are found after
+early June.</p>
+
+<p>The 1,366 eggs in my collection were taken as follows: One in March
+(taken in Burma), 104 in April, 608 in May, 527 in June, 114 in July,
+and 12 in August. It may, I think, be accepted that migrating
+birds arrive on their breeding ground some two to three weeks before
+commencing to lay and leave again about one to two months after the
+deposition of their last eggs.</p>
+
+<p>In Burma the peak of laying is reached in early May; in Assam
+not until the end of that month.</p>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—I can find nothing recorded as to the conduct of courtship
+between males and females during the breeding season and have,
+therefore, only my own observations to guide me. There appears to
+be no true courtship, and I have no doubt that, except in very rare
+instances, cuckoos do not pair, though in certain areas, where the
+bird is uncommon, a male and female may possibly mate and remain
+together throughout the breeding season. This is probably the case
+in North Cachar, where the bird is rare, breeding in deeper forest
+than I have seen anywhere else, and where I have seldom heard
+more than one male calling in any one particular area or found more
+than one type of egg deposited therein. In the Khasia Hills, in
+which district the birds swarm in incredible numbers, both sexes
+were undoubtedly promiscuous in their sexual relations. I have
+personally seen a female accept the attentions of one male and then
+fly off to a tree close by and accept another pursuing male within a
+few minutes. On this occasion several, I think four, males were
+pursuing the one female, who flew slowly from one tree to another
+on a roadside. Settling on one of these she crouched on a large
+bough, half lying there with both wings hanging slightly lowered
+and quivering, while her head was held quite low, her whole attitude
+expressing invitation. The first male, of those following her, at once
+accepted this after which he settled on a branch close by while the
+female flew away to a tree about 50 paces distant followed by the
+other three males, one of whom was again accepted by the female
+who, after the completion of the act flew off accompanied by the
+remaining two males to a tree beyond my view.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</span></p>
+
+<p>Among the Khasias, certain classes of whom are very intelligent
+observers, it appears to be well known that both sexes of cuckoo
+exercise no discretion in their love affairs.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The female cuckoo is, of course, parasitic in her habits,
+and I have personally taken eggs in the nests of no less than 103
+species and subspecies of fosterer (see following list), the very great
+majority of which are, however, undoubtedly abnormal or casual
+only, for I feel satisfied that when the usual foster parent has no
+nest available the cuckoo will eventually deposit her egg in that
+of any other bird that may be convenient. Repeated instances have
+come within my own experience in which a cuckoo normally parasitic
+on one bird deposits one or more of a series of eggs in a nest
+utterly unlike those of the usual fosterer, merely because she has
+already exhausted all the nests known to her of the latter.</p>
+
+<table data-summary="foster parents" class="smaller">
+<thead><tr>
+<th class="tdc"><span class="smcap">List of Foster Parents</span></th>
+<th class="tdr">eggs</th></tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya crinigera</i> (subspecies 6)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">215</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola jundicis cursitans</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">276</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola exilis tytleri</i> (generally with <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. j. c.</i> series)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Tribura luteiventris</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">32</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Orthotomus</i> (species and subspecies 2)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">27</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Acanthopneuste reguloides harterti</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">9</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Megalurus palustris</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">7</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Miscellaneous warblers (abnormal fosterers, 9)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Anthus</i> (various species and subspecies, 8)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">199</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Rhodophila ferrea haringtoni</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">18</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Saxicola caprata burmanica</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">55</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Rhyacornis fuliginosus</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Enicurus</i> (species 2)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">25</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Petrophila (Monticola)</i> (species 2)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">21</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Turdidae (abnormal fosterers, species 8)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">15</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cyanosylvia leucura</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Eumyias thalassina thalassina</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">63</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Niltava</i> (species 3)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">43</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Muscicapidae (abnormal fosterers, species 12)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">22</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Lanius nigriceps nigriceps</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">35</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Laniidae (abnormal fosterers, species 2)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">2</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Troglodytidae (species 3)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">21</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Mesia agentauris</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">46</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Leiothrix <a id="chg8"></a>calipyga</i></td>
+    <td class="tdr">33</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Timaliidae (abnormal fosterers, species 32)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">92</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Other abnormal fosterers, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Passer</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Sitta</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Parus</i>, etc. (7 species)</td>
+    <td class="tdr">8</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+<tfoot>
+<tr><td class="tdc" colspan="2">Total <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Fosterers:</i> Normal 23, abnormal 80 ( = 103).</td></tr>
+</tfoot>
+</table>
+
+<p>Like the English cuckoo, as Chance (1922) has proved, the Khasia
+Hills female cuckoo sometimes adopts a certain area of country as
+its own breeding territory into which it will allow no other female,
+parasitic on the same foster parent, to enter, though it seems to have
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</span>no objection to the entry of any number of males or of another female
+parasitic on a different species. Thus in a certain area close to the
+house in which I lived in Shillong I found three cuckoos breeding;
+one depositing its eggs in the nests of the little fantail warbler (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola
+juncidis cursitans</i>), the second in the nests of the verditer
+flycatcher (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Eumyias thalassina thalassina</i>), and the third in the nests
+of the black-headed shrike (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Lanius nigriceps nigriceps</i>). On another
+occasion I took eggs of three different cuckoos from nests of
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Niltava</i>, and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Leiothrix</i> in the same strip of jungle and not
+50 yards from one another. Yet another instance of shared territory
+was a grass-covered hillside occupied by two female cuckoos, the one
+parasitic on the same little fantail warbler and the other on pipits
+(species various). Other similar instances were quite common in
+this district.</p>
+
+<p>My personal experience confirms what those interested in cuckoo-work
+have for some time maintained in regard to cuckoos being consistently
+parasitic on one selected foster parent. A good example of
+this constancy is a series, collected for me by a family of four men
+trained by myself in cuckoo-work in the Khasia Hills. From 1925
+to 1935 these men obtained for me no less than 132 eggs of one cuckoo
+parasitic on the fantail warbler, all collected in the same area of
+grass and scrub surrounded by pine forest. Of these 132 eggs only
+4 were taken from nests other than those of the little fantail and of
+these 4, 3 were placed in the nests of another little warbler (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Orthotomus
+sutorius patia</i>) and the other in the nest of the Assam brown hill
+warbler (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya crinigera assamica</i>), both, of course, in the same
+territory.</p>
+
+<p>In addition to the above I have many series of eggs, numbering 3
+to 15, from individual cuckoos, occasionally taken in two or more
+consecutive years, all placed in nests of the same warbler. Again I
+have other series of cuckoos’ eggs, some taken from nests of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya</i>
+(various species); others from those of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Eumyias</i>, pipits (various
+species), the silver-eared mesia (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Mesia a. argentauris</i>), the Pekin
+robin (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Leiothrix lutea calipyga</i>), and other fosterers. As a rule the
+cuckoo also shows equal constancy to its chosen breeding area, returning
+year after year to it and leaving it only when the supply of
+fosterers is exhausted or the nature of the country has been altered
+by man or some other agency. Where the normal foster parent is
+exceptionally common, such as are the warblers of the genera <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i>
+and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya</i>, the cuckoo often has ample nests in a compact area to
+act as hosts to her whole series of eggs, and we have found as many
+as 18 eggs laid by the same individual within such an area. Where,
+however, the fosterers such as pipits or mesia are less numerous or are
+breeding in comparatively small areas, some 4 to 10 eggs are laid in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</span>the one area and then, when the available nests have all been made
+use of, the cuckoo removes to another area, generally close by, eventually
+often returning to the original one later in the season and
+again cuckolding other nests of the same fosterer.</p>
+
+<p>There can, I think, be no doubt that a cuckoo brought up in a nest
+of a certain fosterer will deposit its own eggs in nests of the same
+bird. This theory seems now to be one generally accepted, and certainly
+my experience goes to confirm this, and in my own collection
+I have eggs of a very definite type taken for over 30 years in the
+nests of the same species of fosterer in the same district.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The eggs of the Khasia Hills cuckoo are of very many and
+beautiful types of color and character of markings, while the eggs
+of each individual cuckoo, though varying slightly <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">inter se</i>, do not
+show so great a variation as is found in the eggs of single clutches
+laid by many species of Passeres or other orders.</p>
+
+<p>Among the most common types of eggs are, naturally, those that
+have been evolved to assimilate with the eggs of the birds most
+frequently employed as foster parents. Among these may be mentioned
+the following:</p>
+
+<p>An egg with a white ground lightly marked, chiefly at the larger
+end, with specks, spots, or small blotches of red, reddish brown, or
+brown. These eggs are excellent counterparts in all but size of the
+eggs of the fantail warbler, in whose tiny nest they are usually
+deposited.</p>
+
+<p>The next commonest type has the ground color more or less distinctly
+tinged with reddish and is rather more profusely marked
+with larger blotches of various shades of red-brown. These are
+normally deposited in the nests of various species of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya</i>, or brown
+hill warbler, the most common types of whose eggs agree well with
+those of the cuckoo.</p>
+
+<p>A third and common type of cuckoo’s egg has the ground color
+a beautiful salmon-pink or buff-pink and has the surface freckled
+with deeper reddish; in some cases so finely and thickly that the eggs
+appear at first glance to be unicolored; in other cases more or less
+boldly, though sparsely, covered with reddish brown and underlying
+faint marks of gray or pale purple. These eggs agree well with
+various types of eggs laid by the verditer flycatcher and, even still
+more so, with those of the beautiful niltava (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Niltava sundara</i>),
+while it is in the nests of these birds we find them deposited.
+Cuckoos, however, that normally deposit their eggs in the nest of
+these birds seem regularly also to cuckold the large niltava (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">N.
+grandis</i>) and the white-tailed chat (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Muscisylvia notodela</i>), which
+lay the same colored eggs and make similar cup-shaped nests of
+living moss, built in exactly similar positions in holes in banks and
+among boulders.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</span></p>
+
+<p>Another beautiful type is bright pale blue, often immaculate but
+sometimes faintly flecked with primary reddish and secondary gray
+blotches. In the Khasia Hills these are almost invariably deposited
+in the nests of the silver-eared <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Mesia</i> or the red-billed <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Leiothrix</i> (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">L.
+lutea calypga</i>), two species that lay exactly the same type of egg to
+that of the cuckoo, though more boldly blotched, while the two
+species also make similar nests, which they place in somewhat similar
+positions in bushes, etc.</p>
+
+<p>In Burma, more especially in the Ruby Mines district and in the
+Shan States, we have two dominant types of eggs: One blue, much
+darker in tint than those referred to as being deposited in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Leiothrix</i>
+nests, laid with the similar eggs of the Burmese dark gray bushchat
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Rhodophila ferrea haringtoni</i>), and the other having a pale pink
+ground, freely blotched all over with reddish, deposited in the nests
+of the Burmese stonechat (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Saxicola caprata burmanica</i>), which also
+lays eggs of this color and character. In connection with these two
+types of egg an interesting state of affairs has now been arrived at
+in parts of the Shan States. Thirty years ago the bushchat was
+extremely common in certain districts in hills between 4,000 and
+5,000 feet, and the great majority of cuckoos found there were those
+laying blue eggs. Cultivation has now wiped out the scrub and
+bush jungle, beloved by the bushchat, and fields of rice, gardens, and
+the vegetation surrounding villages have taken its place. With this
+change in the character of the jungle growth has also come a change
+in the birds frequenting it, the bushchat has almost disappeared, and
+the little stonechat has taken its place, breeding everywhere in gardens,
+village grounds, and cultivated fields. The elimination of the
+bushchat, although so recent, has already gone far to eliminate also
+the cuckoo that lays blue eggs, while the one that lays eggs like those
+of the stonechat has become much more numerous and has become
+the common form. Even now, however, an occasional blue egg of
+a cuckoo will be found in the stonechats’ nests, the latter similar
+in every respect to the nests of the bushchat and therefore cuckolded,
+<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">faute de mieux</i>, by the cuckoo.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible here to deal with the problem of the evolution of
+the various types of cuckoos’ eggs, but the facts recorded above seem
+to go far toward proving that cuckoo eggs, to assimilate with those
+of their fosterers, have been evolved by discrimination among the
+foster parents leading to the slow but sure destruction of the unfit,
+i. e., Darwin’s doctrine of the survival of the fittest in its crudest
+form.</p>
+
+<p>In shape the eggs are rather broader ovals than those of the European
+cuckoo, and they also average larger and heavier. It is indeed
+much easier to separate the various subspecies of cuckoo by the eggs
+they lay than by the plumage of the birds that lay them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</span></p>
+
+<p>The number of eggs laid by the Khasia Hills cuckoo probably
+varies somewhat individually, though I believe it generally to be
+12 to 20. It is, however, very difficult to decide this definitely, as
+it is impossible to be satisfied that every nest of the selected fosterer
+in any given area has without doubt been marked down. It was
+not until 1907 that I concentrated on the attempt to solve any one
+of the numerous cuckoo problems, and it was some years after this
+before satisfactory evidence had accumulated on this particular point.
+My different series of eggs of individual cuckoos vary greatly in number,
+being, I believe, governed entirely by the number of nests of
+the foster parent available in the area searched over. In 1908, on
+May 25, in one small grass glade surrounded by pine forest I found
+five nests of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i>, three containing young cuckoos or eggs of the
+cuckoo, and I am practically sure that I missed no <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i> or <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya</i>
+nests. One of these nests had in it a young cuckoo about 2 days old,
+another nest had a young cuckoo just hatching, while a third had a
+slightly incubated cuckoo’s egg. The two other nests of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i>
+were unfinished and empty, but on June 1 one of these contained
+a slightly incubated cuckoo’s egg and three of the foster
+parent, while, finally, on June 4 the last nest contained a fresh egg
+of the cuckoo and four of the warbler. As the egg from which
+the older of the nestling cuckoos had been hatched must have been
+laid about May 13, while the last egg was laid on June 3 or 4, we
+have only five eggs laid in 21 days, whereas we know now that the
+larger cuckoos lay every second day, so the five eggs and the two
+young found cannot possibly include all then laid. A series of 14
+eggs, all found between May 19 and June 10, 1910, in a similar but
+much larger area, were probably laid between May 16 and June 10
+and represent a complete series laid every alternate day. In another
+small series of five eggs of one and the same cuckoo found in a narrow
+strip of grassland three eggs were deposited in Cisticola’s nests
+on May 16, 18, and 20, this exhausting all the nests then available.
+After this she apparently departed, but on July 5 and 7 the same
+cuckoo returned and placed two more eggs, one each in two new
+nests of Cisticolas. Another series of 14 eggs, of which 12 were
+placed in nests of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola jundicis cursitans</i>, one in a nest of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C.
+exilis tytleri</i>, and one in a nest of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya atrogularis khasiana</i>, were
+laid in two periods: The first from May 15 to 23 occupying each of
+the five nests of the fantail warbler available between these dates,
+and, then, from June 1 to 18 in all the nests then available in that
+particular area. Finally a series of eggs of one cuckoo that were
+taken from 1925 to 1935 consisted of the following numbers: 6, 8,
+14, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 14, 11, 15. In 1925 and 1926 woodcutters were
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</span>working in the pinewoods surrounding the open patch in which the
+fantail warblers were breeding and doubtless drove these little birds
+away and so deprived the cuckoo of foster parents during the latter
+period of her laying, or probably larger series would have been obtained
+in that particular patch of grassland. The various series
+prove satisfactorily that eggs are normally deposited every alternate
+day and, also, that there is no interval in the laying period dividing
+it into two.</p>
+
+<p>The weights of 1,368 eggs of the Khasia Hills cuckoo are as follows:
+Average weight 231; maximum 307; minimum 153 milligrams;
+this latter is, however, an abnormally small light egg and
+very few will be found less than 180 milligrams.</p>
+
+<p>The same number of eggs measure: Average 23.76 by 17.43;
+maxima, 28.5 by 18.0 and 27.1 by 20.0; minima 20.9 by 16.3 and 23.4
+by 15.0 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p>I should, perhaps, not omit to say that though the generally accepted
+idea that cuckoos’ eggs can be distinguished by their weight is
+in most cases correct, it is not always so. For instance, I have 37
+eggs of this cuckoo taken in shrikes’ nests, and a comparison of
+weights and measures of the eggs of the two species is as follows:</p>
+
+<table data-summary="egg sizes" class="smaller">
+<thead><tr>
+ <th scope="col" class="tdc"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. bakeri, 37 eggs</i></th>
+ <th scope="col" class="tdc"><i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Lanius n. nigriceps, 100 eggs</i></th></tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Average size: 23.56 by 17.50 mm.</td>
+    <td class="tdc">23.60 by 17.9 mm.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Average weight: 232 mg.</td>
+    <td class="tdc">215 mg.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Maximum weight: 266 mg.</td>
+    <td class="tdc">249 mg.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="tdl">Minimum weight: 190 mg.</td>
+    <td class="tdc">185 mg.</td></tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>The comparative weight of the eggs of different species of birds
+varies greatly. Thus <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Anthus</i> eggs are normally very light while the
+eggs of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Passer</i> are very heavy, two of the former about equaling
+three of the latter of the same size and, in a few cases, otherwise
+indistinguishable in coloring, shape, etc. Hoopoes’ and spine-tailed
+swifts’ eggs are very heavy, far more so in comparison with their
+size than those of cuckoos.</p>
+
+<p>This shows that weight alone in some cases does not suffice to distinguish
+cuckoos’ eggs from their fosterers’ eggs, and other comparisons
+of cuckoos’ eggs with those of other species could be quoted to
+confirm this. The hard <em>gritty</em> shell with fine pits at wide intervals
+is a further good distinguishing feature of cuckoos’ eggs, while when
+blowing it is noticeable that most cuckoos’ eggs have the yolks tinged
+with flesh color and very pale, while the white is rather more opaque,
+like the white of a duck’s egg when compared with that of a fowl.</p>
+
+<p>In Europe it is very rare to find two eggs of cuckoos in a nest
+laid by the same female; in India this is not so rare, and I have
+on three occasions found three eggs of the same cuckoo in one nest.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</span></p>
+
+<p>It is not possible here to go fully into the fascinating subject of
+the method of deposition of eggs, but briefly it may be said that
+it has been fully proved that in many cases cuckoos lay their eggs
+directly into open nests, an act that has been witnessed by myself,
+Whitehead, and others in India and proved by Chance (1922) to be
+the case in England.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, any number of eggs deposited by cuckoos in
+nests into which it is utterly impossible for the cuckoo to gain an
+entrance. Into many of these the cuckoo projects her egg from the
+cloaca by pressing herself up against the entrance to the nest and
+ejecting her egg with sufficient force to propel it the 2 or 3 inches
+that may be necessary for it to reach the nest (Livesey, 1936; A. E.
+Jones, 1937).</p>
+
+<p>On the other hand, there are many nests to which this method
+also would not apply, such as nests of small birds, more than 2 or 3
+inches inside holes of various character, in some cases a corner having
+to be turned before the nest is reached. Into these I believe the
+cuckoo places her egg with her bill, and there is some evidence to
+support this which I hope to give in my proposed book on “Cuckoo
+Problems.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Incubation, I think, takes usually 12 or 13 days, rarely
+only 11 days but occasionally extending to 14. The period the nestling
+remains in the nest is 4 to 6 weeks, but in many cases the nest
+is far too small to retain the young cuckoo until it is full grown.
+Thus when the eggs are deposited in the nests of birds such as
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cisticola</i> and, to a lesser degree, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Suya</i>, the young bird when a quarter
+grown fills the small egg-shaped nest, sitting in it with its head
+projecting from the entrance at the top side. Gradually, as the
+young cuckoo grows, the nest is expanded until it looks like basketwork
+around it, which finally bursts, depositing him or her on the
+ground. This generally occurs when the cuckoo has fair feathering
+and is about half grown or a little later.</p>
+
+<p>The young Khasia Hills cuckoo ejects the fosterer’s eggs or young
+from the nest in the same way as its English cousin does, possessing
+the same curious interscapulary pit to assist it in doing so. This
+structural aid to ejection is found in all such genera as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus</i>,
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cacomantis</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Penthoceryx</i>, and others that eject their foster brothers
+and sisters, but not in the young of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Clamator</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Eudynamis</i>, and those
+cuckoos that do not commit such murders. In the cuckoos that possess
+it, the pit soon fills in and young cuckoos lose the impulse to
+eject after a very short time, sometimes within 4 days and almost
+invariably within a week of being hatched.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Male: Whole upper plumage and wing coverts a dark
+slaty-gray or blackish slate, decidedly darker than the same parts in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</span>the European cuckoo; the lower back, rump, and upper tail coverts
+are a purer and somewhat lighter gray; the wing quills and concealed
+portions of greater coverts more brown, the quills slightly
+glossed and barred with white on the inner webs of the outer primaries,
+turning to rufous on the inner primaries; tail ashy black
+tipped with white and with white notches along the sides of the
+shafts, the white increasing in extent on the lateral tail feathers;
+chin, throat, sides of head and neck, and the upper breast ashy gray,
+not so dark as the back; remainder of lower parts, axillaries, and
+under wing coverts white with rather irregular bands of black,
+broader and farther apart than in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. c. canorus</i>. Under tail coverts
+the same but with the dark bars still farther apart.</p>
+
+<p>Female: Differs in having a rufous tinge on the upper breast and
+sometimes on the throat and sides of the neck.</p>
+
+<p>Nestling: Naked when hatched.</p>
+
+<p>Juvenile: First plumage; whole plumage brownish gray or slate,
+obsoletely barred with buffish white; a patch of white on the nape
+or hind neck; whole lower plumage barred white or rufescent white
+and dark brown, very heavily on the chin, throat, and breast, and
+less so on the under tail coverts.</p>
+
+<p>The young male after the first molt is like the adult but nearly
+always retains traces of the juvenile barring, more especially so on
+the wings.</p>
+
+<p>Hepatic females have the whole upper parts barred chestnut and
+blackish slate or blackish brown; the lower plumage has the chin,
+throat, and breast barred pale chestnut and blackish and generally
+with a strong rufous tinge on the breast and abdomen.</p>
+
+<p>Young hepatic females are duller in color than the adults and
+have the feathers of the upper part fringed with white.</p>
+
+<p><i>Colors of soft parts.</i>—Iris pale to deep yellow, sometimes brownish
+in young birds of the year; bill dark horny brown, or very dark
+horny green, paler and yellowish at the base and on the commissure
+and orange-yellow on the gape; legs and feet wax-yellow.</p>
+
+<p><i>Measurements.</i>—Wing 220 to 227; tail 155 to 178; tarsus 18 (La
+Touche) to 19; culmen from feathers of forehead 20 to 22 millimeters
+(24 La Touche).</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The principal food of this, as of other cuckoos, consists
+of caterpillars, pupae, chrysalides, and soft insects of any kind. During
+flights of termites cuckoos may be seen both catching them on
+the wing and eating them on the ground as they emerge from it. I
+have also taken Cicadae from their stomachs, and occasionally quite
+hard beetles of considerable size.</p>
+
+<p>The actions of this bird when attempting, and indeed succeeding
+in, the catching of termites in flight are very clumsy and labored
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</span>and their progress on the ground very slow, similar to the progress
+of certain woodpeckers when hunting a lawn for ants and other
+prey.</p>
+
+<p>As a rule they feed in trees at some height from the ground, but
+any plague of caterpillars will tempt them down to quite low undergrowth
+or even onto low grass in the open, and I once saw four
+cuckoos all feeding on small green caterpillars on the ground in an
+open glade in pine forest.</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Normally cuckoos are seldom found on any but high
+trees, often resting in one position for a long time on some lofty
+branch and then flying to another tree with strong, easy beats of the
+wing, at a considerable speed. In the breeding season the females
+undoubtedly mark down the nests in which they intend to deposit
+their eggs, and they may be seen perched in a tree, watching their
+victims until these latter give away the position of the nest. While
+thus engaged the patience of the cuckoo seems inexhaustible, and
+it will sit for hours in one position, hardly moving, yet obviously
+watching the intended fosterers, which may be loath to return to
+their nests though they may come and perch on the same tree as
+that occupied by the cuckoo, sometimes within a few feet of her.
+Apparently they not only mark down nests for immediate victimization,
+but others to be made use of when later eggs are to be laid.
+At other times they seem to be able to ascertain the approximate,
+yet not the exact, position of a nest. (Livesey
+MS.) gives me a most
+interesting example of this. He writes:</p>
+
+<p>“Yesterday, May 19, 1937, I was out for a walk with my wife
+about 5 p. m. at Taungyi, which has an elevation of some 5,000 feet.
+Close to my cottage the dogs chased a bird off a ploughed field,
+which I recognized as a cuckoo. The cuckoo returned with
+two chats after her and perched on some bamboo rails, so, suspecting
+that the chats had a nest somewhere near in which the cuckoo
+was going to lay, I sat down to wait and watch with my glasses.
+Back came the cuckoo and flew low over the field almost settling on a
+place some 50 yards in front of us. Twice she flew backward and
+forward, chased by the chats, finally settling where I expected the
+nest to be. I could see her very plainly through the glasses as with
+throat feathers puffed out and crest feathers sometimes raised she
+jumped clumsily from clod to clod searching for the nest, straining
+her neck up and looking everywhere. The chats were now mobbing
+her furiously and in retaliation she only opened her beak and made
+faces at them. She did not appear to know where the nest was and
+began a systematic search for it in an area about 5 by 3 yards. The
+clods in the field were very large and lumpy with all sorts of holes
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</span>which might have held a nest, and from time to time she disappeared
+from sight as she hopped into the various depressions, going
+backward and forward in the most persistent manner, mobbed all
+the time by the chats.</p>
+
+<p>“She was, I think, a full 10 minutes searching for the nest, but, at
+last she dipped out of sight and a flutter of her wings suggested she
+had found the nest and was in the act of laying. She was out of my
+sight for about 4 seconds and then sped away in a great hurry.</p>
+
+<p>“We climbed the fence and walking up to the place whence she
+had flown found a very well-concealed chats’ nest in which by stooping
+down to the ground I could see that the nest contained two eggs,
+the cuckoo’s and one of the chat’s; by using the tips of my two
+fingers I was just able to draw the eggs out, one at a time with considerable
+difficulty.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—The call of the male during the breeding season is exactly
+the same as that of the European cuckoo, but in winter it also has a
+single note sounding like <i>chuck</i> softly repeated two or three times.
+At the beginning of the season the bisyllabic note, from which the
+bird derives its name, is not perfect and the imperfections cover quite
+a wide range of variations. Sometimes the note is single instead of
+double; often it is preceded by a rather hoarse note of the same
+character as the call, while sometimes the <i>cuck-oo</i> is followed by another
+hoarser note. The female has the summer bubbling note of its
+cousin and also certain chuckling notes, very seldom uttered, while
+in winter it gives vent to the same soft <i>chucks</i> as the male. Whether
+the female ever calls <i>cuckoo</i> is disputed, but, personally, I am fairly
+certain that she does, although it may be but seldom. The bubbling
+note is the call to the male and is also repeated after she has met her
+mate, but it is then, I think, lower and softer, perhaps an expression
+of satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>During the daytime the calling of the male is almost continuous,
+but that of the female far less so as the former calls in the presence
+of a female, while the latter does not “bubble” before the male except
+at the moment she takes to flight and invites him to follow her.</p>
+
+<p>On moonlight nights the male often calls with as much persistency
+as during the day, but I have never heard it calling on dark nights
+until dawn is advanced.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—Cuckoos have the usual enemies of all bird life, vermin
+of every kind, which during the breeding season hunt for and devour
+all the eggs and young they can find. All the civet-cat tribe, snakes,
+lizards, and iguanas are inveterate thieves of eggs and young, while
+even more destructive than these are the birds of the crow and
+magpie tribe, which systematically hunt out the nests and devour
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</span>their contents. I have often watched the birds of the genus <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Dendrocitta</i>
+and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cissa</i> beating over an area in search of nests, quartering
+it with the care and energy of a spaniel after game. The young
+birds suffer also very greatly from being too large for the nests
+in which they are hatched. Half grown they fall out on to the
+ground, and many, which escape death from vermin, are killed by
+exposure to heavy rain.</p>
+
+<p>The older birds seem to have no special enemies, their swift
+flight and comparatively large size saving them from the sudden
+death so often the fate of smaller, slower birds. At the same time
+birds of prey undoubtedly attack and kill them just as they would
+any other bird of similar size and their superficial resemblance—in
+human eyes—to a sparrow hawk, would certainly not deceive their
+would-be destroyers even if these were sparrow hawks. Nor do the
+small birds attack cuckoos because they <em>believe</em> them to be hawks,
+but because they <em>know</em> them to be cuckoos and, in their own way as
+objectionable as hawks.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall.</i>—The Khasia Hills cuckoo is far more sedentary in character
+than its nearest relations and, possibly, is originally a sedentary
+race from which the migratory forms have sprung. I have seen
+the bird in the Khasia Hills in every month of the year except
+February and, as it is silent in the winter months and does not call
+attention to its presence, it is probably even more numerous in its
+breeding range at this time than has hitherto been supposed, while
+some individuals may be resident in the same locality all the year
+round. At the same time migration does take place in some degree
+and this dark race has been found in winter, certainly, in Bengal,
+more especially in the eastern districts on the Bay, in Orissa, once
+by Annandale (MS.), while it extends through Burma, south to
+Prome (Mackenzie and Hopwood, MS.); south Siam (E. G. Herbert,
+MS.) and finally, almost certainly, to southwestern China.
+I have no proof that in the Indian Empire adult cuckoos migrate any
+earlier than the birds of the year. About September the pleasant
+call, which has been heard continually up to the end of July and
+casually up to the end of August, ceases entirely, and the birds
+are also far less frequently seen on the higher ranges of hills and,
+by October, nearly all the birds, old and young, have left these and
+have taken to the lower hills and the broken country at their bases,
+thence slowly and gradually extending into the plains in the districts
+already mentioned. It is also possible, of course, that this cuckoo
+may range farther south in winter than stated above, as records
+of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus canorus</i> (subspecies?) have been recorded from Madras
+and from the islands of the Austro-Malayan region, between October
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</span>and March, some of which almost certainly refer to this form. At
+present, from the evidence at my disposal, I can neither substantiate
+nor refute this suggestion, as it is quite impossible to recognize
+one subspecies from another in the field unless a particularly bright
+light shows up the comparative slaty darkness of this bird, to an
+observer with some experience of cuckoos.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution105">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p>Exact details as to the distribution of the Khasia Hills cuckoo are
+still wanting as so many records of cuckoos refer merely to the
+species, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cuculus canorus</i>, while the subspecies is not given or, indeed,
+in many cases distinguished. The breeding area has been <em>proved</em> to
+extend throughout the hills of Assam and Burma as far south as
+Karen-nee and as far east as Yunnan, while Bangs and Peters (1928)
+consider it is this form that is found and breeds in eastern Tibet and
+Szechwan. To the west the breeding cuckoo in the Bhutan Hills is
+undoubtedly of this race, but how much farther west it may extend
+is not known though, almost certainly, it may be found breeding in
+the lower Himalayas below Sikkim. Stevens informs me that he
+believes it does.</p>
+
+<p>A fine series of breeding specimens in the Stevens collection, collected
+by him in the Sikkim Hills, indicates that the range of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">bakeri</i>
+is below 7,000 or 8,000 feet, and that above that, up to 12,000 feet,
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">telephonus</i> is the breeding form.</p>
+
+<p>In the cold weather it extends to the countries mentioned above
+in this article as being visited on migration. To these may be
+added that it occurs in Siam, as far south as Bangkok and the Siamese
+peninsula west of Tenasserim. Finally, extraordinary as it may seem,
+it has been recorded by Friedmann (Friedmann and Riley, 1931) as
+having once been obtained in St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, an occurrence
+that entitles it to a place in the American avifauna. This
+specimen was originally described as belonging to the central and
+northeastern Asiatic race <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">telephonus</i>, which one might expect would
+occur at long intervals in Alaska.</p>
+</section>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</span></p>
+
+  <h3 class="nobreak" id="Order_TROGONIFORMES">
+    Order TROGONIFORMES
+  </h3>
+  <h4 id="FamTrogonidae">
+    Family TROGONIDAE: Trogons
+  </h4>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Trogon106">TROGON AMBIGUUS AMBIGUUS Gould</p>
+
+<p class="center">COPPERY-TAILED TROGON</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits106">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This gorgeous Mexican species brings color from the Tropics, all
+too rarely, across our borders in extreme southern Texas and southern
+Arizona. Ever since Lieutenant Benson shot an immature male in
+the Huachuca Mountains on August 24, 1885, it has been known to
+occur there and in other neighboring localities in Arizona as one of
+our rarest birds. Specimens have been taken there under circumstances
+that would indicate that sometime its nest will be found within
+our borders. An adult female was shot by F. H. Fowler (1903) in the
+Huachucas during August 1892. Major Bendire (1895) writes: “Another
+adult female, which evidently had a nest close by, was obtained
+by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, on June 23, 1892, on
+the east side of the San Luis Mountains, close to the Mexican boundary
+line. The long tail feathers in this specimen are much worn and
+abraded, and look as if the bird had passed considerable time in very
+limited quarters. Its mate was also seen, but not secured. Judging
+from the character of the country this species inhabits in southern
+Arizona, that is pine forest regions, it is probably only a straggler,
+in the lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and does not breed there.”</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1923) reports that A. B. Howell discovered
+a pair of these trogons in the Santa Rita Mountains in southern
+Arizona in 1918, of which he writes: “While wrapping two birds
+which I had shot at 6,000 feet in a canyon, on August 4, I looked up
+and saw a pair of these birds watching me from live oak branches at
+perhaps a hundred yards. I had an unobstructed view of their bright
+underparts and characteristic form and flight, and identification was
+sure. They were very ‘wise,’ and as I carefully approached, they as
+slowly receded, flying from oak to oak until they separated and I lost
+them in the denser growth. The trees were almost entirely live oaks
+here with a very occasional pine.”</p>
+
+<p>Herbert W. Brandt has sent me the following notes on the status of
+this beautiful bird on the western slopes of the Huachuca Mountains,
+Ariz.: “The turkeylike call of this rare, semitropical visitor is a
+common bird note in Sunnyside Canyon and in the lower reaches of
+Bear Canyon. There are at least three pairs of birds in each of
+these valleys; and in the morning they noisily call back and forth
+to one another. These valley floors are usually densely wooded and
+would make this bird difficult to study were it not for its inquisitive
+nature, for it is usually easily lured by the ‘squeech.’ One lavishly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</span>garbed male and his more modest mate repeatedly allowed me to
+walk up to within about 20 feet of them before they would fly a
+short distance and then allow me to approach them again. Each time
+they both called their hen-turkey-like notes, <i>kum-kum-kum</i>, ever
+answering my squeeches of a like count and inflection. That this
+bird breeds in the vicinity there is little doubt, but we did not spend
+time seeking its home, as Arizona has wisely put it on the permanently
+protected list, and in consequence this mountain-loving
+species is becoming common again in its densely tangled retreats.”</p>
+
+<p>A. J. van Rossem (1936) adds the following news:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Regardless of its status in former years, this trogon may now be counted
+a fairly common summer visitant in the Santa Ritas. Possibly it has always
+been more numerous than was supposed, for one of the rangers, who has been
+stationed for many years in the Santa Ritas, knew the bird well and told me
+of having seen as many as five or six feeding together at a single patch of
+manzanita. At any rate there were several pairs in Madera Cañon in the
+summers of 1931 and 1932. * * *</p>
+
+<p>On June 27 [1931], Mr. Gorsuch and I saw or heard eight birds between the
+forks of the cañon at 6000 feet, and Littleshot Cabin at 7000. On that date a
+fully adult male was collected by Mr. Gorsuch for the museum at the University
+of Arizona. On June 28, a very young trogon, about two-thirds grown and
+evidently just out of the nest, was shot, quite unintentionally, in a patch of
+oaks at 6000 feet.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>At least two pairs were noted on May 30, 1931; “the association
+in which they were noted was the oak-sycamore growth near the
+juncture of Upper Sonoran and Transition. Two males (both of
+which presumably had mates) were heard in the left (north) fork—one
+at 7000, the other at 8000 feet altitude. These altitudes are in
+the pine-oak association in the Transition Zone.”</p>
+
+<p>Col. A. J. Grayson (Lawrence, 1874) says that, in western Mexico,
+“it is to be met with only in the dark forests of the <i xml:lang="es" lang="es">tierra caliente</i>.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Colonel Grayson says that “it breeds in the hollows of
+trees like the parrots.” According to Mrs. Bailey (1928), the nest
+is “reported in cavities in large trees, generally in large deserted
+woodpecker holes, but also in holes in banks.” There are ten sets of
+eggs of the coppery-tailed trogon in the Thayer collection in Cambridge,
+all collected by, or for, Frank B. Armstrong near Ciudad
+Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, between March 29 and April 27, 1908.
+If these dates are all correctly recorded, these trogons must breed
+very plentifully in that region, or Mr. Armstrong’s collectors must
+have been very industrious. There are a number of sets in other
+collections from the same locality, all taken by the same collectors.
+These eggs were all taken from nests in holes in trees, apparently
+natural cavities; the holes were at various heights, ranging from
+12 to 40 feet above the ground; some of the trees were in a river
+bottom and others in “big woods near town.” The nests were made
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</span>of various materials, such as hay, straw, trash, moss, wool, down,
+feathers, vines, and thistledown.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The coppery-tailed trogon lays ordinarily three or four
+eggs but probably sometimes only two. These are rounded-ovate to
+nearly oval in shape; and the shell is smooth but not glossy. The
+color is dull white or faintly bluish white and entirely unmarked.
+The measurements of 55 eggs average 28.50 by 23.18 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>30.7</b> by 24.6, 29 by <b>25</b>,
+<b>26</b> by 22.8, and 29.5 by <b>22.1</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—I have not seen any nestlings or very young birds.
+Ridgway (1911) gives very full and accurate descriptions of all the
+known plumages of both sexes of this trogon; but his accounts are
+too long to be quoted in full here, so I shall mention only the most
+conspicuous features of the different plumages, by which the reader
+may recognize them.</p>
+
+<p>In the juvenal plumage, in July, the sexes are alike, or nearly so,
+and closely resemble, on the upper parts, the adult female, except
+that the central pair of tail feathers have very narrow black tips,
+instead of broad ones; the next three pairs of rectrices are black, and
+the two lateral pairs are mostly white, barred with black, except for
+a large terminal white area; the lesser, median, and to a lesser degree
+the greater wing coverts are tipped with a large spot of pale buff
+or buffy white, bordered with black; chin and throat grayish brown
+above a quite distinct white pectoral band; below this band the under
+parts are indistinctly barred, or mottled, with grayish brown and
+grayish white.</p>
+
+<p>This unadulterated juvenal plumage is apparently worn through
+the first summer and early fall; I have seen it in its purity in birds
+collected at various dates between July 23 and September 20; but,
+on the other hand, some specimens show the beginning of a molt before
+the end of August. During all the remainder of their first year,
+young birds show more or less continuous progress toward maturity
+by a gradual and irregular molt. At an early age, between August
+and November, young males begin to show metallic green feathers
+in the back and throat, and metallic blue feathers in the rump and
+upper tail coverts; during winter and spring these metallic colors
+gradually increase; and on the under parts, below the white band,
+there is a gradual decrease in the brown and white and a corresponding
+increase in the “geranium red” of the adult plumage. At the
+same time, young females are acquiring more and more of the “peach
+red” of the adult female on the posterior under parts.</p>
+
+<p>These transition plumages may be seen, in the series I have studied,
+in birds collected in November, December, February, March, April,
+May, June, and July, during all of which time the juvenal wings
+and tail are retained. From this I infer that the annual molt occurs in
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</span>summer and fall and that young birds do not acquire the fully adult
+plumage until they are at least 15 months old, or perhaps much older.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Some coppery-tailed trogons that E. C. Jacot collected for
+me were feeding on wild grapes. Dr. A. K. Fisher wrote to Major
+Bendire (1895) that “a rancher who raises fruit in Ramsay Canyon
+stated that the species visited the gardens in considerable numbers,
+especially during the period when cherries were ripe.” Major Bendire
+(1895) says of other members of the trogon family: “Their food
+consists of fruit, grasshoppers, and other insects, and in their actions
+while catching the latter they are said to resemble a Flycatcher,
+starting and returning from a perch like these birds, and often
+sitting for hours in the same place.”</p>
+
+<p>Cottam and Knappen (1939) state that a bird, collected by Dr.
+Fisher in the Huachuca Mountains in June, “had fed exclusively on
+the adults and larvae of lepidopterous insects.” They examined the
+stomach of another bird, collected in October in Mexico, that contained
+68 percent insects and 32 percent fruits. The insect food included
+one grasshopper nymph, long-horned grasshopper eggs, three
+Mantidae, three stink bugs, other Heteroptera, one leaf beetle, one
+very large larva of a hawk moth, larvae of undetermined Lepidoptera,
+and two sawfly larvae. The vegetable food consisted of fruits of cut-leaved
+cissus, fruit of red pepper, and undetermined plant fiber.</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—F. H. Fowler (1903) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On June 9, 1892, my father and I accompanied Dr. A. K. Fisher to Garden
+Canyon seven miles south of the post. We reached the canyon and were riding
+up the narrow trail bordered with pines and live oaks, when suddenly a beautiful
+male trogon flew across the path just ahead of us, and perched on a live oak
+bush on the other side of the small stream which flows through the canyon.
+The Doctor tried to approach it, but the noise caused by his passage through
+the thick brush and over the sliding rocks on the hill side alarmed the bird,
+which from the first had seemed a trifle uneasy, and it was soon lost to view
+among the trees down the canyon. Higher up among the pines, on the same
+day, we heard the calls of another which sounded much like those of a hen
+turkey. While we were eating lunch on the way down, we heard still another
+calling from the hillside above us, and the Doctor, who found it perched on the
+lower limb of a pine after a short search, watched its actions for a few moments
+and then shot at it. It sat erect, the tail hanging straight down, and when uttering
+the call threw its head back until its beak pointed nearly straight up.</p>
+
+<p>On August 14 of the same year I again found the trogon in Garden Canyon,
+this time higher up however at the Picture Rocks. A beautiful pair flew up
+from a fallen pine to the lower limb of a tree, and sat there quietly watching
+me. I dismounted and fired a reduced charge at the male, but the only effect
+was that he flew off through the trees unhurt, while the female flew up to a
+small tree on the hill, where she sat, looking at me until I loaded my gun,
+when I shot her. At the second shot the male flew up the canyon his beautiful
+carmine breast gleaming in the sunlight like a streak of flame. Both birds sat
+nearly erect when at rest, with their long tails hanging nearly straight down.
+Their flight was nearly like the slow flight of a magpie, until startled, when
+they flew like a dove and nearly as fast.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—Mr. Jacot says, in his letter, that the young birds were
+silent but that the adults had many notes, one of which was “almost
+like the chattering of our gray squirrel.” A note referred to above
+was like that of a hen turkey. Dr. William Beebe (1905) says:
+“The call of the trogon, uttered especially toward evening when it
+came to drink, was a soft series of melodious notes, reminding one
+somewhat of the content-call of a hen with chickens. Regularly at
+dusk two of these birds went to roost in a dense tangle of wild
+clematis.” Mr. van Rossem (1936) refers to the note of the male
+trogon as a “loud, hoarse, ‘kóa-kóa-kóa’.” Evidently the bird has a
+variety of notes.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—The shape and posture, referred to above, as well as
+its brilliant colors, would mark this beautiful bird definitely as a
+trogon. The only other trogon likely to be met with anywhere
+within the range of this species is the Mexican trogon, found on the
+highlands of Mexico. The two species can be recognized in life by
+the color patterns of the outer tail feathers; in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">ambiguus</i> these
+feathers are largely white, barred or vermiculated with black; in
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">mexicanus</i> they are largely black, broadly tipped with white.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution110">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southern Arizona, south to central Mexico; accidental in
+the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the coppery-tailed trogon extends <b>north</b> casually to
+Arizona (possibly Santa Catalina Mountains, Huachuca Mountains,
+and possibly Tombstone); northern Chihuahua (San Luis Mountains
+and the Sierra de la Campana); Nuevo Leon (Monterey and Montemorelos);
+and central Tamaulipas (Ciudad Victoria and Soto la
+Marina). <b>East</b> to Tamaulipas (Soto la Marina, Xicotencatl, Altamira,
+and Tampico); central Veracruz (Orizaba); and central Oaxaca
+(Talca and Juchatengo). <b>South</b> to Oaxaca (Juchatengo); Oaxaca
+(Omilteme and Amula); Michoacan (Tancitaro); and Jalisco (Zapotlan).
+<b>West</b> to Jalisco (Zapotlan, Ameca, and San Marcos); Nayarit
+(Mazatlan, Tres Marias Islands, and Mexcatitlan); Sinaloa (Escuinapa,
+El Limon, Angostura, and San Javier); eastern Sonora
+(Alamos, Chinobampo, and Guiracoba); and southeastern Arizona
+(Huachuca Mountains and possibly the Santa Catalina Mountains).</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—Although this bird can only be considered as rare
+anywhere in the United States, it appears to be fairly regular in the
+Huachuca Mountains, Ariz. During the summer of 1877 a trogon
+was killed near Ringgold Barracks and another at Las Cuevas, Tex.
+Although not preserved they were fully described, by the persons who
+shot them, to Dr. James C. Merrill, and were undoubtedly this species.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Mexico: 23 records, March 29 to June 30; 12 records,
+April 15 to May 13, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+</section>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</span></p>
+  <h3 class="nobreak" id="Order_CORACIIFORMES">
+    Order CORACIIFORMES
+  </h3>
+  <h4 id="FamAlcedinidae">Family ALCEDINIDAE: Kingfishers
+  </h4>
+  <p class="center" id="Megaceryle111">MEGACERYLE ALCYON ALCYON (Linnaeus)</p>
+
+  <p class="center">EASTERN BELTED KINGFISHER</p>
+
+  <p class="center"><a href="#Plate12"><span class="smcap">Plates 12–14</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits111">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>Our North American representative of the large and interesting
+kingfisher family is not so gaudily colored as some of the foreign
+species and is intermediate in size between the largest and the
+smallest members of the family, but it is an interesting bird, striking
+in appearance and voice, and unique in form. Its long, heavy bill
+and its large head with its prominent crest, contrasting with its
+diminutive feet and its short tail, seem entirely out of balance and
+give it a top-heavy appearance. But its peculiar proportions and
+structure are beautifully adapted for the life it leads; its large beak
+and head form an effective spearhead for use in its deep plunges, and
+they are well built to stand the shocks of frequent diving. Unlike
+the osprey, it does not need to use its feet in fishing; but the short
+legs and shovellike feet are most useful in shoveling the loose soil
+from its nesting burrows, after it has been loosened by the powerful
+beak.</p>
+
+<p>The belted kingfisher, as a species, covers nearly all the North
+American Continent, breeding from northern Alaska and central
+Labrador southward to the southern border of the United States.
+Being essentially a fish-eating bird, its haunts are naturally near
+large or small bodies of water. It is common on the seacoast and
+estuaries, where it may be seen perched on some stake or pier, watching
+for its prey; or along the shore of a lake or pond, its favorite
+outlook may be the branch of a tree overhanging the water; I believe
+that it prefers to perch on a dead or leafless branch, where its view
+is unobstructed. Trout brooks, especially swift and rocky mountain
+streams, are favorite resorts, where its loud, rattling cry is often
+heard, as it flies up and down, patrolling its chosen fishing ground
+and driving away any intruders of its own species; it prefers to
+play the role of the lone fisherman.</p>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—Very little seems to be known about the kingfisher’s
+courtship. Laurence B. Potter says in his notes: “Sometimes I have
+watched as many as five or six high up in the air, tumbling and
+wheeling about, uttering their harsh rattle; they appear to be doing
+it merely for the joy of flying, or it may be their courtship antics.”
+Francis H. Allen writes to me: “From courting birds—a group of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</span>them—I have heard a mewing note uttered in rapid succession,
+almost if not quite as loud as the familiar rattle of the species.
+These same birds—or two of them at least—also kept up a continual,
+prolonged rattle.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The nest of the belted kingfisher is almost invariably
+in a burrow in a sandy, clay, or gravelly bank, excavated by the
+birds themselves. The site chosen is preferably near water and as
+near the favorite fishing grounds of the birds as a suitable bank can
+be found. But such banks are not always to be found in the most
+convenient places, so the birds are forced to nest in any bank they
+can find, often at a long distance from any water, such as the
+embankment of a railroad cut, the cliff of a sand dune, or a bank by
+a roadside where sand or gravel has been taken out for grading. On
+Cape Cod, the sandpits made while sanding cranberry bogs are favorite
+sites. The burrow may be at any height from the base of the
+cliff, depending on the height of the cliff, but it is usually not more
+than 2 or 3 feet from the top, though Major Bendire (1895) says
+that it is sometimes as much as 20 feet below the top of the cliff.
+The burrow extends inward, sloping slightly upward, for varying
+distances, usually from 3 to 6 feet, but sometimes as much as 10 or
+even 15 feet; as kingfishers sometimes use the same burrow for
+several years in succession, it may be that the deepest burrows are
+the oldest and have been extended from year to year to provide a
+fresh, clean nest. The burrow is usually straight, or nearly so, but
+often it curves somewhat, or makes a more or less abrupt turn to
+the right or left. One that I dug out ran straight in for 3 feet, made
+an abrupt turn to the left, and then made a reverse curve, so that the
+nest was only about 2 feet from the face of the cliff. The entrance
+and the tunnel itself are not quite circular, being usually about 3½
+to 4 inches wide and 3 to 3½ inches high; an occupied burrow can
+generally be recognized by the footmarks of the bird, a central
+ridge with a furrow on each side of it, made by the bird as it
+enters or leaves the nest. The nest is placed in an enlarged chamber,
+which may be directly at the end of the tunnel, or a little to one side
+of it, and usually a little above the level of the tunnel. The chamber
+varies considerably in size and shape but is approximately circular
+and dome-shaped; it is usually 10 to 12 inches in diameter and 6 to 7
+inches in height. Often the eggs are laid on the bare sand or gravel
+which probably indicates that the nest is a new one, or that the
+eggs are fresh; oftener, perhaps, the nesting chamber is lined with
+bits of clean, white fish bones, fish scales, or fragments of the shells
+of crustaceans; these, I believe, are the remains of ejected pellets
+and indicate that the nest has been previously occupied by young
+birds or that the female has been fed on the nest for some time;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</span>there is no evidence to indicate that the birds ever bring in such
+material intentionally.</p>
+
+<p>Bendire (1895) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The time required to dig out a burrow depends largely on the nature of the
+soil to be removed, taking sometimes two or three weeks, but generally much
+less. I have personally seen an instance where a pair of these birds excavated
+a new burrow in a rather friable clay bank near Fort Lapwai, Idaho, to a
+depth of 5 feet (estimated measurement) in a little over three days. How they
+managed to dig so rapidly, considering their short and weak-looking feet, with
+which they must remove the greater part of the material, has always been a
+mystery to me, and I would not believe them capable of accomplishing such an
+amount of work had I not seen it done. When not disturbed the same nesting
+site is resorted to from year to year. Sometimes the male burrows an additional
+hole near the occupied nesting site, usually not over 3 feet deep, to which
+it retires to feed and to pass the night.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. Thomas S. Roberts (1932) published the following account on
+the authority of Miss Frances Densmore, of Red Wing, Minn.:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On April 25, 1928, I found a pair of Kingfishers digging their tunnel at the
+top of a high cut about a foot below the surface, just where the black loam
+met the under sand, some one hundred feet, or thereabouts, above the water.
+They both dug, taking turn and turn about, except when she thought he hadn’t
+stayed in long enough and sent him back. After watching them for an hour
+or more I formed a theory as to how they managed it. One would go in and
+work for two or three minutes and then push the dirt ahead of it to the entrance
+and fly out over it. No dirt ever came out with the bird that had been
+digging, but when the other went in there was a veritable fountain spurting
+out for nearly a minute after it entered. Then this subsided and more digging
+was done by the bird that had cleared the hole. They kept very close to their
+schedule of two or three minutes each. On this day the dirt they brought out
+was sand, but on the 27th it was black loam from above, and I decided that
+they had got back to their “sitting room.” On May 1 they weren’t working
+and, as both were in and out at the same time, I judged that there was room
+to turn and that they would call it done.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. A. K. Fisher wrote to Major Bendire (1895) as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On June 6, 1882, the writer found two nests of the Kingfisher in the side of a
+railroad cut near Croton Lake, Westchester County, New York. The burrows
+were placed in a bank not over 7 feet above the roadbed and within 18 inches
+of the top. That of the first one ran in about 7 feet and turned to the right
+as it entered the nesting chamber. The seven fresh eggs were placed in a
+nest of coarse grass, which, although rather scanty, covered the floor of the cavity
+on all sides. The burrow of the second one extended in about 4½ feet,
+and, like the other previously mentioned, turned toward the right as the
+expanded nesting cavity was reached. The nest, which was quite elaborate,
+was composed wholly of fish scales and bones, arranged in a compact, saucer-shaped
+mass. The writer made a tunnel from the top of the bank so as to
+intercept the burrow as it entered the nesting cavity. Viewed through this
+hole, the nest was a beautiful affair. The scales, which looked as if made
+of frosted silver, formed a delicate setting for the six pure-white eggs lying
+in the center, and by the projected light made a most effective picture. On two
+occasions, near Sing Sing, New York, the writer found the Kingfisher and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</span>Rough-winged Swallow using burrows having a common entrance. It is
+probable in each case that the swallow had commenced its diverging burrow
+after the larger bird completed its work.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>A few cases have been recorded of the kingfisher nesting in other
+cavities, where suitable sandbanks were not available. Mr. Forbush
+(1927) says: “Mr. Herbert F. Moulton of Ware, Massachusetts, tells
+me that he found a kingfisher’s nest in a plowed field on a hillside.
+The entrance was made in a ‘dead furrow.’” Arthur H. Howell
+(1932) says: “Baynard (1913) writes that in Alachua County
+[Florida] the Kingfisher nests early in April in holes in dead trees
+or stubs over water. He states, also (verbally), that he once found
+a nest at Clearwater, 4 feet above water in a leaning stub, the entrance
+hole being on the under side; this nest contained 4 eggs on
+May 6.”</p>
+
+<p>Beyer, Allison, and Kopman (1908), referring to Louisiana, say:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The character of the nest varies greatly with different conditions of soil.
+On the coast it is content with such elevations as can be found on the shores,
+and the burrow is sometimes scarcely more than a pocket in the clayey banks;
+in the upper districts, the site is often far from water, and the soft, coarse-grained
+soil renders easy the excavation of a burrow five or six feet deep,
+enlarged at the end, and often partly lined with leaves and pine straw; and
+finally, a unique condition exists in the extensive gum-swamps in the lake
+region of the southeast, where the land—always submerged—is perfectly flat,
+and nothing stands above water except innumerable trees and stumps of Nyssa;
+the nest is placed in the top of a decaying stump, with no attempt at excavation.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>But tree-nesting is not wholly confined to the southern swamps,
+for Dr. George M. Sutton (1928) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On May 27th, 1927, while observing Chimney Swifts at Bethany, Brooke
+County, West Virginia, I saw a Kingfisher fly rapidly across an open field from
+a near-by deep pool in Buffalo Creek. Wondering that it should thus cross overland,
+I watched it as it flew to a large, dead sycamore, not far from me, and
+disappeared in a hole at the end of a short, thick, horizontal stub. Upon going
+to the tree I heard the buzzing cries of the young birds. Shortly thereafter the
+male parent flew away as the female came in. The nest was located about ten
+feet from the ground in a large cavity near the juncture of the bough and the
+main trunk. The young birds were lying about seven feet from the entrance.
+The cavity was almost as dark as a bank burrow would have been. It is odd
+that the Kingfishers chose such a site for their nest, since earthen banks
+admirably suited to their needs were available along the creek.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The number of eggs laid by the eastern belted kingfisher
+varies ordinarily from five to eight, the commonest numbers being
+6 and 7; on rare occasions as many as 11 or 14 eggs or young have
+been found in a nest. If the first set of eggs is taken, the birds will
+dig another burrow, often within a few feet of the first, and lay a
+second set; sometimes a third, or even a fourth, attempt will be made.
+But only one brood is raised in a season. The eggs are short-ovate
+or rounded-ovate in shape; the shell is smooth and rather glossy; they
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</span>are pure white in color. The measurements of 54 eggs average 33.9
+by 26.7 millimeters, the eggs showing the four extremes measure
+<b>36.8</b> by <b>27.9</b>, <b>30.8</b> by 26.4, and 33 by <b>25.4</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—The incubation period is said to be about 23 or 24 days.
+Bendire (1895) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The male does not assist in incubation, but supplies his mate with food
+while so engaged, and she rarely leaves the nest after the first egg has been
+laid; at any rate I have invariably found the bird at home if there were
+any eggs in the nest. Incubation lasts about sixteen days. The young when
+first hatched are blind, perfectly naked, helpless, and, in a word, very unprepossessing.
+They scarcely look like birds while crawling about in the nest,
+where they remain several weeks, their growth being very slow. The excrement
+of the young is promptly removed and the burrow is kept rather clean.
+They utter a low, puffing sound when disturbed, and frequently vary considerably
+in size, as if incubation, in some instances at least, began with the first
+egg laid. The young, even after they have left the nest for some time, require
+the attendance of their parents before they are able to secure subsistence
+for themselves.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>I believe that Bendire’s statement above, that the male does not
+incubate, is incorrect; perhaps he may not do so regularly, or to the
+same extent that the female does, but several observers have reported
+finding the male on the eggs, or at least in the nest. The young
+remain in the nest for about 4 weeks or more, and do not leave
+it until they are able to fly.</p>
+
+<p>William L. Bailey (1900) made an interesting study of a family
+of young kingfishers, by digging a hole in the rear of the nesting
+cavity on four different occasions, taking photographs of the young
+at four different ages, and filling up the hole each time, so as not
+to disturb the birds too much. He says that when the young were
+about two days old they “were not only found wrapped together
+in the nest, but the moment they were put on the ground, one at
+a time, though their eyes were still sealed, they immediately covered
+one another with their wings and wide bills, making such a
+tight ball that when one shifted a leg, the whole mass would move
+like a single bird. This is a most sensible method of keeping warm,
+since the mother bird’s legs are so short that she could not stand
+over them, but as they are protected from the wind and weather
+they have no need of her. Their appearance is comical in the extreme,
+and all out of proportion. This clinging to one another is
+apparently kept up for at least ten days, for a week later, when
+nine days old, they were found in exactly a similar position.”</p>
+
+<p>On his last visit, when the young birds were 23 days old, he made
+an interesting discovery, of which he says: “Taking the precaution
+to stop the hole with a good-sized stone, I proceeded to my digging
+for the last time on the top of the bank. This time I found the
+chamber had been moved, and I had some difficulty in locating it
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</span>about a foot higher up and about the same distance to one side. The
+old birds had evidently discovered my imperfectly closed back door,
+and either mistrusted its security, or else a heavy rain had soaked
+down into the loosened earth and caused them to make alterations.
+They had completely closed up the old chamber and packed it tightly
+with earth and disgorged fish bones.”</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928) makes the following apt quotation
+from the writings of Professor Herrick:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>From the time of birth the young lie huddled in a cluster in their dark
+underground chamber.... As they grow in size and strength the monotony
+of sitting still, often with legs and wings interlocked, must become very
+great, and ... they soon begin to bite and tease one another like young
+puppies. Should one be hard pressed, the only way of escape lies along the narrow
+passage, which they naturally traverse head first; but the instinct to return
+to the warm family cluster is strong, and to do this they are obliged to
+walk backwards. Again when the rattle of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">alma mater</i> announcing the
+capture of another fish is heard, each struggles to get down the narrow
+passage-way first, but when the parent enters the hole she hustles them all
+back.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The young are fed by their two parents while they remain in the
+nest, and for some time afterward while they are learning to fish
+for themselves. Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock (1905) made the following
+observations:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>By care in concealment we were able to discover that the adult came to the
+nest on the first day with no visible supply of food in the bill but with a gullet
+conspicuously swollen. We had previously excavated the nest from the rear
+making a false back to it so that it would be protected from the weather and
+at the same time open easily. As soon as feeding was completed and the adult
+out of sight, we opened the nest at the false back, took out the young, then one
+day old, and examined the crops. They contained a dark gray, oily mass, nearly
+fluid and very ill smelling, but with no bones or scales in it. If fish they were
+very small and digested. Returning the young fishers to the tunnel, we closed
+it. Two days later the experiment was repeated with the same results. Four
+days later, or the seventh day after hatching, we examined again. This time
+one of the nestlings had swallowed several small fish about one and one half
+inches long and the others were still hungry. As yet we had not seen either of
+the adults bring visible food and the most frequent feedings had been forty minutes
+apart, I believe all by regurgitation. No record was kept from the seventh
+to the fourteenth day when an examination was made for the third time.
+We now found the young showing well developed pin feathers, and there were
+traces of disgorged fish bones and scales in the nest which had not been there
+before. The crops examined showed fish only slightly digested and regurgitative
+feeding had evidently given place wholly or in part to fresh food. On this
+day one of the adults brought several fish, possibly four inches long to the nest
+in different journeys. Examinations made on the twenty-first day revealed the
+same food conditions as the fourteenth. The pile of fish bones and scales was
+a trifle larger but was partially buried in the earth. There was surprisingly
+little of this debris in the nest or tunnel but the ground seemed to be saturated
+with fishy oil. On the twenty-eighth day the young kingfishers resented being
+examined or photographed, and made good their escape when taken from the
+nest.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</span></p>
+
+<p>Henry R. Carey (1909) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The food brought to the nest-hole consists of various kinds of small fish. It
+not infrequently happens that one of these fish is too large to be carried by the
+parent bird into the narrow passage; it is then dropped upon the sand and is
+allowed to rot. * * * I once found a common salt-water flounder, four and
+one-half inches long and proportionately wide, which, being rather unwieldy
+for the parent bird to handle, had been left in this way. Another time I found
+a young Sculpin (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Callionymus aeneus</i>) in the same condition, and, yet again, a
+live minnow, which, in spite of a great patch on its side devoid of scales, was
+finally freed in perfect health. * * *</p>
+
+<p>The young birds leave the earth about July 25 [in New Hampshire]. They
+are a sombre-looking lot, as for several days they sit tamely about the wharfs
+or venture on short, erratic flights, which makes one feel that they have not
+yet got used to the light after their long imprisonment underground. It is at
+this time that both parents and young, somewhat crowded in the vicinity of
+the home nest by their sudden increase in population, begin to seek out new
+fishing-stubs, or to use old ones for the first time in the year. When the young
+are able to care for themselves, the old birds leave them and lead once more
+the single life which they seem to enjoy most.</p>
+
+<p>At this time of year, frequent quarrels occur among them, mostly about the
+best fishing spots, and now that strange, whining note, which Herrick describes
+as resembling the grating of two tree boughs in the wind, is often
+heard. It appears to be a note of anger; I have heard it when one bird,
+wanting the perch of another, hovered menacingly over him. Once I saw two
+birds dive simultaneously for the same spot in the water, the same note escaping
+them as each reluctantly swerved aside.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Floyd Bralliar (1922) writes interestingly of how the young learn
+to catch their own fish:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The young birds did not remain in the neighborhood of the nest more than
+a few days, but those few days were busy ones, for in that brief time the
+mother was teaching her children how to earn a living. She would perch by
+their side on an overhanging limb and patiently wait for the glimmer of a fish
+below. The first day or two she usually caught the fish, beat it into partial
+insensibility and then dropped it again into the water. The young were persistent
+in their plea for food, but the mother was as insistent that they catch
+their living if they got any. There was very little current where they hunted,
+and a fish did not float out of sight quickly. The young birds would crane
+their necks and look hungrily at the fish below until finally one more hungry
+or more bold than the rest would make a dive for it. At first the aim was
+not good, and the bird would miss even a dead fish more often than he succeeded
+in catching it. Usually, however, he fluttered about the surface of the water
+until he got his fish, even tho he had missed it when he made his plunge.
+* * * During the first few days when the young birds became too hungry,
+the mother would occasionally relent and feed them, but before the week was
+over, no matter how hungry they became, no food was coming until they caught
+it. Within ten days the young birds were catching live fish instead of half
+dead ones.</p>
+
+<p>Then a young bird would catch his fish, carry it to his perch, whack it over
+the limb a few times, toss it in the air, catch it by the head as it came down
+and swallow it with as much skill as his mother. As soon as she was convinced
+of the skill of each of her brood, she forsook them entirely. I do not know
+whether she ultimately drove them from the neighborhood or whether they
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</span>left voluntarily, but when July was past only the old birds were to be seen
+in the neighborhood.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Henry Mousley (1938), who made a prolonged study of a family
+of belted kingfishers, estimated the period of incubation to be about
+24 days. His report says, in conclusion:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On summing up I find forty-two hours were spent with the birds (May 11-July
+24), during which time the young were fed one hundred times, or at an
+average rate of once in every 25.2 minutes. Of course there were periods when
+the feeding was much faster, as for instance, once in every 8, 9, 13, 20, and 21
+minutes respectively. Sometimes the parents were absent from the nest for
+long periods of time, such as, 150, 120, 105, 97, 93, 90, 85, 75, 70, and 60 minutes
+at a time, when of course the young were without food. It was after these
+long spells that the more rapid feedings generally took place. As already
+remarked, the male seemed to pay the most attention to this part of the business,
+for I find of those times when I was perfectly sure of the sex of the
+parent, the male fed twenty-eight times to his partner’s fourteen, or just double.
+It was the male parent which was the last seen at the nest previous to the
+departure of the one surviving young—a male. The food for the most part
+consisted of small fish, crawfish, minnows, tadpoles, and probably beetles.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—The young kingfisher is hatched naked, blind, and
+helpless, a shapeless mass of reddish flesh, looking much like a very
+young puppy with a huge conical bill. Its eyes do not open for about
+two weeks. Within a week, or less, the pinfeathers or feather sheaths
+appear, and soon the young bird bristles in all the feather
+tracts with quills like a young porcupine, which grow to varying
+lengths and show, before they burst, the pectoral band and the general
+color pattern of the adult. When the young bird is 17 or 18
+days old, a remarkable change takes places within the short space of
+24 hours, for the sheaths rapidly burst and the juvenal plumage
+blossoms out all over the body.</p>
+
+<p>In this plumage the young bird looks strikingly like the adult with
+only minor differences, and the sexes are alike. Young birds of
+both sexes, when fully fledged, have the pectoral band more or less
+heavily tipped or mixed with cinnamon, rufous or dull brown; this
+usually consists of narrow edgings in young males, but in young
+females many feathers are half or more brown; the rufous band of
+the female adult is only partially shown in the young female, mainly
+on the flanks, and it shows to some extent in nearly all young males,
+some having nearly as much as young females; the crest is darker
+than in adults, there is more white in the wing coverts, the white
+tips of the secondaries are more extensive, and the central tail
+feathers are spotted, as in the adult female. This juvenal plumage
+is also a first winter plumage, for it is worn without much change
+until spring. Young birds have a first, prenuptial molt early in
+spring, which involves most of the body plumage, perhaps all of it,
+the tail, and apparently the wings also; this takes place between
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</span>February and April. Adults have a complete postnuptial molt in
+August, September, and October.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Brewster (1937a) made some observations on the roosting habits
+of kingfishers at Umbagog Lake, Maine, of which he says: “Every
+evening, a little after sunset, two or three Kingfishers resort to Pine
+Point to spend the night. They fly directly into the forest and go
+to roost among the densest foliage, often that of spruces and arbor
+vitaes, growing anywhere from four to ten rods back from the nearest
+shore.” One that he watched “flew up into a tall, slender Paper
+Birch, and alighted near the end of a long branch, about thirty feet
+above the ground. * * * As darkness gathered, the bird settled
+lower and lower on the branch, and drew in its neck without, however,
+burying its head in its plumage, for I could still see its bill
+pointing outward over the breast. At 9 <span class="allsmcap">P. M.</span> I went under the tree,
+and by the light of a lantern dimly made out the Kingfisher, crouching
+in the same attitude, in exactly the same place.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The kingfisher is a fish eater and an expert fisherman, well
+deserving its name. It evidently prefers fish to any other food and
+would probably live on fish exclusively, if it were always able to
+secure all it needed. It catches mainly small fish, preferably not
+over 6 inches long, and mostly those species that are of little use,
+or even harmful, economically as far as human interests are concerned.
+The kingfisher has been condemned by trout fisherman as
+a great destroyer of trout, but in a large measure unjustly. Kingfishers
+undoubtedly visit trout hatcheries frequently and can easily
+catch plenty of trout in the open pools, where the trout have no place
+to hide and where they are congregated in large numbers; they can
+do considerable damage in such places, but the trout can be easily
+protected by placing wire screens over the pools. In the trout
+streams wild trout are not so easily caught, for, as every trout fisherman
+knows, the trout are seldom seen in the open places except when
+darting swiftly across them, but spend their time hiding under overhanging
+banks, or under logs or stones, and only dashing out occasionally
+to capture their prey. On the other hand, chubs, dace, suckers,
+and sometimes sculpins are very common in most trout streams,
+generally in larger numbers than the trout; they frequent the open
+spaces, are much slower in their movements than the swiftly moving
+trout, and consequently are more easily caught. The records show
+that these neutral or harmful fishes make up the greater part, or
+nearly all, of the kingfisher’s catch in trout streams. Chub and sculpins
+are very destructive to small trout fry; and suckers eat quantities
+of trout spawn; consequently the kingfishers are really doing the
+trout fisherman a favor by reducing the numbers of these fishes in the
+streams and should be protected rather than persecuted.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</span></p>
+
+<p>The kingfisher must of necessity do its fishing in clear water, so is
+seldom seen on muddy streams or ponds, or on those that are choked
+or overgrown with thick vegetation, such as is often found along
+trout streams. It usually perches on some stake, snag, or pier standing
+in the water, or on some bare overhanging branch, where it can
+watch patiently for some passing fish. Favorite perches of this sort
+in good fishing spots are resorted to regularly and rival kingfishers
+are driven away, for the kingfisher is a solitary bird except during
+the nesting season or while training its young. From such a perch
+the bird may dive obliquely into the water to seize the fish in its
+powerful bill; or, rising 30 or 40 feet into the air and scanning the
+water below it in more active pursuit of its prey, it may stop and
+hover for a few seconds, with rapidly vibrating wings, and then make
+a straight or spiral dive directly downward, disappearing beneath
+the water sometimes for several seconds. It is not always successful
+in its plunges, as the fish may move and cause a sudden change of
+direction in the bird’s rapid dive either above or below the surface;
+but it is not easily discouraged and is always ready to try again.
+Having secured the fish, it flies with it to some favorite perch, where
+it beats the fish into insensibility, tosses it into the air, or otherwise
+adjusts it, so that it can swallow it head first and thus avoid any
+injury to its throat from the sharp spiny fins. Sometimes the fish is
+too large to be swallowed completely, in which case the tail must be
+left protruding from the mouth until the rapid process of digestion
+enables the bird to gradually work it down. Manly Hardy wrote
+to Major Bendire (1895) of such a case, and says: “I shot a Kingfisher
+last spring that had swallowed a pickerel considerably longer
+than the bird from the end of the bill to the tip of the tail, and the
+tail of the fish protruding from the throat, while the head was partly
+doubled back, causing a large protuberance near the vent.”</p>
+
+<p>Where fish are not readily obtainable, especially in the arid regions
+of the Southwest where the streams largely disappear during the
+dry season, the kingfisher seems able to make a good living on various
+other kinds of food. The list includes crabs, crayfishes, mussels, lizards,
+frogs, toads, small snakes, turtles, grasshoppers, locusts,
+rickets, salamanders, newts, butterflies, moths, beetles and other insects,
+young birds, mice, and even berries. On the seacoast, it has
+been known to feed on clams and oysters, which sometimes results
+disastrously for the bird. H. C. Hopkins (1892) reports finding a
+kingfisher with “its bill held fast between the shells of an oyster.”
+The bird had evidently inserted its bill into the open shell of the
+oyster, which had closed upon it; “the tongue [was] quite black from
+non-circulation of the blood, which showed that it must have been
+held prisoner for some time.” The bird would probably have
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</span>drowned at the next high tide. Dr. B. H. Warren (1890) reports
+that a friend of his once caught one of these birds on a hook and
+line while fishing with a live minnow for bait. He also says: “One
+day B. M. Everhart found a kingfisher lying on the bank of a
+small stream. On making an investigation, Mr. Everhart ascertained
+that the bird was unable to fly, as its bill was tightly clasped
+in the grasp of a large fresh-water mussel. I have heard of several
+instances where kingfishers have been captured under similar circumstances,
+which could naturally lead one to suppose that they feed to
+a limited degree on the flesh of these bivalves.”</p>
+
+<p>In the Bermudas, kingfishers are said to feed on squids. Walter B.
+Barrows (1912) quotes Professor Aughey, of Nebraska, as follows:
+“One that was sent to me to identify in September, 1874, had 18
+locusts, in addition to portions of some fish, in its stomach. One
+that I opened in September, 1876, had mingled at least 14 locusts
+with its fish diet.” Bendire (1895) caught a kingfisher in a trap
+baited with a mouse, and believed “that not a few mice, and possibly
+small birds also, are caught by them during their nocturnal rambles,
+and they are certainly fully as active throughout the night as in the
+daytime.”</p>
+
+<p>Kingfishers disgorge as pellets the indigestible portions of their
+food, such as fish bones and scales, the shells of <a id="chg9"></a>crustaceans and the
+seeds of berries; the bones and scales found in the nests are the
+remains of such pellets. Henry K. Carey (1909) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Only once have I seen a pellet of fishbones and scales being disgorged from
+the bird’s beak, as he sat on his hunting perch. These pellets are found
+wherever the birds are accustomed to sit for any length of time. I once
+found one completely composed of various parts of the shell of a small crab.
+Only a few days later I had the pleasure of seeing a crab actually caught.
+The bird captured him by diving in the usual way and took him to a low rock
+where he proceeded to bang him just as he would have done to a minnow.
+During this process the crab, which measured an inch and a half sideways
+across the shell, lost several legs and was dropped upon the rock, from which
+by a considerable effort he managed to fall by scrambling to the edge with his
+remaining legs. The bird, perhaps seeing that he was rather a large morsel
+to swallow whole, then forgot him completely and went on with his fishing.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Ora W. Knight (1908) has seen kingfishers chase and capture
+moths and butterflies, taking them on the wing. Dr. Thomas S.
+Roberts (1932) says that they have been known to eat young sparrows;
+also that “crawfish are pounded and crushed before swallowing,
+and fish that are too large may be divided into pieces by the
+powerful bill. Miss Densmore, of Red Wing, once saw a Kingfisher
+that was making unsuccessful attempts to handle a small turtle.
+This was thoroughly pounded and variously manipulated but had to
+be discarded in the end.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</span></p>
+
+<p>Dr. Charles W. Townsend (1918) writes: “Early in August, 1917,
+Mr. John Hair, gamekeeper of Mr. R. T. Crane at Ipswich, missed
+six of a four days old brood of Bob-whites. He had seen a Kingfisher
+nearby and later the same day saw it perched on the gable end
+of the little house where the Bob-whites had been hatched, and from
+there pounce on the young birds as they ran in and out. He shot the
+Kingfisher, and, on opening the bird, a female, found the legs and
+feathers of the young Bob-whites in its crop.”</p>
+
+<p>When hard pressed for animal food the kingfisher has been known
+to eat wild cherries and probably other wild fruits. Dr. Elliott
+Coues (1878) published the following note from Mrs. Mary Treat
+about a kingfisher that fished regularly from a private wharf in
+front of her house in Florida: “When the water is so rough that
+it is difficult for him to procure fish, instead of seeking some sequestered
+pool he remains at his usual post, occasionally making an
+ineffectual effort to secure his customary prey, until, nearly starved,
+he resorts to a sour-gum tree (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Nyssa aquatica</i>, L.) in the vicinity,
+and greedily devours the berries. Returning to his post, he soon
+ejects a pellet of the large seeds and skins of the fruit.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—The belted kingfisher is a striking and picturesque
+feature in the landscape whether in action or at rest. The mountain
+trout stream would lose much of its charm without the rattling call
+of the lone fisherman and the flash of his broad, blue wings, as he
+follows the course of the stream, flying well below the treetops until
+he glides upward to alight on his accustomed perch, there to tilt his
+short tail nervously up and down and raise and lower his long crest
+a few times, as he sounds his battle cry again. At the seashore, too,
+his trim, unique figure and his conspicuous color pattern, as he
+perches day after day on his favorite stake or goes rattling along
+the shore, add color and a tinge of wildness to the scene.</p>
+
+<p>The flight of the kingfisher is strong, swift, and graceful, usually
+low, but high above the treetops when traveling; often there are five
+or six rapid strokes followed by a long glide on half-closed wings.
+Mr. Carey (1909) writes of it:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Kingfisher’s flight is remarkable for its beauty. How easily those long
+wings carry him about, as he skims so close over the water that their tips are
+sometimes wetted, or, as he hovers, his body appearing absolutely motionless,
+in that wonderful way which few birds can equal, for indefinite periods of
+time. Sometimes, especially in water half a foot or less in depth, he dives
+while flying nearly parallel to its surface. Sometimes, in his journeys from
+perch to perch when fish are plentiful, he dips again and again into the water
+in this way, reminding one of the Swallow as he gracefully touches the water
+here and there in his flight over the mill-pond. Again, he drops like a falling
+stone in a nearly perpendicular line upon his fishy prey.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Again he writes, referring to times of keen competition over good
+fishing grounds:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</span></p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On such occasions one bird is often angrily pursued by another. These
+pursuits are most reckless and enduring in character. One sees the two
+birds swirl by like two blue flashes of light, to disappear in an instant of
+time on perfectly controlled wings perhaps far away in the pine woods,
+almost grazing the tough trunk of some mighty tree, or heading straight for a
+sheer cliff and rising fifteen feet or more to clear it when it seems that they
+must be dashed to pieces on the rock. I once saw a Kingfisher, hard-pressed in
+such a pursuit, adopt a clever means of escape. His pursuer was close upon
+him—about five feet behind. On they came down the creek, neither bird
+seeming to gain upon the other. Both were flying at top speed low over the
+water. Suddenly there was a splash, and the foremost Kingfisher disappeared
+under the water. The bird behind swept on and lit on a nearby stub, not
+attempting to renew the chase when his enemy reappeared.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The above was probably a case of one bird defending its territory
+against the invasion of it by another kingfisher. Frederick C.
+Lincoln (1924) saw a striking example of this during his field work
+in the marshes of the Illinois River; he says: “During the period of
+greatest abundance, practically every channel had its quota of birds,
+each of which appeared to patrol or to hold dominion over a certain
+well-defined section.” As many as 8 or 10 birds were encountered,
+each always confined to its own limited section. One of the boatmen
+told him that “he took much pleasure in informing club members and
+others who might be with him in the club launch, just how far the
+kingfisher then in sight would go and where the next one would be
+met.”</p>
+
+<p>William Brewster (1937a) watched a kingfisher at Lake Umbagog
+that “plunged into the water, striking a fish so large, that he had
+to let it go after a brief struggle, during which he failed to bring
+it to the surface, although evidently trying his best to do so.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—There is not much beauty in the voice of the kingfisher, but
+the loud rattling call always produces a thrill in the listener; it is
+a wild, weird, wilderness call that enlivens the solitudes and punctuates
+the stillness of lonely shores or forest streams; it seems to fit
+in well with the active vigor of this aggressive guardian of his
+domain, as a warning to his rivals. It consists of a series of harsh,
+wooden, rattling notes of great carrying power. It has been likened
+to the sound made by an old-fashioned policeman’s or watchman’s
+rattle, a very good description for those of us who are old enough
+to remember such out-of-date sounds; but it may remind the younger
+generation of the sound made by certain noise-making instruments
+used at get-together dinners, political rallies, or other joyous gatherings.</p>
+
+<p>It is not easily expressed in syllables, but Mr. Bralliar (1922) has
+written it fairly well as <i>rickety, crick, crick, crick</i>. The call varies
+some under different circumstances, sometimes being quite soft and
+low, as if in a conversational tone with its mate. The courtship
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</span>note, referred to above by Mr. Allen, was “a mewing note uttered
+in rapid succession, almost if not quite as loud as the familiar rattle.”
+Then there is the whining note, referred to by Mr. Carey above,
+“resembling the grating of two tree boughs in the wind,” which
+seems to be a note of anger while quarreling over fishing rights.
+Brewster (1937a) says that “on such occasions they often utter a
+harsh <i>cah-car-car-car</i>, quite unlike the usual volley of watchman’s
+rattle-like notes.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—The kingfisher could hardly be mistaken for anything
+else. Its shape is distinctive, its large head and crest and its
+long, heavy bill are all out of proportion to its small body, short tail,
+and tiny feet. As it flies its great blue wings, its white collar, and
+its banded breast are unique. Its loud, rattling note proclaims it
+beyond doubt.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—The most serious enemies of the kingfisher are the selfish
+fisherman, who wants all the fish for himself and begrudges
+the poor bird an honest living, and the proprietor of a trout hatchery,
+who is unwilling to go to the trouble and expense of screening his
+pools to protect his fish. The former shoots every kingfisher he can
+with misguided satisfaction; the latter either shoots or traps any
+that visit his pools. A small, unbaited, steel trap is set and fastened
+to the top of a stake or post near the bird’s favorite fishing pool; if
+the trap is so set that the pan is at the highest point, the bird is almost
+sure to alight on it and is caught. Hundreds of kingfishers are caught
+and killed in this way along private trout streams, or about trout
+hatcheries, every year.</p>
+
+<p>The natural enemies of the kingfisher are of no great menace to
+its welfare. The Cooper’s and the sharp-shinned hawks often pursue
+it, perhaps largely for sport; under the accounts of these two hawks,
+in a previous volume, will be found references to these attacks and the
+successful attempts of the kingfisher to escape by diving; it even
+seems as if the kingfisher enjoyed the sport, judged by its derisive
+“laughter” at the defeat of the hawk.</p>
+
+<p>The remains of a kingfisher have been found in the stomach of a
+red-tailed hawk; the former must have been caught unaware, for the
+hawk is no match for it in flight. The kingbird sometimes makes life
+miserable for the kingfisher; Fred T. Jencks (1881) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Kingfisher had poised himself several times to look for fish, and was
+just moving to do so again as the Kingbird approached and attacked him. The
+Kingfisher is not a troublesome bird, and always minds his own business.
+He was entirely unprepared, and acted as though he could not believe that
+the other had any evil intentions, for he tried to poise again. The second
+attack seemed to undeceive him, and show him his enemy was in earnest. He
+vaulted and turned, vainly endeavoring to rid himself of his persecutor. He
+soon saw he could not save himself by flight and tried diving. As soon, however,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</span>as he appeared at the surface he attempted to fly, but the Kingbird,
+keeping up an incessant twittering, forced him to dive again. Two or three
+times this was repeated, both birds making considerable noise, until the Kingfisher
+seemed convinced that escape in that direction was impossible, so he sat
+like a duck upon the surface, and as his persecutor would swoop at him he
+would go under. This lasted for some little time, until even the Kingbird
+seemed wearied and flew away.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Snakes and perhaps skunks or minks may crawl into the nesting
+holes, while the parent birds are away, and destroy the eggs or
+young; but it would seem that the formidable beak of the kingfisher,
+if at home, would prove to be an effective weapon of defense. H. H.
+Bailey (1907) says: “While digging out some Kingfishers’ nests this
+season I was surprised to find a dead bird in about every fourth
+or fifth hole. This I was at loss to account for, as the birds showed
+no signs of combat or disease, while the plumage was not even disarranged.
+The bodies, though, seemed to be dried up, with no signs
+of blood in them, so I presumed that something had crawled into the
+holes and sucked the blood from them, leaving the carcass intact.
+This surmise proved correct, as the last hole I dug out contained a
+large black snake, and a dead kingfisher still warm.”</p>
+
+<p>I quote the above for what it is worth, but cannot agree with Mr.
+Bailey’s conclusion. I have never heard that the black snake is a
+blood-sucker and doubt if it would attack a bird as big as a kingfisher.
+If such well-known blood-suckers as minks or weasels had
+attacked the bird, there would have been evidences of a struggle.
+I believe that the snake was looking for eggs. The kingfishers may
+have died from an epidemic of roundworms or ringworms, which
+have often proved fatal to these birds.</p>
+
+<p>Frederic H. Kennard told me that while he was fishing on Grand
+Lake, Maine, he and his daughter heard a splash behind them and
+their guide saw a kingfisher dive, disappear beneath the surface and
+not come up. Although they all watched for some time, the bird
+never appeared. They paddled over to the place where the kingfisher
+dived but could see no trace of the bird in the water or in
+the air. They suspected that some of the large fish, pickerel, salmon,
+or togue, that abound in that lake, may have caught the kingfisher.</p>
+
+<p>Arthur W. Brockway tells me of a nest that was dug into by a
+skunk and the young devoured, the excavation being made from
+above the nest.</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter.</i>—The belted kingfisher is a hardy bird, and remains as
+far north in fall and winter as it can find open water in which to
+catch a fair supply of fish. A few kingfishers remain all winter,
+especially during mild winters, in southern New England, frequenting
+to some extent the open inland streams, but more regularly along
+the southern coast from Cape Cod to Long Island Sound.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</span></p>
+
+<p>There, Mr. Forbush (1927) says, “they go into winter quarters in
+December, especially about river mouths where at that time the little
+frost-fish come in, and there they remain, unless extreme cold locks
+rivers and shores in ice.”</p>
+
+<p>They are occasionally seen in winter in the northern tier of States.
+Dr. L. H. Walkinshaw writes to me from Battle Creek, <abbr title="Michigan">Mich.</abbr>: “Along
+open stretches of water, a few kingfishers can be found during the
+entire winter. I have several dates for southern Michigan for December,
+January and February. I have watched them on zero, or
+near zero, days dive from some dead branch after minnows in the
+open stream.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Skinner says in his notes from Yellowstone Park: “Ordinarily
+this is a migratory bird, but here a few remain all winter along the
+streams kept open by hot water. During cold winds and storms,
+they are often seen in the most protected places, but with feathers
+all fluffed out. The winter birds noticed have been males, the females
+not appearing until March 17. In winter, I believe they roost
+in the tops of the thick cedars in the Gardiner Canyon, but I have
+no data about the other localities.”</p>
+
+<p>Most of the kingfishers migrate to the more southern States during
+the late fall, where they find open water and plenty of fish. There
+they establish regular fishing stations and live their solitary lives,
+each in its own territory. We often saw one in Florida perched
+day after day in practically the same spot, presumably the same
+bird in each case.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution126">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—North America south to northern South America; accidental
+in the Azores, Ireland, and the Netherlands.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The breeding range of the belted kingfisher extends
+<b>north</b> to central Alaska (Kowak River, Fairbanks, and probably
+Fort Yukon); Mackenzie (Fort McPherson, Fort Wrigley, Fort
+Providence, and Fort Smith); central Saskatchewan (Knee Lake and
+Pelican Lake); central Manitoba (Oxford Lake); Ontario (Rossport
+and North Abitibi River); Quebec (Lake Mistassini, Godbout, and
+Romaine River); and east-central Labrador (Grand Falls). From
+this northeastern station the range extends southward through Newfoundland
+and along the coasts of Nova Scotia and the Eastern
+United States to central Florida (Micanopy and Clearwater). <b>South</b>
+to Florida (Clearwater, probably St. Marks, and Chipley); southern
+Louisiana (Bird Island and Bayou Sara); Texas (Giddings, Corpus
+Christi, Kerrville, and Pecos); southern New Mexico (Carlsbad and
+Chloride); and southern California (Escondido). The western limits
+extend northward through California, Oregon, Washington, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</span>British Columbia (sometimes along the coast) to Alaska (Sitka,
+Hope, Mount McKinley, and Kowak River).</p>
+
+<p>There are a few records north and west of the range as outlined
+that may possibly represent occasional nesting. One was seen August
+5 and 6, 1915, at a point 100 miles above Bethel, Alaska, and another
+was seen on July 6, 1917, at Iditerod. MacFarlane (1891) reported
+seeing several birds in the Fort Anderson region of Mackenzie, but
+he states that no nests were found. An adult female was taken at
+Churchill, Manitoba, previous to 1845; one was seen at Fort Du
+Brochet on September 22, 1920, while the species also has been reported
+from York Factory.</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—In winter the species is found <b>north</b> with fair
+regularity to southeastern Alaska (Sitka and Wrangell); southeastern
+British Columbia (Okanagan Landing); Wyoming (Yellowstone
+Park and rarely Wheatland); rarely central Missouri (Marionville);
+rarely central Indiana (Crawfordsville and Richmond); Ohio (Canton);
+and southern New Jersey (Cape May). From this point the
+eastern boundary of the winter range extends <b>south</b> along the coast
+to southern Florida (Royal Palm Hammock and Key West); the
+Bahama Islands (Nassau); the Dominican Republic (Sanchez);
+Puerto Rico (Fortuna); the Lesser Antilles (Anguilla, Antigua, St.
+Lucia, Carriacou Island, and Los Testigos); and northeastern Venezuela
+(Cariaco). South to Venezuela (Cariaco, Guarico, and
+Apure); rarely northern Colombia (Santa Marta); Panama (Barro
+Colorado Island); and Costa Rica (San Jose). <b>West</b> to Costa <a id="chg10"></a>Rica
+(San Jose and Rio Frio) and northward along the west coast of
+Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico, the United States, and British Columbia,
+to southeastern Alaska (Craig, Ketchikan, and Sitka). Occasionally
+kingfishers will be recorded in winter from points in the
+northern United States (Montana, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, New
+York, Vermont, and Massachusetts), as well as from northern Ontario
+(London, Guelph, and Toronto). It also is a winter resident
+on Bermuda.</p>
+
+<p>The range as outlined is for the entire species, of which two subspecies
+are currently recognized. The eastern belted kingfisher
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Megaceryle alcyon alcyon</i>) occupies all the range east of the Rocky
+Mountains and north to Quebec and Mackenzie; the western belted
+kingfisher (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">M. a. caurina</i>) is found west of the Rocky Mountains
+and north to Alaska and Yukon.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of spring arrival are: Pennsylvania—Renovo,
+February 22; Oil City, March 3; Beaver, March 22.
+New York—Ballston Spa, March 19; Rochester, March 21; Watertown,
+March 27. Connecticut—Hartford, March 16. Rhode Island—Providence,
+February 23. Massachusetts—Boston, March 19; Harvard,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</span>March 25. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, March 26; Rutland, April
+4; Wells River, April 12. New Hampshire—Tilton, March 28.
+Maine—Orono, April 6; Portland, April 7; Machias, April 18. New
+Brunswick—Scotch Lake, April 22. Nova Scotia—Picton, April 6.
+Prince Edward Island—Alberton, April 17. Quebec—Montreal,
+April 21; Quebec City, April 24; Godbout, May 5. Missouri—St.
+Louis, February 25; Kansas City, March 10; Concordia, March
+17. Illinois—Chicago, March 11; Odin, March 13. Northern
+Ohio—Oberlin, February 13. Michigan—Vicksburg, March 8; Detroit,
+March 20; Sault Ste. Marie, April 11. Ontario—Toronto,
+March 6; Ottawa, April 5. Iowa—Iowa City, March 7; Sioux
+City, March 18. Wisconsin—La Crosse, March 11; Madison, March
+16; Stevens Point, April 1. Minnesota—St. Cloud, March 23; Minneapolis,
+March 24. Kansas—Hays, February 7. Nebraska—Valentine,
+March 3. South Dakota—Vermillion, March 22; Dell Rapids,
+March 23. North Dakota—Charlson, April 5. Manitoba—Margaret,
+April 1; Aweme, April 11; Reaburn, April 22. Saskatchewan—Indian
+Head, April 22; Eastend, April 23. Idaho—Rathdrum,
+April 9. Montana—Bozeman, March 26; Great Falls,
+April 13, Alberta—Banff, April 25; Stony Plain, May 12. Northwestern
+Alaska—Kowak River, May 21.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Late dates of fall departure are: Alberta—Lac
+la Biche, September 27; Banff, September 30; Camrose, October 24.
+Montana—Great Falls, October 1; Big Sandy, October 9; Fortine,
+October 31 (winters rarely). Saskatchewan—Indian Head, September
+20; Eastend, October 5. Manitoba—Killarney, October 15;
+Aweme, October 25. North Dakota—Rice Lake, October 2; Kindred,
+October 22. South Dakota—Yankton, October 16; Sioux Falls, November
+11. Nebraska—Valentine, October 24; Lincoln, October 30;
+Red Cloud, November 10. Kansas (sometimes winters)—Hays, November
+21; Wallace, November 24; Harper, November 30. Minnesota—Lanesboro,
+November 16 (sometimes winters); Minneapolis,
+November 25. Wisconsin—Madison, November 12. Illinois—Rantoul,
+October 27; Chicago, November 20. Ontario—Toronto, November
+3; Ottawa, November 26. Michigan, Sault Ste. Marie, October
+16; Detroit, December 4. Quebec—Montreal, October 23. Prince
+Edward Island—Alberton, October 10. New Brunswick—Scotch
+Lake, November 5. Maine—Portland, October 13; Phillips, October
+17. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, November 9; Wells River, November
+23. Massachusetts—Boston, December 13. Rhode Island—Providence,
+December 2. Connecticut—Hartford, December 26. New
+York—Watertown, October 31; Rochester, November 13. Northern
+New Jersey—Elizabeth, December 15. Pennsylvania—Beaver, November
+28; Renovo, November 30.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</span></p>
+
+<p>Further insight into the migratory flights of individual kingfishers
+is provided by banding records. One banded as a nestling at Noblesville,
+Ind., on June 21, 1924, was killed in the Naches River Valley,
+Tex., on November 19, 1924, while another, banded on June 30, 1937,
+at Waukesha, <abbr title="Wisconsin">Wis.</abbr>, was retaken at Society Hill, <abbr title="South Carolina">S. C.</abbr>, on November
+22, 1937.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—At least a part of the reported occurrences of the
+belted kingfisher in the Old World are unsatisfactory. Two cases,
+wherein specimens were alleged to have been taken in Meath and
+Wicklow, Ireland, in the autumn of 1845 are now believed to be based
+upon fraud. A specimen is supposed to have been taken on the island
+of Flores in the Azores, but neither its disposition nor the details of
+collection are known. A male bird was taken, however, in Holland
+on December 17, 1899, and another was collected on Westmann Island,
+off the south coast of Iceland, in September 1901.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—California: 16 records, April 7 to June 24; 8 records,
+April 21 to May 17, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Illinois: 5 records, May 10 to June 8.</p>
+
+<p>Massachusetts: 8 records, May 11 to June 6.</p>
+
+<p>New York: 27 records, April 10 to July 15; 14 records, May 10
+to 29.</p>
+
+<p>Ontario: 7 records, May 24 to June 28.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Megaceryle129">MEGACERYLE ALCYON CAURINA (Grinnell)</p>
+
+<p class="center">WESTERN BELTED KINGFISHER</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate15"><span class="smcap">Plate 15</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits129">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>It has long been known that the kingfishers of the Pacific coast are
+appreciably larger than eastern birds, but Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1910)
+was the first to give the western race a name. He characterizes it as
+“similar to the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ceryle alcyon</i> of eastern and southern North America,
+but size throughout greater, especially measurements of flight-feathers,”
+and goes on to say that “the secondary wing quills are
+<em>proportionally</em> longer in the northwestern birds. This means that in
+addition to its greater expanse of wing and generally larger size, the
+wing of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">caurina</i> is <em>broader</em>. In the closed wing this difference presents
+itself conspicuously in the interval between the end of the longest
+secondary and the tip of the longest primary. In the northwestern
+birds this interval averages only 27.3 mm., while in the eastern
+birds it averages 33.7 mm. This is in spite of the larger size of the
+former. The ratio to total wing length in the two cases is 17 and 22
+per cent., respectively.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</span></p>
+
+<p>The nesting habits of the western belted kingfisher seem to be very
+similar to those of the eastern bird; I find no record of its nesting
+anywhere but in sand, clay, or gravel banks; such banks are often
+much higher than those in the East, so the nesting burrow is often at
+a considerable height from the base, but usually near the top of the
+cliff.</p>
+
+<p>In all other respects its habits are not materially different from
+those of the species elsewhere. Grinnell and Storer (1924) say:
+“This bird’s wing-beat is characteristic, three quick beats followed by
+two executed in a more leisurely manner, like this: one, two, three;
+four; five.</p>
+
+<p>“A Western Belted Kingfisher watched by Mr. Walter P. Taylor
+came to a perch on a bare limb overhanging some rapids in the river,
+and sat there motionless. The outline of the bird’s body at once became
+indistinguishable from the light and shade of its background;
+in other words it was obliterated because of the disruptive pattern
+of its coloration, white and slate areas alternating. If the fishes in
+the water beneath got the same impression as did the human observer,
+the kingfisher must have become invisible to them, remaining
+so until the moment of its headlong plunge in their pursuit.”</p>
+
+<p>The eggs of the western belted kingfisher are similar to those of
+the eastern bird and average only slightly larger. The measurements
+of 38 eggs average 34.78 by 26.89 millimeters; the eggs showing
+the four extremes measure <b>36.6</b> by 27.4, 35.7 by <b>28</b>, <b>31.6</b> by 27, and 33
+by <b>25.4</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Megaceryle130">MEGACERYLE TORQUATA TORQUATA (Linnaeus).</p>
+
+<p class="center">RINGED KINGFISHER</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate17"><span class="smcap">Plate 17</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits130">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This handsome bird is the largest of the three species of kingfisher
+found on the American Continent. Its claim to a place on our list
+is based on the capture of a single specimen, an adult female, by
+George B. Benners, on June 2, 1888, about a mile below Laredo, Tex.,
+on the United States side of the Rio Grande. The specimen was presented
+to the Academy of Natural Sciences, in Philadelphia, of which
+Dr. Witmer Stone (1894) says: “It was sitting on some old roots
+which had been washed up into a heap by the current of the river,
+and was shot immediately, so that he did not see it fly or hear its
+call. Mr. Benners further states that he never saw one of these birds
+in the vicinity either before or since. Upon the strength of the evidence
+just given this species seems entitled to a place in the fauna
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</span>of the United States, along with several other tropical birds which
+occasionally reach the Rio Grande valley.”</p>
+
+<p>Col. A. J. Grayson, in his notes from western Mexico, sent to
+George N. Lawrence (1874), says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>I have seen the largest kingfisher only near the sea coast, in the vicinity of
+Mazatlan River, but not on that stream. They seem to prefer the stagnant
+pools and lagoons, whose waters are murky and densely shaded with overhanging
+trees; here upon some dried branch it sits quietly watching the opaque
+water for whatever finny creature may make its appearance upon the surface,
+when if not too large, it instantly darts or plunges headlong upon it; after
+securing the prey in its powerful bill, it bears it to the perch, and beating it a
+few times upon the perch swallows it entire. Small fishes constitute almost its
+principal food, but frogs and small water reptiles are often struck and devoured
+by it. This species does not seem to be so wary as its near congener, the
+Belted. I have approached it quite near, in order to observe its habits, and
+it appeared to be very little concerned at my presence. In examining the
+stomach of one shot by me, I found it crammed with the small fry peculiar
+to muddy pools, among which was a mud catfish of considerable size. It
+doubtless breeds in holes scratched in sand cliffs, like the other members of
+this family, but I have never encountered the nest.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say that in El Salvador&#x2060;—</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>the ringed kingfisher is of general distribution along the coast where it shows
+decided preference for mangrove lagoons. Locally, the species is almost equally
+common on fresh water wherever there is a plentiful supply of small fish.
+It is notable, though, that the species attains its upward limit at Lake Guija
+at 1,450 feet, and seems to be absent from the higher lakes such as Ilopango.
+It is customarily solitary, although local conditions such as a very favorable
+stream may result in a number being found at one point. A great deal of territory
+may be covered by individual birds, for they seem to have regular routes
+along lake borders and rivers with lookout perches at intervals of every few
+hundred yards. In activity this species is far ahead of any of the other resident
+kingfishers and evidently prefers to range widely for its prey rather than to
+stake out a limited, private preserve.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Alexander F. Skutch tells me that in the Caribbean lowlands of
+Guatemala and Honduras they are partial to the larger, more open
+streams and lagoons, and avoid the narrow, tree-shaded waterways
+that the smaller species of kingfisher sometimes frequent.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Major Bendire (1895) quotes Dr. Herman Burmeister
+(1856) as saying that “it nests in perpendicular banks, occasionally
+quite a distance from water, in burrows from 5 to 6 feet deep, and
+lays two white eggs.”</p>
+
+<p>There are two sets of eggs, one of five and one of six eggs, in the
+Thayer collection, taken for Frank B. Armstrong, on March 21 and
+30, 1910, near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico. One of the
+nests is described as a hole in the bank of a river, 8 feet deep and 10
+feet above water.</p>
+
+<p>Dickey and van Rossem (1938) state that “at San Sebastián in late
+July, 1912, nest holes were occasionally noted in vertical sandy
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</span>banks. In size these holes were on an average four inches wide and
+three inches high at the entrance. Those investigated went straight
+back into the bank, in one case as far as six feet. This particular
+burrow then may have made a turn, but it was not dug out.”</p>
+
+<p>Alexander F. Skutch has very kindly lent me his unpublished
+manuscript for a proposed work on the birds of the Caribbean lowlands
+of Central America, which contains much interesting information
+on this species, from which I shall quote freely. He says
+that, in that region, these kingfishers “begin the excavation of their
+burrows in February, if not earlier. Their nesting is of necessity
+limited to the drier season when the rivers are lowest, which in this
+region extends from February to the end of May. The flood waters
+of June often undermine and eat away the banks in which they
+nest, if they do not actually rise high enough to flood their tunnels.
+Since they begin the excavation of their burrows early and raise a
+single brood each year, they proceed with their task in a leisurely
+fashion, and one may watch long and in vain for them to return to
+their work.</p>
+
+<p>“One morning toward the end of February I concealed myself in
+a blind before a burrow in a bank of sandy loam beside the Rio
+Morja, near the boundary between Guatemala and Honduras. The
+tunnel was already well advanced and went far beneath the banana
+plants at the top of the bank, which had been freshly cut when the
+river ate into the plantation at the last high water. Although I
+began the watch early in the morning, it was 11 o’clock before I
+heard the measured <i>kleck kleck kleck</i>, and turning saw one of the
+pair approaching from upstream. It soon entered the burrow and
+remained within several minutes, appearing not to notice the rough-winged
+swallow that fluttered before the tunnel and several times
+rested in the entrance while it was busy inside. On emerging, the
+kingfisher perched atop a banana leaf and kept up a running conversation
+in low rattles with its mate, out of sight around the bend
+up-river. In five minutes it flew upstream to join the other, calling
+with a loud <i>kleck kleck kleck</i>.</p>
+
+<p>“Soon the pair returned together and began to work in earnest.
+Each time one entered the burrow there was a jet of earth thrown
+out behind. As the bird moved inward the jet fell short of the entrance
+until it could be seen no more. Doubtless the bird continued
+to kick the earth back until it reached the head of the excavation,
+and so the material loosened by the bill was gradually pushed out of
+the tunnel. The kingfishers invariably emerged head first, indicating
+that the burrow had reached its final length and had begun to
+widen at the far end into the nesting chamber. The bird inside
+called in low <i>klecks</i>, which were answered by the mate perched on a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</span>rusty tram rail, washed out by the flood, which leaned against the
+bank just below the burrow. They seemed to encourage each other
+in their dark subterranean labors. Both sexes shared equally in the
+toil, and as soon as one emerged and flew up beside the other on the
+rail, the latter went into the burrow, throwing out a jet of earth as
+he disappeared into the darkness. Four or five minutes was the
+usual period spent in the earthwork. On one occasion both were together
+in the burrow for a few minutes. Just after noon, while one
+bird was working inside, its mate became tired of waiting on the rail
+and flew upstream. The other, when it emerged and found itself
+alone, followed in this direction. Although I remained until the
+middle of the afternoon, the birds did not return, having worked less
+than an hour that day.</p>
+
+<p>“I waited almost a month before daring to open the nest. I
+probed the length of the burrow with a slender vine, repeating the
+measurement several times to make sure I had reached the back. I
+found the burrow to be 7 feet 3 inches long, measured back this
+distance from the top of the bank, and tried to calculate the position
+of the nesting chamber from the direction of the portion of the tunnel
+I could see from the front. Experience with Amazon kingfishers
+and motmots had taught me that by far the safest way to open a
+burrow is to dig down behind it and make an opening in the back of
+the nesting chamber just large enough to reach the eggs, afterward
+closing it with a stone or a board and carefully covering over the excavation.</p>
+
+<p>“As I began to dig almost above it, the incubating bird, who had
+stood its ground in face of the thrusts with the vine, flew out, uttered
+a few <i>klecks</i> and headed upstream, where it perched on a giant cane
+leaning over the current and soon plunged for a fish. I now saw for
+the first time that it was the male. Like other burrow-nesting birds
+under the same circumstances, it seemed rather unconcerned, and this
+despite the fact that I afterward found it the most devoted of
+parents.”</p>
+
+<p>Because he “had faith that the activities of birds, including their
+periods on the nest during incubation, are rhythmic and more or less
+constant for the species, rather than irregular and arbitrary,” Mr.
+Skutch was determined to learn how these kingfishers arranged their
+shifts on the nest. In his efforts to solve this problem, he was at
+“first baffled, next challenged, and finally surprised.” For many
+weary hours, during nearly two weeks, and at various hours from
+dawn to sunset, he patiently watched that hole in the bank, mostly
+with little or no results. The use of what he called a “silent monitor,”
+a small stick stuck upright and loosely in the entrance of the burrow,
+enabled him to tell that a bird had either entered or left the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</span>nest, but did not tell him the hour or the sex of the bird. His account
+of how he accomplished this and finally learned the secret is
+too long a story to be told here. But he did finally discover “that
+there is a single nest relief each day, early in the morning. This is
+comparatively easy to observe, for the bird coming to take its place
+in the burrow usually flies downstream sounding his powerful, metallic
+<i>kleck kleck</i> at measured intervals, and so heralds his own arrival.”
+After three or four false starts he finally gathers courage to
+enter the burrow; and, after a minute and a half or two minutes, his
+mate launches forth and flies off upstream. The times at which the
+relief took place varied from 7:05 to 10:01 a. m., most of the shifts
+being made between seven and nine o’clock. He says, further:
+“After I learned what precautions were necessary in order to determine
+the sexes of the birds, I found that on some mornings it was the
+male who entered and the female who departed, while on other mornings
+the reverse was true. There was a regular alternation, the male
+entering one morning and the female the next.</p>
+
+<p>“Each afternoon the incubating partner took a single recess, for
+food or exercise, from its long 24-hour turn on the eggs. It emerged
+suddenly and without warning, at some time between 1 and 4 o’clock,
+flew upstream to the feeding ground, leaving the nest unoccupied,
+and returned in half an hour to an hour. On returning, it flew
+downstream low above the water and entered the nest directly, without
+perching or calling, in a manner very different from the morning
+entry, since there was no mate on the nest to be advised of its arrival.
+Then it remained until relieved by the mate the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>“Few birds incubate so continuously as the ringed kingfishers.
+One day the female took her afternoon recess early, and on returning
+remained on the nest more than 19 hours, for her mate was very
+late in relieving her the next morning, and did not appear until 10
+o’clock. The usual period between their return in the afternoon
+and their relief the following morning is 16 or 17 hours.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Skutch found another nest of this kingfisher “400 feet downstream
+in the same bank. I opened it only two days before the eggs
+hatched. The bird on the nest, with a degree of attachment I have
+rarely seen equaled, remained bravely in the tunnel while I probed
+its length, dug in the rear, took out the eggs for measurement, fitted
+a stone in the aperture I had made, and tamped the soil above it.
+All this occupied well over an hour. This burrow was 7 feet 9 inches
+in length and the nesting chamber, 22 inches below the surface, contained,
+like the last, four white eggs. The territories of these two
+pairs extended in opposite directions from their burrows, the birds
+from the upper nest always entering it from upstream and returning
+thither when relieved, those in the lower nest fishing in the river
+below it.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The ringed kingfisher apparently lays three to six eggs
+to a set; probably four and five are the commonest numbers. What
+few eggs I have seen are pure white; they vary in shape from
+ovate to short-ovate; and the shells are smooth and quite glossy.
+The measurements of 19 eggs average 43.72 by 34.52 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>46.8</b> by 35, 43.7 by <b>35.6</b>,
+and <b>39.7</b> by <b>32.5</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—On the morning of March 28, the female arrived, at the
+first burrow examined by Mr. Skutch, at sunrise, an unusually early
+hour for her to appear, and seemed to be excited. He opened the
+burrow and found that two of the eggs had hatched. The nestlings
+were “pink skinned and were without the least vestige of feathers.
+They could already stand upright, supporting themselves on their
+feet and belly, and attempted to walk, which they did in a weak and
+tottering fashion.” Three of the eggs in the other nest hatched the
+same day; as he removed the stone from the rear, “a sizzling noise
+arose from the earth,” and two of the nestlings retreated into the
+tunnel with their mother, where they could not be reached.</p>
+
+<p>Soon after the young in the first nest had hatched, some malicious
+person dug into the burrow at both ends but could not reach the
+young in the tunnel. Three of these nestlings eventually died, but
+the parents continued to feed and brood the fourth in the exposed
+and gaping burrow. Then, Mr. Skutch continues: “Stuffed with
+whole fish to the bursting point, the single nestling grew at a tremendous
+rate. Its eyes opened by the tenth day, when it uttered a
+high-pitched, trilling sound in response to its parents’ rattle. It
+was 14 days before the upper mandible caught up to the lower in
+length. The young kingfisher was beginning to defend itself with
+energy and bit hard with its great mandibles whenever I picked it
+up. A few days later it squealed and fought like a fury. When 4
+weeks old it was fully feathered except for the naked belly, which
+rested upon the sandy floor of the foul burrow. To its biting and
+squealing it now added an alarm rattle almost as loud as that of the
+parents, which at length drew one of them, who answered in kind.
+Still it did not attempt to flutter, and when I placed it on the ground
+it could do no more than hop along with outstretched wings. It remained
+in the burrow a full week after it was completely feathered,
+and finally departed at the age of 34 or 35 days.</p>
+
+<p>“Although this nestling was one of the most vociferous I ever
+encountered, its struggles and cries were very mild in comparison
+with those of the single youngster who survived in the burrow downstream.”
+When about 4 weeks old, it was almost as big as its parents.
+When he attempted to reach it from the back of the nest, “it fled
+through the tunnel and jumped into the river, where it spread its
+wings, turned upstream, and flapped its way slowly against the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</span>current. When it encountered obstacles of stranded brush it hooked
+its bill over them and scrambled across. Thus it led me a merry
+chase, wading in the muddy shallows, until a fallen banana plant
+stopped its wayward progress and I seized it. Unlike its neighbor
+of the same age upstream, it had not become accustomed to being
+taken in hands; its deafening screams and fierce attempts to bite
+made, for duration and intensity, the best efforts of the other pale to
+insignificance. It was ten agonized minutes before it became reconciled
+to me, and I let it perch on my hand until its feathers dried
+before returning it to the burrow. This bird left its burrow between
+its thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh day.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—I have seen no very young birds. In immature birds,
+probably birds of the first year, the sexes are distinguishable. In the
+young male, the jugular area is dull gray washed with “cinnamon,”
+and the under tail coverts are pale cinnamon, both of which parts
+are pure white in the adult male, though some adults have the
+under tail coverts barred with bluish gray; the brown areas on the
+under parts are paler than in the adult, “ochraceous-tawny” to “cinnamon,”
+more or less mixed with white; these parts in the adult are
+rich browns, “Sanford’s brown” to “cinnamon-rufous”; the upper
+parts and wing coverts are dotted with small white spots, and many
+of the feathers have shaft streaks or median wedges of black; these
+parts are clear, grayish blue, or “delft blue,” in adults, without
+streaks; young birds also have broad, median, black streaks in the
+crest. Young females are similar to the young males but may be
+readily recognized by the broad pectoral band, which is never present
+in the male at any age; in the adult female this is clear bluish gray,
+but in the young bird it is broadly edged with rufous, or dull brown,
+and sometimes mainly rufous; in the young female the under wing
+coverts are wholly “cinnamon-rufous,” whereas in the young male
+these are partly white.</p>
+
+<p>I have not seen enough material to determine how long these
+immature plumages are worn, or to learn much about the molts.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Mr. Skutch (MS.) says on this subject: “The ringed kingfisher’s
+diet is rather monotonous. They live almost entirely, if not
+exclusively on fish, often of large size, which they catch in the regular
+manner of kingfishers, but being larger birds their plunges are
+more spectacular than those of the others.”</p>
+
+<p>One day “a female flew into a balsa tree, growing beside a small
+stream, with a fish fully half as long as herself dangling crosswise
+in her bill. For more than two and a half hours by the watch she
+held it thus, changing her position only from one branch to another
+of the same tree. I was at the time watching a green kingfisher’s
+nest, and I could keep her in sight without additional effort. When
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</span>at length I was ready to leave, she had begun to beat her fish against
+the limb, although it must have been dead long since. After this exhibition
+of stolidity, I no longer felt sorry for the ringed kingfishers
+because the customs of their race obliged them to sit on the nest for
+such long periods.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Dr. Charles W. Richmond (1893) found this species
+very common in Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and he writes of its
+habits:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>One morning a pair of these birds went through a very curious performance.
+Attention was first called to them by their loud rattling cry, which was kept
+up almost constantly as they circled and gyrated about over the water, occasionally
+dropping—not diving—into the water, and sinking below the surface
+for a moment. This maneuvering lasted some minutes, after which both birds
+flew upstream uttering their ordinary note.</p>
+
+<p>Two or three individuals were in the habit of passing the night at some
+point on the creek back of the “I. P.” plantation, and came over just about
+dusk every evening. I noticed them for several months, and was struck with
+the regularity of their coming, and the course taken by each on its way to the
+roost. The birds could be heard a considerable distance away, just before
+dusk, uttering their loud single “chuck” at every few beats of the wings.
+They appeared to come from their feeding grounds, often passing over the
+plantation opposite, probably to cut off a bend in the river. One of the birds
+invariably passed close to the corner of the laborers’ quarters, though at considerable
+height, and the other near a trumpet tree some distance away. The
+third bird was only a casual visitor. At times the birds came together, but
+usually there was an interval of several minutes. Their routes met at a turn
+of the creek a few rods back of the house, where they usually sounded their
+rattling notes and dropped down close to the water, which they followed to
+the roost. This was a huge spreading tree, covered with parasitic plants and
+numerous vines, which hung in loops and festoons from the limbs. On one
+occasion I shot at one of the birds as it came clucking overhead, and caused
+it to drop several small fish. A female nearly ready to deposit eggs was shot
+October 9.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Referring to the behavior of ringed kingfishers, Mr. Skutch (MS.)
+writes: “Watercourses are their highways, and, like men, they are
+frequently reluctant to leave them. One day, ascending in a motor
+launch the Toloa Creek in Honduras, we drove a ringed kingfisher
+before us for possibly a mile. Each time the boat approached he
+would leave his perch, fly a few hundred feet ahead, and finally
+alight in a branch overhanging the stream. Here he would wait
+until the launch was almost opposite him, then fly ahead of it a few
+hundred feet more. Only after this procedure had been repeated
+many times did he finally double over the bank and return downstream.”</p>
+
+<p>He noticed, while studying the program of nest relief, that these
+kingfishers “showed a certain amount of formalism in their natures.”
+One morning while he was on watch, “at 7:30 the male emerged
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</span>from the burrow without warning [and without waiting to be
+relieved by the female in the usual way] and flew upstream as usual.
+I was surprised at this unexpected behavior, but probably no more
+than his mate. Five minutes later she appeared from the direction
+of his departure and perched in a trumpet tree growing on the
+bank a few rods from the burrow, where she often rested before
+going to relieve the male on the nest. Soon he reappeared and the
+female, who had not moved, greeted him with a rapid, low rattle,
+which was evidently a scolding. A minute later he flew upstream
+again. I thought now the female would certainly enter, it was
+her day upon the nest, but such an unwelcomed entry would have
+been a breach in formality, beneath the dignity of a well-bred kingfisher
+matron. She delayed another minute, as though considering
+what course to follow, then flew off after the delinquent. Soon they
+both returned, but separately, and there was a rather lengthy conversation
+between the pair as they perched on the banana leaves near
+the entrance of the burrow. Finally, after flying back and forth
+several times before it, the male entered, rather sheepishly we may
+suppose, while his mate continued to <i>kleck</i> from her perch in a low
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>“Mrs. kingfisher had won her point. She delayed a seemly
+interval for him to compose himself for her reception, then entered
+herself with the usual warning. I shall probably never know what
+passes between them in the fraction of a minute they must be
+together in the nesting chamber, but whatever form of greeting they
+indulge in, we may well suppose it was not as cordial as usual. The
+male came out in record time, about one minute after his mate’s
+entry, and turned upstream, klecking loudly, a free bird at last.”</p>
+
+<p>A change in the behavior of the two males was noted after the
+young had hatched in the two nests, of which Mr. Skutch (MS.)
+writes: “The males of both nests, both of whom happened to be free
+that day, behaved differently than on previous mornings. After
+being relieved, they had gone off as usual to their respective territories
+up and down the stream; but instead of remaining there, as
+they had always done before the eggs hatched, they soon returned
+to perch at no great distance from their nests, and loudly protested
+my presence. In their excitement, both perched at the same time in
+the trumpet tree which grew on the bank of the river between the
+two nests, and was apparently the boundary between their territories.
+They stood side by side on a branch, their beautiful, white-barred,
+slate-colored wings spread until they almost touched. One
+raised his crest, but the other laid his flat, and, with open bills and
+angry <i>klecks</i>, each defied the other to cross the accepted frontier.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—The same patient observer says: “Now that there were nestlings,
+I heard an utterance from the kingfishers that I had never
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</span>heard before. It was really not so much a new note as a different
+manner of using the old familiar one, for their entire vocabulary consists
+of a sound that to our ears is suggested by the syllable <i>kleck</i>,
+but they employ their single word in a great variety of ways to
+express different meanings and emotions. A single loud <i>kleck</i>, uttered
+at measured intervals, punctuates their flight; a softer, rapidly
+repeated <i>kleck</i> is the signal that a bird wishes to relieve his mate on
+the nest; and now there were nestlings to guard they expressed their
+anxiety by a very loud, rapid, mechanical klecking, continued with
+momentary pauses so long as danger seemed to threaten. This
+harsh, deafening rattle was uttered while the bird perched with the
+bill open, the mandibles held motionless, and the tail vibrating
+rapidly up and down. I never heard another bird make more noise
+when its nestlings seemed to be in danger, nor give more evident
+signs of distress, yet, in common with other birds which nest underground,
+they never darted at me nor made any demonstration. They
+merely perched in full sight and rattled interminably.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution139">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Mexico, the Lesser Antilles, Central and South America;
+casual in the lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas; nonmigratory.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the ringed kingfisher extends <b>north</b> to Nayarit (Tres
+Marias Islands and San Blas); Tamaulipas (Rio Cruz and Tampico);
+Honduras (Toloa and Lancetilla); northern Colombia (Cartagena,
+Sabanilla, and Santa Marta); northern Venezuela (Lake Valencia);
+the Lesser Antilles (Goyave); British Guiana (Georgetown and
+Blairmont); Surinam (Paramaribo); and northern Brazil (Santarem
+and Capim River). <b>East</b> to Brazil (Capim River and Cantagalla);
+Uruguay (Rio Negro); and Argentina (Villegas, Puerto Santa Elena,
+and Tierra del Fuego). <b>South</b> to southern Argentina (Tierra del
+Fuego); and southern Chile (Chonos Archipelago). <b>West</b> to Chile
+(Chonos Archipelago and Chiloe Island); western Peru (Huachos
+and Lima); western Ecuador (Tumbez, Bucay, Babahoyo, and
+Vinces); western Colombia (Cali and Honda); Panama (San Miguel
+and Alminante Bay); Costa Rica (Pozo Azul and Bolson); western
+Guatemala (Rio Morja); Jalisco (Las Penas Island); and Nayarit
+(Tres Marias Islands).</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—The only United States record of this species is
+a specimen in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia that
+was collected on the American side of the Rio Grande, near Laredo,
+Texas, on June 2, 1888.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Guatemala: March.</p>
+
+<p>Mexico: March 21 and 30.</p>
+
+<p>Peru: May 29.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chloroceryle140">CHLOROCERYLE AMERICANA SEPTENTRIONALIS (Sharpe)</p>
+
+<p class="center">TEXAS KINGFISHER</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate16"><span class="smcap">Plate 16</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits140">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>I made the acquaintance of this pretty little kingfisher when I
+made a short visit to Cameron County, Tex., as the guest of George
+Finlay Simmons, in May 1923. This is a most interesting bird
+country, rich in the number of Mexican species that reach their
+northern limits here and the only region in which some of them can
+be found within the limits of the United States. About Brownsville
+the chaparral, the open prairies, the tree claims, the ponds, and
+the swamps were all teeming with bird life of many species; but
+perhaps the most interesting of all were the dense forests along the
+resacas or stagnant watercourses, the old beds of rivers; these often
+contained large trees, mesquite, huisache, ebony, palms, etc., with a
+thick undergrowth of many shrubs and small trees, such as granjena,
+persimmons, coffee bean, and bush morning-glory. Here we
+found the characteristic birds of the region in abundance, such as
+the chachalaca, the red-billed pigeon, the noisy derby flycatcher, the
+brilliant green jay, and Audubon’s oriole. Here, too, I was delighted
+to see my first Texas kingfisher, as it sat on a dead fallen tree over
+the water and then went flying away upstream, uttering its rattling
+twitter, suggestive of but different from that of the belted kingfisher.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Simmons (1925) says that it is “resident along clearer mountain
+streams of southwest-central Texas, from Comal County southward.
+* * * Occurrence depends largely on its habitat, the bird
+requiring the clearest of waters, particularly the crystal-clear rivers
+and brooks of the central Texas hill area; dislikes water the least
+bit muddy; larger, clearer streams and rarely smaller ones,” as well
+as “shady little brooks,” are mentioned as its favorite haunts.</p>
+
+<p>Dickey and van Rossem (1938) record this kingfisher as a “common
+resident throughout the arid Lower Tropical Zone on all freshwater
+lakes, streams, and marshes below 2,300 feet, and also coast-wise
+in the mangrove belt,” in El Salvador. Of its haunts they
+say: “A favorite environment is along small, rocky streams of the
+uplands, and in such places the population averages about a pair to
+the mile. When the young of the year are on the wing, this average
+is considerably increased for a time. Probably the section of stream
+inhabited by any individual pair has pretty definite limits, for
+although individual birds or pairs show no hesitancy in keeping
+well ahead of a person for a time, sooner or later they will make
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</span>every effort to break back along the route to the places from where
+they were first started. Salt water is apparently not greatly to
+their liking, and in the mangrove lagoons they were decidedly uncommon.
+Scarcity of suitable nesting sites may, however, be in part
+responsible for this condition.”</p>
+
+<p>Alexander F. Skutch found this kingfisher on small streams as
+high as 7,000 feet above sea level in the highlands of Guatemala,
+and writes (MS.) of its haunts: “While toiling over the rocky bed
+of some narrow torrent rushing down a mountain valley, where the
+huge trees arch overhead and shut out the sky, I have often heard a
+pleasant <i>cheep</i> and turned to watch the solitary figure of a green
+kingfisher fly swiftly past, low above the water and following all
+the twistings of the channel, until lost in the depth of the forest.
+While his larger relatives require deeper water and a longer drop,
+he is often content to plunge from the top of a boulder projecting a
+foot or so above a shallow channel, and fishes on the smaller streams
+from which they are absent; but he joins them on the broader and
+more sluggish waterways. He rarely hovers above the water in the
+manner of the larger kingfishers.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The first account of the nesting of the Texas kingfisher
+is by William Brewster (1879), who writes: “This beautiful little
+Kingfisher was found by Mr. Werner in comparative abundance at
+several points in Comal County, notably about some of the springs
+that empty into the Guadaloupe River. A set of six eggs, taken
+April 25, 1878, was authenticated by the capture of both parent birds,
+the female being caught on the nest. * * * The nesting cavity
+was in a sandy bank near the water’s edge. The eggs were laid on the
+bare sand, no fish bones or other extraneous material being near.
+The entrance was not quite 1¾ inches in diameter, and the hole
+extended inward from the face of the bank about 3½ feet.”</p>
+
+<p>Bendire (1895) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The nests of many of these little Kingfishers are yearly destroyed by high
+water flooding their burrows, caused by heavy rains and cloud-bursts, which
+are more or less prevalent in southern and western Texas. It is not uncommon
+on both the Medina and San Antonio rivers, and a nesting site on the last-mentioned
+stream found by Mr. C. H. Kearny, in the spring of 1892, containing
+six fresh eggs, is described by him as being located in a bank about 15 feet high
+and about 5 feet above the water level. The nesting chamber, which was slightly
+larger than the tunnel leading to it, was placed about 2 feet from the mouth of
+the hole. There was no nest proper, but a few fish bones and scales were
+scattered about the eggs. In the same bank a number of Bank Swallows
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Clivicola riparia</i>) had taken up temporary homes, and one of their holes was
+located within a foot of that of the Kingfishers. They are devoted parents,
+and these birds will usually allow themselves to be caught rather than forsake
+their eggs.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</span></p>
+
+<p>There are four sets of eggs of this kingfisher in the Thayer collection
+and one in the writer’s collection, all taken by, or for, Frank B.
+Armstrong, near Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, between
+March 12 and 28, 1908. The nests were all in holes in banks, about
+3 feet deep and 6 to 8 feet above the water.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Skutch says (MS.) that this kingfisher, which he calls the green
+kingfisher, is one of the five species of birds that nest most commonly
+in the banks of the streams in the Caribbean lowlands of Central
+America. “The burrows of the ringed kingfisher are distinguished
+at once by the large diameter of the tunnel, 6 inches in width. Next
+in size are those of the Amazon kingfisher, 3¾ inches wide. Then
+come those of the turquoise-browed motmot, about 3½ inches in width;
+and finally those of the green kingfisher, only 2 or 2¼ inches in
+horizontal diameter.</p>
+
+<p>“While the burrows of the larger kingfishers and the motmot are
+placed in plain sight in the bare and exposed banks, so that he who
+runs may see them, those of the green kingfisher I have found concealed
+by the fringe of vines and dead vegetation draping the top
+of the bank, or else behind exposed roots, and I discovered them only
+by seeing a bird enter or leave. Theirs were the last of the three
+kingfishers’ nests I encountered, and I found only two, late in the
+season, although the species is equally abundant with the Amazon
+kingfisher. As befits the smaller bird, their burrows are far shorter
+than those of the larger species. The two I measured were only 22
+and 25 inches in length.</p>
+
+<p>“One morning at the end of April, I sat down to eat my breakfast
+upon a fallen log beside the Quebrada de Arena, a little brook so
+narrow that one can easily jump across it, flowing through a pasture
+grown up with low bushes and thorny vine tangles. Presently a male
+green kingfisher flew downstream, perched on a branch ahead of me,
+<i>ticked</i> a great deal and seemed excited about my presence. The bird’s
+persistence in remaining in that stretch of the river and his
+evident excitement renewed my conviction [on a previous visit] that
+his burrow was not far distant. I removed my shoes and waded up
+and down, examining every likely bit of bank, while the bird flew
+back and forth to keep out of my way. I discovered only old burrows
+whose lack of fresh foot-furrows proclaimed clearly enough they were
+not in use. Quite baffled, I paused beneath the shelter of some overhanging
+bushes to watch the bird, and in a few minutes, after calling
+again <i>tick tick tick</i>, he flew up beneath the exposed roots of a dead
+stump, half washed out, and disappeared. This was almost the exact
+spot whence I had seen him or his mate emerge three weeks before,
+but the entrance to the burrow was so well concealed by the overhang
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</span>of the top of the bank, the projecting roots and the vines which draped
+over them, that it had completely escaped me.</p>
+
+<p>“I lost no time in opening the burrow. The male flew out with
+the second push I gave the machete which I used to dig, for the tunnel
+sloped upward so sharply that the nesting chamber was less than
+three inches below the surface of the ground, and I broke through
+into the rear of it before I supposed I had well started to dig. There
+were three white eggs, well advanced in incubation, to judge from
+their opacity. The male fluttered several times in front of the burrow,
+eager to enter before it had been closed again. I fitted a stone over
+the small aperture I had made, covered it with earth, and placed logs
+across the roof of the nesting chamber, to prevent the mules’ stepping
+upon it and possibly breaking through. The birds continued to
+incubate.</p>
+
+<p>“The pair arranged their turns on the eggs in much the same manner
+as the Amazon kingfishers. The female spent each night on the
+nest. Soon after 6 a. m. the male flew downstream, low above the
+water, uttering at intervals the high-pitched <i>cheep</i>, which is his flight
+call. He perched on one of the roots of the old stump projecting in
+front of the nest and called <i>tick tick tick</i> in a low voice, which his mate
+heard in the burrow. She came forth, greeting him with a single
+<i>cheep</i>, as she flew swiftly past and turned down the brook to her feeding
+grounds. Her behavior was rather erratic.</p>
+
+<p>“One morning she could not await his arrival, although he was
+hardly late. She popped out of the nest without warning and flew
+off, but a minute later the pair returned together. The male went to
+the root in front of the burrow, <i>ticked</i> just as much as he was accustomed
+to do to call off his mate, although he could certainly see she
+was not inside, then entered the empty burrow. The following morning
+she acted in quite another manner. Just after 6, on a cloudy
+morning after a night of hard rain, the male flew downstream, perched
+in front of the burrow, and <i>ticked</i> for her to come forth, but she paid
+no heed to his repeated calls. He flew a few rods downstream, then
+returned to call <i>tick tick tick</i> again. Still no response, so he flew away
+out of sight. Ten minutes later he reappeared and perched again on
+the root in front of the burrow, where he called at intervals for two
+minutes before at length she darted forth. Then he entered for the
+morning. The male incubated until the female returned from her
+breakfast to relieve him. One morning she left him on the nest less
+than two hours, but the next it was nearly three. She covered the
+eggs for the remainder of the morning. The male was chiefly responsible
+for keeping them warm during the afternoon, until his mate
+called him from the nest and entered for the night at some time between
+5 and 6 o’clock.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The Texas kingfisher lays three to six eggs, but five seems
+to be the commonest number. These vary in shape from oval to
+elliptical-oval; the shell is smooth and thin; some show little or no
+gloss and others are quite glossy; the color is pure white. The measurements
+of 64 eggs average 24.36 by 19.23 millimeters; the eggs
+showing the four extreme measures <b>26.4</b> by 20.3, 24.1 by <b>20.7</b>, <b>22.3</b>
+by 19.3, and 23.8 by <b>17.5</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—The second nest that Mr. Skutch found contained five
+“pink-skinned, blind, and totally naked nestlings,” which “like those
+of the larger species, had undershot bills and heel callosities.” He
+visited this nest 18 days later and found that the young, which were
+not more than 25 days old, “could flutter just a few feet. One flew into
+the river, where she spread her wings on the surface and headed for
+the shore. I threw her into the shallow water again, and again she
+turned unerringly toward the marginal rocks, beating her wings on the
+surface until she gained a footing. The following morning I placed
+them on the shore for a photograph, but two found their wings and
+easily traversed the 50-foot channel, flying low above the surface. The
+power of flight had come to them almost overnight.</p>
+
+<p>“One evening early in June, after the sun had fallen behind the
+bordering fringe of willow trees, I was resting on a log stranded on the
+flood plain of the river, when a young green kingfisher flew upstream,
+calling <i>cheep</i> at intervals, and perched on a pile of brushwood almost
+in front of the burrow in which it was hatched. Presently its father
+came flying downstream, with a small minnow in his bill, and perched
+on the same pile of brushwood, not far from the other. The young
+bird came toward him, as if to receive the fish, but the other raised his
+wings above his back to forfend it. The youngster took this as a hint
+to remain aloof and perched at a little distance. Not satisfied with the
+interval that remained between them, the male darted at the young
+bird, which retreated a few feet. Several times it started to approach
+its father, but each time was warned to remain away by the spread
+wings, a very picturesque attitude. Several times, too, the bird with
+the fish drove at the applicant for it and finally, still holding the
+fish in his bill, chased it down the stream and out of sight. The young
+kingfisher had been out of the nest 29 days and must now at least learn
+to dive for its own fish.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—The young kingfishers are hatched naked and blind, as
+described above, but the juvenal plumage is acquired before the young
+leave the nest. A young male, taken on August 21, fully grown and
+fully fledged in juvenal plumage, is much like the adult female; the
+rich brown pectoral band of the adult male is only faintly indicated
+but is replaced by a band of greenish-black spots; and there is more
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</span>black spotting on the flanks than in the adult male. Apparently there
+is a gradual change toward maturity during the first year, for October,
+February, and April birds show a gradual increase in the rufous band.</p>
+
+<p>The youngest female I have seen, taken on June 8, is much like the
+adult female, but the pectoral band of greenish black spots is lacking,
+or nearly so, the under parts being nearly immaculate. These spots,
+which are more in the form of broad streaks than in transverse spots,
+increase with age to form one complete and one nearly complete band
+in the oldest birds. The observations made by Mr. Skutch on the
+brood of young that he studied agree substantially with the above.</p>
+
+<p>I have no data on the molts, but Mr. van Rossem (1938) says that
+“the annual molt * * * takes place in the fall, but the definite time
+is not known.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The food mentioned by Mr. Skutch (MS.) consisted of small
+minnows. Mr. Simmons (1925) says that this kingfisher is a “business-like
+little fisherman, perching atop a stick or stake in the water
+or on a low branch overhanging low water”; it “frequently flies back
+and forth over the water, hunting for small fish.” It is “often driven
+off feeding-grounds by the larger Belted Kingfisher, with which it is
+sometimes found.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—Mr. Simmons (1925) says that the voice of the Texas kingfisher
+is a “rather sharp, rattling twitter, uttered on the wing; quite
+different from and shriller than the loud, harsh rattle of the Belted
+Kingfisher.” Mr. Skutch refers to the flight note as <i>cheep</i>, and the
+call or alarm note as <i>tick tick tick</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—This is such a small kingfisher that it could hardly
+be mistaken for anything else within its range. Its upper parts are
+dark, glossy green, and spotted with white, and it has no occipital
+crest. The under parts are white, with a rufous pectoral band on the
+male and a ring of black spots across the breast of the female.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—The first set of eggs that Mr. Skutch found failed to
+hatch, as they were destroyed by ants. He writes (MS.): “Opening
+the burrow, I found it swarming with myriads of small, amber ‘fire
+ants,’ a scourge to man and beast alike. Invading the nest, they had
+worried the birds until they fidgeted on their eggs and cracked them;
+then they had worked into the cracks and begun to eat the embryos.
+I had cleaned them out the previous evening, but all to no avail. The
+nest was completely ruined. That same morning they had attacked
+and killed three young woodpeckers in their nest in a dead stub
+standing a few paces from the kingfishers’ burrow. In the humid
+coastal regions, ants are one of the principal enemies, if not actually
+the chief enemy, of nesting birds. I have found more eggs and nestlings
+destroyed by them than by all other known agents combined.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution146">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southern Texas, Mexico, and Central and South America;
+casual in southern Arizona; apparently a nonmigratory species.</p>
+
+<p>The range of the green kingfisher extends <b>north</b> to Sinaloa (Mazatlan);
+Durango (Rio Sestin); southern Texas (Turtle Creek and New
+Braunfels); Quintana Roo (Xcopan); eastern Nicaragua (Pis Pis
+River); northern Colombia (Santa Marta and Bonda); northern
+Venezuela (La Guaira); British Guiana (Potaro Landing and Bartica);
+Surinam (Paramaribo); and northern Brazil (Quixada).
+<b>East</b> to Brazil (Quixada, Rio Taquarussu, and Goyaz); and Uruguay
+(Santa Elena). <b>South</b> to southern Uruguay (Santa Elena); and
+central Argentina (Santa Elena, San Jose, and Tucuman). <b>West</b>
+to northwestern Argentina (Tucuman); Bolivia (San Jose); Peru
+(La Merced and the Ucayale River); Ecuador (Vinces); western
+Colombia (Tumaco, Cali, and Rio Frio); Panama (Sapo Mountains,
+Gatun, and the Chagres River); western Guatemala (Duenas, and
+Lake Atitlan); Oaxaca (Juchatengo); Nayarit (San Blas); and
+Sinaloa (Escuinapa, and Mazatlan).</p>
+
+<p>The subspecies, known as <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chloroceryle americanus septentrionalis</i>,
+is the only form to enter the United States. It ranges southward
+from Texas to Yucatan.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—A specimen was taken at Decatur, Tex., north of
+the normal range in this State, on January 3, 1889. Dr. Elliott Coues
+reported seeing this species in September 1865 at points on the Colorado
+River, Ariz., between Forts Mohave and Yuma, and one was
+taken on the San Pedro River near Fairbanks on February 13, 1910.
+One was collected on September 8, 1893, at Cajon Bonito Creek,
+Sonora, a few miles south of the New Mexico line. One was taken on
+the Santa Cruz River, Ariz., on October 1, 1938.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Mexico: 24 records, March 5 to June 13; 12 records,
+March 12 to April 19, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 4 records, April 11 to June 15.</p>
+</section>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</span></p>
+  <h3 class="nobreak" id="Order_CAPRIMULGIFORMES">
+    Order CAPRIMULGIFORMES
+  </h3>
+  <h4 id="FamCaprimulgidae">Family CAPRIMULGIDAE: Goatsuckers
+  </h4>
+  <p class="center" id="Antrostomus147">ANTROSTOMUS CAROLINENSIS (Gmelin)</p>
+<p class="center">CHUCK-WILL’S-WIDOW</p>
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate18"><span class="smcap">Plates 18–20</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits147">HABITS</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Contributed by Alexander Sprunt, Jr.</span></p>
+
+<p>Dusk falls gently over the salt marshes, which reach out from a
+shoreline where moss-bannered live oaks and stately pines rustle
+softly in the late March breeze. A faint fragrance of jessamine
+hangs in the air; the sleepy note of a cardinal echoes from a cassina
+thicket, while atop a tall palmetto a mockingbird salutes the coming
+night with a burst of melody. Silence comes and the stars appear,
+glinting in golden splendor through the purple gloom.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly through the air comes another sound, a sharp, clear-cut,
+insistent chant. Splitting the silences, it strikes clappingly upon
+one’s ears, ringing with startling emphasis, unmistakable, thrilling
+and welcome. The first chuck-will’s-widow has returned to the
+Carolina low country, and spring is definitely back again!</p>
+
+<p>There is something about nocturnal birds that fascinate one
+strangely. Doubtless the cloak of darkness that shrouds their movements
+and activities has a great deal to do with it. One cannot but
+wonder at their comings and goings; how they pursue their hunting
+amid the gloom. Their voices too lend much to the fascination, for
+the notes seem a part of the night itself, just as the bodies of the
+birds themselves seem more like detached and living particles of
+darkness than of flesh and feathers.</p>
+
+<p>All my life I have lived amid the haunts of some of these furtive
+kindred of the dusk, but the chuck-will’s-widow above all seems to
+typify the mystery of the night and invests it with a sense of intangible
+yet satisfying tranquillity. It has always seemed to me that
+those beautiful lines, written of the cuckoo, might be even more
+applicable to the chuck-will’s-widow, for, in truth, much of the time
+it does not seem a bird at all, but simply “a wandering voice.” Without
+brilliant plumage or grace of form, it nevertheless possesses
+undoubted character, and long acquaintance with the bird only increases
+the interest that is bound to be aroused in any study of its life
+and habits.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—Generally speaking, the chuck-will’s-widow arrives in
+the South in March. There is some indication that a few birds
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</span>spend the winter in southern Florida for C. J. Pennock (MS.) has
+stated that “in the Charlotte Harbor district a few at least appear
+to winter. February 26, 1926, one heard calling; February 24, 1927,
+while camping, we heard one.” Arthur H. Howell (1932) states
+that it “winters in small numbers” and gives December and February
+dates. R. J. Longstreet’s opinion (1930) is that “the chuck-will’s-widow
+is a summer resident in north Florida and a permanent
+resident in south Florida.” Audubon considered the species a
+permanent resident in the State, and his idea was, according to Allen
+(1871), confirmed by “old residents,” though he himself states it “is
+not observed till about the first of March.” I am obliged to spend
+portions of every winter month in Florida, being constantly in the
+field throughout the southern Everglades and the Keys, but it so
+happens that I have yet to find the chuck-will’s-widow during this
+season. The wintering population is undoubtedly small and
+scattered.</p>
+
+<p>It reaches north-central Florida about March 18 (D. J. Nicholson,
+MS.) and appears in the coastal districts of southern Georgia a few
+days later (T. D. Perry, MS.). In South Carolina, about Charleston,
+it arrives anywhere from the third week in March to the first week
+of April. The males always arrive first, followed in a few days
+by the females.</p>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—Little time is lost by the chuck-will’s-widow, after its
+arrival from its winter home, in seeking a mate. Almost at once it
+undertakes the search, and it is at such times that the observer
+has an opportunity to see them actively in daylight. The courtship
+performance is an interesting one and, all things considered, is not
+difficult to observe. The outstanding characteristic is the strutting
+pomposity of the male. He sidles up to the watching female, his
+wings droop, the tail is widely spread, and he swells and swells
+until it really seems that the limit of inflation is reached and another
+fraction of distention would cause him to disintegrate like a bursting
+bomb. Various vocal efforts are indulged in meanwhile, accompanied
+by quick, jerky motions. Audubon (1840) has compared this
+phase of the proceedings to that of the domestic cock pigeon, while
+Arthur T. Wayne (1910) likened it to a turkey gobbler’s antics.
+This latter has always seemed to me most apt, for not only does the
+seemingly endless inflation remind one vividly of the turkey, but the
+motions also suggest this bird.</p>
+
+<p>After this period of intense and apparently exhausting display, a
+space of calm and quiet pervades the pair should the male have been
+successful in his suit, and he perches placidly beside her.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—No semblance of a nest is constructed. The eggs are
+placed on the ground upon a carpet of dead leaves, and the sitting
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</span>bird constitutes one of the finest examples of protective coloration
+that nature affords. Such dependence is placed in it that the closest
+approach is possible, and the bird flushes only when nearly trodden
+on. The mottling of the plumage is exactly like that of the variegated
+background of leaves, sun splashes, and shadow, and one may
+look directly at the bird without seeing it. Once the bird is flushed,
+however, it is perfectly easy to see the eggs, for they then stand out
+like huge pearls against the leaves, not having the similarity to the
+ground that characterizes the eggs of the nighthawk.</p>
+
+<p>Mixed oak and pine woods are usually the nesting haunt of the
+chuck. In the large live-oak groves, which occur over so much of
+the plantation country of the South, the species is abundant and
+shows a remarkable tendency to place the eggs in nearly the same
+spot year after year. As a rule there is little if any undergrowth
+about the eggs. When under the pines, this would not be expected,
+and in the oak groves the ground is always covered by a veritable
+carpet of leaves, through which no undergrowth appears. Thus the
+eggs can be seen from a considerable distance should the bird be
+off them.</p>
+
+<p>On May 8, 1926, I found two eggs on Folly Island, S. C., lying
+upon pine needles. Marking the spot accurately I returned the
+next year and on May 12, 1927, found two eggs within 5 feet of
+the spot used previously.</p>
+
+<p>M. G. Vaiden (MS.) writes from Rosedale, Miss., that he discovered
+a set of eggs on May 1, 1911. <em>Twelve years later</em>, on April
+27, 1923, he returned to the same locality and found two eggs within
+10 feet of the same spot! He states that the “trees were larger, the
+hillside washed into gullies, but otherwise about as formerly.”</p>
+
+<p>Walter Colvin (MS.), of Arkansas City, Kans., reports the first
+nesting of the species in that State, two eggs having been found in
+May 1923, near Arkansas City, Cowley County. Another nest was
+discovered the following year (1924) also in May. Probably the
+chuck had been nesting there for some time previous and was also
+discovered in Miami County, by Mr. Colvin’s son John, in 1929.</p>
+
+<p>Nesting observations from a variety of sources indicate that the
+chuck raises but one brood. However, if the eggs are taken, the
+bird will lay again and again until young are hatched. The late
+Arthur T. Wayne, of Mount Pleasant, S. C., once took in succession
+three sets from a pair near his home, and a fourth was laid, incubated,
+and hatched.</p>
+
+<p>The chuck brooks no tampering with the eggs whatever. If they
+are handled, or as much as touched in some cases, the bird removes
+them to what is considered a safer locality. This habit was noted
+long ago and gave rise to much dispute and speculation as to the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</span>method employed in the transportation. It has been definitely
+proved that the bird takes them in the mouth. Audubon (1840)
+describes it so well that his account is given herewith:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>When the Chuck-will’s-widow, either male or female (for each sits alternately)
+has discovered that the eggs have been touched, it ruffles its feathers
+and appears extremely dejected for a minute or two, after which it emits a
+low murmuring cry, scarcely audible at a distance of more than eighteen or
+twenty yards. At this time the other parent reaches the spot, flying so low
+over the ground that I thought its little feet must have touched it, as it
+skimmed along, and after a few low notes and some gesticulations, all indicative
+of great distress, takes an egg in its large mouth, the other bird doing
+the same, when they would fly off together, skimming closely over the ground,
+until they disappeared among the branches and trees. But to what distance
+they remove the eggs, I have never been able to ascertain; nor have I ever
+had an opportunity of witnessing the removal of the young. Should a person,
+coming upon the nest when the bird is sitting, refrain from touching the eggs,
+the bird returns to them and sits as before. This fact I have also ascertained
+by observations.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The first “apparent” recorded instance of the occurrence and nesting
+of the chuck in Ohio is recorded by E. S. Thomas (1932) and dated
+May 14, 1932. On May 21, 1932, the nest and two eggs were found
+and the female, with two eggs, was collected for the Ohio State
+Museum.</p>
+
+<p>My earliest nesting record for South Carolina was made on April
+13, this being nearly two weeks in advance of the next nearest date.
+The eggs are laid somewhat sooner than usual in forward seasons,
+the above record being an illustration of such an instance.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—[<span class="smcap">Author’s note</span>: The chuck-will’s-widow regularly lays two
+eggs, which are between oval and elliptical-oval and usually moderately
+glossy. Major Bendire (1895) considered these eggs as
+“among the handsomest found in the United States.” I cannot do
+better than to quote his description of them, as follows:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The ground color of these eggs is of such a subtle tint that it is almost impossible
+to describe it accurately; it varies from a rich cream, with a faint
+pinkish suffusion, to a pale cream, and more rarely to pure white. They are in
+most cases more or less profusely blotched, marbled, and spotted with different
+shades of brown, tawny, fawn, and Isabel-color, underlaid and mixed with
+lighter shades of ecru drab, lavender, pearl gray, and pale heliotrope purple.
+In an occasional specimen some of the markings take the shape of irregular
+lines and tracings, like those of the Grackles; in others they are fine and minute,
+obscuring the ground color to some extent. In some specimens the darker
+shades predominate; in others, the lighter; in fact, there is an endless variation
+in the style of markings, but in the entire series there is not a single
+specimen which is not perceptibly marked.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The measurements of 54 eggs average 35.56 by 25.57 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>40</b> by 27.5, 38.1 by <b>28.2</b>,
+<b>32.9</b> by 25.1, and 36.2 by <b>23.1</b> millimeters].</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Some notes of unusual interest in regard to the behavior
+of the adult at the nest, as well as the actions of the young birds,
+have been sent me by Herbert L. Stoddard, of Thomasville, <abbr title="Georgia">Ga.</abbr>
+These are transcribed herewith, and in the general lack of such
+knowledge they serve to illuminate something of the home life of this
+interesting species:</p>
+
+<p>“April 30 (1928), 7 a. m.: One egg has hatched and the chick is a
+queer little mite covered with a yellow-ochre down, and hops about
+like a frog in a very lively manner. When he is uncomfortably hot
+or chilled he gives a plaintive little pipe that can be heard <em>about
+20 feet</em>.</p>
+
+<p>“May 1: Other chick hatched out this morning or during the night
+and eggshells were gone.</p>
+
+<p>“May 3: Chicks growing fast but still being brooded in same spot.
+Mother goes to sleep on a fence post after flushing, but as soon as
+chicks start to squeal from the heat, she becomes frantic and will
+nearly fly into my face. I bother her a few minutes at 3 p. m. each
+day, as I chase her well away, then duck into the blind and take a
+few feet of film as she comes back to the nest. Not much action,
+however, and she is a <em>wise fowl</em>. She knows perfectly when I am in
+the blind!</p>
+
+<p>“May 6: Found the nest spot empty today at noon but finally
+located the old bird (she has two patches of albinistic feathers in center
+of upper breast, so I know it’s the same individual that performed
+the incubation) brooding her two chicks about 30 feet south. Their
+eyes have been open from the first but are now a little deeper in color
+and are always half closed like those of the adult in daytime.</p>
+
+<p>“May 13: Have kept in rather close touch with the chuck-will’s-widow
+family recently. They are living under a growth of sparkleberry
+shrubs and have lived here within a radius of 6 feet for the
+last ten days.</p>
+
+<p>“The place is pretty well marked by their mourning-dovelike excrement.
+When disturbed, the chicks hop off with elevated wings in a
+‘mechanical toy’ sort of way. That is, their progress is marked by a
+series of rapid, toadlike hops until they are ‘run down’ (usually in
+30 or 40 feet). The wings serve as balances.</p>
+
+<p>“The chicks have a little complaining whine that brings the mother
+in frantic haste. She flies noiselessly about, every now and then lying
+on the ground with her wings <em>widely spread and reached forward</em>,
+with the primaries pressed to the ground. In this queer position,
+she beats them a bit and opens and shuts her huge mouth, exhaling
+air audibly as she does so and occasionally uttering the queer,
+froglike croak. Altogether an odd performance. No evidence of a
+mate has been seen about this location.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—[<span class="smcap">Author’s note</span>: The young chick is completely covered
+with long, soft, silky down; on the upper parts the color varies
+from “ochraceous-tawny” or “light ochraceous-buff” on the head to
+“tawny” on the back; on the lower surface the color grades from
+“ochraceous-tawny” on the chest to “light ochraceous-buff” on the
+throat and belly.</p>
+
+<p>The growth of the juvenal plumage, in which the sexes are alike,
+is rapid. Ridgway (1914) describes it very well as follows: “Similar
+to the adult female in ‘pattern’ and coloration of tail, primaries, and
+primary coverts, but otherwise different; scapulars and middle wing-coverts
+ochraceous-buff, irregularly barred with black; pileum more
+grayish, with small spots, instead of streaks, of black; under parts
+barred with black on a light brownish buffy ground, without vermiculations,
+mottling, or spots, and band across lower throat indistinct
+or obsolete.”</p>
+
+<p>This plumage is worn but a short time, as a partial molt into a
+first winter plumage begins in July; I have seen a specimen that had
+nearly completed this molt on August 2; this plumage closely resembles
+that of the adult female, as the juvenal wings and tail are
+retained; I can find no evidence of a spring molt. Young birds
+apparently retain the first winter plumage, including the juvenal wings
+and tail, until the following summer; I have seen birds in this plumage
+during winter and as late as May in spring.</p>
+
+<p>Both adults and young have a complete annual molt, mainly in
+July and August. At this first postnuptial molt young birds become
+practically indistinguishable from adults, and the sexes become differentiated.
+Young birds in fresh fall plumage are darker and more
+richly colored than adults, with more “ochraceous-tawny”; the colors
+have faded some by spring.</p>
+
+<p>Adults have two recognizable color phases, a tawny phase, in which
+the ground color of the two central rectrices varies from “ochraceous-buff”
+to “ochraceous-tawny”, with deeper ochraceous or buffy colors
+in the scapulars and wing coverts; and a gray phase, in which the
+ground color of the two central rectrices is pale buff, or pale grayish
+buff, and the scapulars and wing coverts are paler and grayer.]</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The chuck-will’s-widow, like its family relatives, is an insect
+eater par excellence. The semitropical nature of much of its
+range is highly conducive to an abundance of insects and other night-flying
+creatures that are the bulk and mainstay of its diet. The mouth
+of the chuck is enormous, a characteristic of the goatsucker tribe,
+and is provided with bristles that act as a sort of additional trap.
+The widely open mouth is as much as 2 inches at the greatest breadth.</p>
+
+<p>Prey is secured at low elevations, often only a few feet from the
+ground. The bird works the edges of woodlands bordering open
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</span>fields and often makes sallies over the latter. The flight is silent, and
+the birds seem to be no more than gigantic moths. Beetles, “flying
+ants,” and moths make up a large bulk of the food in many localities.
+Small birds have frequently been found in the stomachs of this species.
+While seemingly incongruous, this is, after all, not difficult to
+understand when the conditions are considered. Many observers have
+concluded that this type of stomach content is taken by mistake; that
+the small, fluttering bird, confused by the darkness, is taken for a
+moth and snapped up by the cruising chuck, of course being swallowed
+whole.</p>
+
+<p>An alternative theory exists, however, and, if true, the bird-taking
+habit would be removed from the realm of the accidental and fall
+into purposeful, predatory effort. The late Edward H. Forbush
+pointed out that the “goatsuckers show an anatomical affinity to the
+owls. They have similar, soft plumage, noiseless flight, large eyes
+and nocturnal vision.” It is possible that, with this structural relationship,
+there are other phases of likeness between the chuck and
+the owls. It is the largest of the goatsuckers that occur in this
+country, and the other representatives of the family do not seem to
+indulge in small bird prey. Doubtless this is because of their considerably
+smaller mouths, but whatever the reason the chuck remains
+as the outstanding example of this procedure.</p>
+
+<p>That this habit is certainly not accidental sometimes is definitely
+proved by the observation recorded by Gerald Thayer (1899) in
+which he relates the instance of a chuck-will’s-widow pursuing and
+catching warblers near a ship off the Carolina coast. Hummingbirds,
+swallows, sparrows, and warblers have been among those birds found
+in the stomachs of the chuck, and the frequency with which this
+occurs lends color to the supposition that it is more intentional than
+accidental. More research is necessary on this subject.</p>
+
+<p>Even granting the truth of it, the economic status of the chuck is
+on the right side of the ledger and the great percentage of its activities
+are beneficial, for the noxious insects which it destroys are
+numerous. Miss Phoebe Knappen, of the United States Biological
+Survey, in answer to a request of the writer has very kindly furnished
+a summary of specific results in the stomach analysis carried out on
+this species in the laboratories of that Bureau. A full stomach from
+Oklahoma, without date and therefore not included in the tabulation
+below, contained the following: <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Dendroica</i> (sp.), 70 percent; Coleoptera
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Calasoma</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Harpalus</i>, Carabidae, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ligyrus</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Strategus</i>, Scarabaeidae),
+22 percent; Orthoptera (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Schistocerca</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Nesconocephalus</i>), 8
+percent.</p>
+
+<p>The remarkable percentage of bird remains shown by this stomach
+would seem a great argument for the support of predation by purpose.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</span>Seventy percent of the total food among the wood warblers! However,
+it seems also to be a most exceptional case, for nothing that even
+approaches it is found in the list below, which embraces a range of
+45 stomachs from five States and one Canadian Province. The entire
+amount of the stomachs listed contained the remains of but <em>two</em> birds!</p>
+
+<p>With reference to the Oklahoma stomach, I wonder whether there
+might be a seasonal variation in the bird-taking propensities of the
+chuck-will’s-widow in relation to migration. It would appear reasonable
+to believe that when there is high activity among birds traveling
+through a given area, such as would take place in the spring
+migration, the chucks of that locality would have greater opportunity
+in securing them. One would not have to incline to the predatory
+theory to accept this, for if there are a great many small birds passing
+through an area for a few weeks, the chucks in their night hunting
+would blunder across more birds than would be the case later in the
+season. If the take <em>is</em> accidental, a higher percentage of accidents
+would then occur. If, on the other hand, the take is deliberate, then
+the chances of indulging that habit would be greater and would fall
+off later in the season. So, whatever impulse governs the matter, the
+migrations would result in more birds appearing in the diet. Unfortunately,
+the Oklahoma stomach was undated, so it is impossible
+to ascertain whether the bird secured its high percentage during a
+migration or not, but I incline to the belief that it was a spring
+specimen.</p>
+
+<p>To return to the analysis, Miss Knappen states: “The other 45 stomachs
+taken in March (2), April (31), May (11), and November (1)
+were collected in Florida (37), Georgia (1), Mississippi (2), North
+Carolina (1), Ontario (1), and Texas (3). The annual percentages
+of different items in the food, which was entirely animal, equal:
+Carabidae, 3.64; <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phyllophaga</i>, 32.98; other Scarabaeidae, 25.28;
+Cerambycidae, 4.49; Elateridae, 1.34; other Coleoptera, 5.13; Lepidoptera
+(moths), 12.36; Odonata, 4.63; Aves, 7.21; and miscellaneous
+animals, 2.85.</p>
+
+<p>“The genera most persistently eaten were <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phyllophaga</i> (May
+beetles) and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Anomala</i>. The birds consumed were 1 <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Dendroica palmarum</i>
+and 1 <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Helminthophila</i> sp., while the miscellaneous bracket
+includes various bugs, flies, a bivalve, and other animal material.”</p>
+
+<p>The insect content of these 45 stomachs totals more than 70 percent
+in but three classes (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phyllophaga</i>, Scarabaeidae, and Lepidoptera)
+and other kinds make up considerably more than that. Birds are
+represented by only 7.21 percent, and both victims were warblers.
+One cannot but wonder at the single “bivalve,” an item that would
+certainly not occur to most students as being connected with a
+chuck’s diet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Being as close kin to the whippoorwill as the chuck
+is, it cannot be expected that its habits will vary extensively.
+Inactive by day and a persistent hunter by night, it fulfills the usual
+characteristics pertaining to the family. Sitting motionless on a
+mossy log, a branch of some forest tree, or ensconced within a
+natural cavity, it dozes away the daylight hours. Some observers
+have found it sleeping in company with bats, in an obscure hollow.
+I have never found the chuck among such company, all my daylight
+observations being connected with the bird’s occupancy of some low
+limb, or on the ground itself.</p>
+
+<p>When flushed, it rises with easy, fitful wafts of silent wings, alternating
+the beats with periods of sailing. Frequently it describes a
+curve and swings back near the spot from which it was flushed.
+Fairly close approach is allowed, even after the bird has been disturbed
+and alighted again. Doubtless it puts a great deal of dependence
+upon the wonderfully protective coloration of the plumage.</p>
+
+<p>In the Carolina low country the chuck is very fond of roosting in
+the sandy roads so characteristic of the rural districts. Passing
+along at dusk, one may see the reflection of the eyes plainly in the
+glare of a car’s headlights. At times a roosting bird is disturbed
+under these conditions by day, and I have had them flush and come
+directly at the car, swerving only slightly aside to pass. One bird
+on Bulls Island, S. C., was flushed two or three times in an hour,
+as we had occasion to pass the same spot often, and once it flew by
+so closely that an extended arm might have touched it. This habit
+of frequenting the sand roads is shared by the whippoorwill when
+it is present in coastal Carolina during the winter months.</p>
+
+<p>Little or no distinction is made between these two birds in much of
+their range. The uninformed observer takes it for granted that any
+night bird that calls, except an owl, is a whippoorwill, and this seems
+the more strange in a section where the chuck is abundant and the
+whippoorwill comparatively uncommon, as in coastal Carolina. The
+latter calls but rarely during its winter sojourn in the Charleston
+area; indeed, I have heard it but twice in all my years of ornithological
+study. One of these instances was in January, the other early
+in March. When the whippoorwill is present in this area, the chuck
+is not, for the former leaves before the latter appears from the south.
+In spite of this fact and the overwhelming evidence of the chuck’s
+presence and comparative absence of that of the whippoorwill, the
+people of the low-country are far more familiar with the name of
+the latter and credit the call of the chuck to the other bird.</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of the chuck-will’s-widow reflect light admirably. Some
+years ago E. B. Chamberlain, of the Charleston Museum, and I
+carried out a series of experiments in “jack-lighting” amid the woods
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</span>of Cumberland Island, Ga. It was a revelation in many ways. The
+night woods were literally twinkling and sparkling with eyes! The
+ground and low bushes gleamed with hundreds of points of light
+from the eyes of spiders; the lagoons reflected the ruby-red of many
+alligators, while here and there along the bank a wandering raccoon
+stared into the light beam or a trotting gray fox paused to sniff, one
+foreleg upraised like a pointer. Florida screech owls were seen
+perched atop low stumps, hunched and motionless, and although we
+could work up to within 3 feet of them, the take-off when it occurred
+was so utterly noiseless that not a whisper of sound ensued at even
+that close range. Dozens of deer were seen, their eyes, of course,
+reflecting the light perfectly, and even grazing horses and cows along
+the edges of the lagoons were as plainly noted.</p>
+
+<p>Now and then a very large pair of eyes close to the ground shone
+out. Coming closer, we could see a chuck, sitting like a stone, staring
+rigidly into the light. While one of us held the light, the other
+worked around to the side and came up on the bird from behind,
+and reaching out could pick up the staring bird with ease. We
+examined several in this way, while they uttered a hissing note of
+fear or anger. The birds struggled strongly while held and were
+very difficult to quiet.</p>
+
+<p>Though sharing with the other goatsuckers the characteristic habit
+of perching lengthwise, the chuck occasionally departs from custom
+and proves the ancient adage that exceptions make the rule. N. B.
+Moore (MS.) writes that he has seen it perch directly across a branch
+when the latter is an inch or more in diameter. He once “saw one
+perch on a greenbrier one-quarter inch in diameter as cleverly as any
+bird, though it sank suddenly under its weight for 7 or 8 inches.
+The bird remained on it for 10 or 15 minutes.” It is likely that the
+chuck indulges in this more than one would ordinarily suppose.
+I have seen it but once, when a bird was flushed in daylight and flew
+to a small, gnarled oak, where it alighted among the outer twigs,
+perching distinctly crosswise. It had two young in the near vicinity.</p>
+
+<p>In the reference already made above to Thayer’s (1899) account
+of this species capturing warblers on a ship off the South Carolina
+coast, he noted that, on shipboard, the bird perched crosswise on the
+rigging at times. Another remarkable character was that this bird
+was seen, on flights out from the ship, actually to alight on the surface
+of the ocean! This is certainly phenomenal and constitutes
+behavior that is utterly at variance with the bird’s ordinary habits.
+One more instance of crosswise perching is noted by W. S. Long
+(1935); he saw a specimen near Lawrence, Kans., that indulged in
+this posture.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</span></p>
+
+<p>The chuck-will’s-widow frequently roosts in the same spot day
+after day, and one may be fairly certain of surprising a bird regularly
+when once the roosting area is located. During migrations it
+occasionally is found in rather extraordinary situations, one of the
+most striking of these being noted by J. M. McBride (1933), of New
+Orleans. He writes that he watched one for a week, September 14
+to 21, 1933, occupy an unprotected branch of a hackberry tree just
+even with his second-floor window. It was to be seen daily on this
+branch from 6 a. m. to 6 p. m. His house was in the heart of the
+residential district of New Orleans.</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—There is no doubt that the voice of the chuck-will’s-widow
+is its most interesting and outstanding characteristic. Indeed, it
+is the one thing that many ever know of the species. It is a bird
+easily heard but comparatively seldom seen; therefore, though the
+call may be a nightly sound throughout the summer, the author may
+be utterly unknown to many by sight. However, no one who lives
+within the range of the chuck can have failed to listen to the notes
+perforce, and only a deaf person can fail to be aware of its presence.
+Though the specific name of “vociferous” has been applied to the
+whippoorwill, it is equally true of the chuck-will’s-widow, if not
+more so, but the generic name of the latter is well chosen, for the mouth
+is certainly “cavelike.”</p>
+
+<p>The call of this species is well deserving of comment, particularly
+in view of the fact that there seems to be so much confusion about
+it in the recent literature. Why this difference of opinion should
+exist, and why certain positive statements have been made, are
+sources of wonder to me and to others who know the voice of the
+chuck intimately. How anyone could listen for only a few minutes
+to the call and then say that “the song of the chuck-will’s-widow
+is less vigorous than that of the whippoorwill; it consists of <em>three</em>
+notes ... with a slight accent on the <em>first</em> syllable” is beyond my
+comprehension. And yet more than one ornithologist has so stated.
+It seems significant that all those so describing it are northerners,
+that they know the chuck only by reason of short southern trips of
+a few days or weeks. Or, perhaps, they take the opinion of others
+who have as little information as themselves. If their experience
+with this bird covered any extended period, they could hardly fall
+into such error.</p>
+
+<p>The call of the chuck-will’s-widow is distinctly 4-syllabled (some
+observers say five at times), and therein lies one of the marked
+differences between it and the whippoorwill, which does have a
+3-syllabled call. The accent is not on the first but on the third
+syllable; in other words, on the “wid” of widow. Few birds “say”
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</span>their names as plainly. The <i>chuck</i> is uttered on a lower tone than
+the rest but is distinctly audible at 300 yards or more. At some
+distance one might be excused for thinking the call 3-syllabled, for
+it may sound like <em>will’s-widow</em>, but on still nights the first syllable
+is plainly heard even across broad bodies of water, as occur over
+much of the southern coast region.</p>
+
+<p>The notes are not limited entirely to the dusk of evening or night.
+The bird sometimes calls in full daylight, either on cloudy or bright
+days, and sometimes during rains. I have heard it at 1 p. m. on
+a bright, clear day. It is, of course, not the rule any more than
+is the cross perching sometimes indulged in, but it certainly occurs.
+However, it is during late evening and all through the night that
+the chuck really performs, and it sometimes calls through the entire
+period. In localities favored by the species, several birds may be
+calling at once, which results in a jumble and overlapping of notes.
+Herbert L. Stoddard writes that, never having heard a chuck-will’s-widow
+calling in the daytime, he was “greatly surprised to hear two
+calling back and forth at 11:30 a. m. today (May 25, 1928). It was
+crystal clear and the sun was <em>hot</em>, but these two called over 5 minutes,
+exactly as they do in the nighttime.”</p>
+
+<p>In rapidity and frequency, there is much variation. A bird may
+utter a very few calls or very many. I have counted individual
+calls many times, and there seems to be no established custom or
+sequence. The usual interval between the notes is about 2½ seconds,
+when the bird is doing a string of them. I counted the
+calls of a bird just outside my window one night and it ran
+off 111 without “drawing breath” other than the short spacing
+between each, 2½ seconds. The calls were uttered at the rate
+of 25 a minute, this series taking about 4½ minutes. One of
+my longest counts is 176 calls successively uttered without a break.
+E. S. Dingle tells me that he has counted 300 consecutive calls. On
+the night of June 2, 1939, at my home in St. Andrews Parish,
+Charleston, I heard a chuck that beat anything I have encountered
+yet. I had gone to bed; the night was warm and I was lying near
+a window, when a chuck started up about 50 yards away in one of
+the live oaks in my yard. I began counting almost automatically,
+and kept it up, idly wondering whether it would reach my former
+record. It did, and then some. I continued to count, and count.
+Finally, I got up and sat by the window, in order not to miss any
+of it. The calls were perfectly continuous, and uttered at the usual
+rate, although twice there was a slight break in perhaps as much
+as a second’s lateness between them. The bird shifted its perch
+twice, moving perhaps a few yards each time, but did not stop calling.
+The total was <em>eight hundred and thirty-four calls</em> (834).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</span></p>
+
+<p>The notes are clear-cut, insistent, and sharply enunciated with
+the exception of the first syllable. There is a ringing quality about
+them that is very striking, and one gets the impression of full-voiced
+effort. The head is moved noticeably when the call is
+uttered, and doubtless considerable muscular effort is put forth.
+Some writers have termed the notes “doleful,” “monotonous,” and
+“melancholy,” but to me they have never seemed anything but soothing
+and dreamily satisfying. Charles Torrey Simpson (1920) says
+that the chucks “make night hideous” with their “terrible chatter.”
+Thus do tastes differ!</p>
+
+<p>When it arrives from its winter quarters the chuck is particularly
+vociferous, and keeps this up until after the eggs are hatched. There
+is then a cessation followed by some renewed activity before departing
+for the south on the approach of fall. It must be very
+susceptible to cool weather, for it does not remain even as far south
+as Charleston until early in fall. The first part of September usually
+sees it gone, although individuals linger longer than that.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the regular, self-naming call, the chuck has another note,
+which is not well known and is very difficult to describe. It is not
+the hissing sound uttered when the bird is caught or handled but
+is given occasionally when about its hunting. Almost entirely, if
+not entirely, it is a <em>flight</em> note; at least I have never heard it when the
+bird is sitting. It is inadequate to describe it as a “growl,” and
+yet that is the only word that seems to approach it. As one flies
+by in the gloom, this note is heard, and it is an eerie, utterly indefinite
+sound, possessing a strangely unearthly quality which impresses
+one with wonder that it comes from a bird.</p>
+
+<p>It is seldom if ever referred to in the literature but some have
+remarked upon it in correspondence to the writer. The late James
+Henry Rice, Jr., of Brick House Plantation, Wiggins, S. C., once
+had an army officer visiting him who remarked on this note, but
+Mr. Rice himself, being very deaf, was not aware of it, though
+he knew the chuck well. He asks, in a letter to Mr. Bent, whether
+anyone has noted what he termed “that clucking sound.” I should
+hardly describe it as a “cluck” but it may impress some as such.</p>
+
+<p>One other note has been commented on by those thoroughly
+familiar with the chuck. It is often given just as the bird is <em>flushed</em>
+and, like the one above, is very difficult to describe. It can be
+interpreted as a “croak” perhaps, and Dr. Eugene E. Murphey
+(MS.), of Augusta, Ga., calls it “froglike.” His allusion to it, as
+well as the utterances of the regular call as given in fall, is given
+in a communication as follows:</p>
+
+<p>“I imagine most field ornithologists are familiar with the froglike
+croak that the bird makes when flushed, and I am inclined to
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</span>believe that this note is much more apt to be sounded when the
+bird has been flushed from the nest. One observation may be worthy
+of note, namely, that I have heard the chuck-will’s-widow singing
+as late as September 12 in Edgefleld County, S. C. When it comes
+to interpreting the quality of a bird’s song, it is impossible to get
+away from a personal construction, which, of course, is invalid
+in a scientific observation, but it seemed to me that on this occasion
+the song was very definitely less vehement and forceful, certainly
+less frequently reiterated than is the case in spring; in fact,
+the whole thing seemed to have a querulous and uncertain character,
+somewhat as if he were wondering why he should be singing at this
+particular time of year. I endeavored to collect the bird, but the
+rapidly gathering darkness made it impossible for me to secure
+it, although I was very close to it several times and saw it take
+flight. Unfortunately, it chose to fly toward the darkening east
+rather than the west where there was still an afterglow.”</p>
+
+<p>In commenting generally upon the continuity of the chuck’s calls
+during the early part of the season, Herbert L. Stoddard, of Thomasville,
+Ga., has sent me the following notes:</p>
+
+<p>“Spent the entire night of April 14, 1927, on the alert in the
+observatory at the quail pens on lookout for an owl which has been
+killing quail ... a brilliant moonlight night. Chuck-will’s-widows
+called <em>all night</em>, no 5-minute period between 9 p. m. and 5 a. m.
+elapsing without one to eight or ten calling. They have many
+guttural notes of different inflection, as well as the beautiful call
+note, a guttural, low-toned <i>waugh</i> given in questioning tones being
+common. These notes are most frequently uttered when a pair of
+the birds are together.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall.</i>—The latest record in fall for the chuck-will’s-widow in lower
+South Carolina is September 28 (Wayne, 1910). The great majority
+of the birds have left some time before this date. Indeed, Dr.
+Murphey’s record mentioned above was a late one and impressed him
+markedly, as his account shows.</p>
+
+<p>The earliest arrival record for the whippoorwill for the same
+locality is September 15, 1928 (Edward S. Dingle, MS.). The latest
+whippoorwill record is for April 1, 1911 (Wayne, 1910). Thus, in
+some exceptional years there may be the slightest overlapping of
+the arrival and departure of the chuck and the whippoorwill, but
+in the main the one has gone when the other appears, and there
+is usually some little interval between the sojourns of the two.</p>
+
+<p>Referring to the fall migration in El Salvador, Dickey and van
+Rossem (1938) say: “Chuck-will’s-widows were seen as late as
+October 29 at Rio Goascorán, where they were more common than in
+any other locality. * * * Most were found well up in trees, once
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</span>as high as a hundred feet above the ground, and so wild that collecting
+them was usually impossible. At Lake Alomega one flew from
+tree to tree through the high forest and at no time permitted an
+approach closer than about a hundred yards. * * *</p>
+
+<p>“The usual daytime locations were large, horizontal branches
+twenty feet or so from the ground and in rather heavy woods.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution161">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southeastern United States, the Caribbean region, Central
+America, and northern South America; casual north to Ontario and
+Nova Scotia.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The chuck-will’s-widow breeds <b>north</b> to southeastern
+Kansas (Arkansas City and Independence); Missouri (Willard,
+Springfield, and Sulphur Spring); southern Illinois (Olney);
+southern Ohio (West Union); and southern Maryland (Point Lookout).
+<b>East</b> along the Atlantic coast to Florida (St. Augustine,
+Daytona Beach, Royal Palm Hammock, and Man-o-war Key).
+<a id="chg11"></a><b>East</b> to Florida (Man-o-war Key, Fort Myers, St. Marks, Lynn
+Haven, and Pensacola); southern Alabama (Spring Hill); southern
+Louisiana (St. Francisville and Urania); and southern Texas (Houston,
+San Antonio, and Kerrville). <b>West</b> to central Texas (Kerrville,
+Waco, and Commerce); eastern Oklahoma (probably rarely Norman
+and Copan); and southeastern Kansas (Arkansas City).</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—The winter range is not clearly defined, but at this
+season it has been found <b>north</b> to Cuba (Isle of Pines and San
+Pablo); the Bahama Islands (Andros Island and Nassau); the Dominican
+Republic (Catarrey and Samana); and Puerto Rico
+(Arecibo, San Piedras, and Vieques Island). <b>East</b> to Puerto Rico
+(Vieques Island); and northern Colombia (Medellin). <b>South</b> to
+northern Colombia (Medellin and Antioquia); Panama (Panama
+City and Divala); Costa Rica (Rio Sicsola and Candelaria); Nicaragua
+(San Juan del Sur); El Salvador (Lake Olomega and probably
+Barra de Santiago); and Guatemala (Guatemala City). <b>West</b>
+to Guatemala (Guatemala City); and western Cuba (Isle of Pines).
+It appears that occasionally individuals may spend the winter in
+Florida, as one was recorded from Orlando on December 1, 1885;
+one from Lake Jackson on December 5, 1911; and another from the
+same general area on December 28, 1903. One also was seen at
+Chenier au Tigre, La., on January 2, 1934.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of arrival are: Florida—Orlando,
+February 17; Melrose, March 3; Palma Sola, March 5; Daytona
+Beach, March 9; Merritts Island, March 12. Alabama—Prattville,
+April 2; Barachias, April 3; Greensboro, April 5; Montgomery,
+April 6. Georgia—Savannah, March 15; Cumberland, March 25;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</span>St. Marys, March 28, South Carolina—Charleston, March 12; Frogmore,
+March 31; Columbia, April 6. North Carolina—Raleigh,
+April 10; Louisburg, April 17. Virginia—Lawrenceville, April 12;
+Bowers Hill, April 26. Louisiana—Bains, April 2; Bayou Sara,
+April 11; Baton Rouge, April 18; New Orleans, April 28. Mississippi—Biloxi,
+April 9; Jackson, April 10. Arkansas—Delight,
+April 10; Monticello, April 10; Fayetteville, April 14. Tennessee—Chattanooga,
+April 10; Knoxville, April 12; Belfast, April 18. Kentucky—Covington,
+April 7; Bowling Green, April 25. Missouri—Valley
+Park, April 18; Monteer, April 23. Texas—Refugio County,
+March 17; Corpus Christi, March 18; Austin, March 21; Kerrville,
+April 8. Oklahoma—Tulsa, April 20. Kansas—Manhattan, April
+26; Elmdale, April 29.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Data on the autumn movement are not plentiful,
+but late dates of departure are: Oklahoma—Canadian River, September
+5. Texas—Grapevine, September 20; Brownsville, October
+1; Corpus Christi, October 22. <a id="chg12"></a>Arkansas—London, September 1; Delight,
+October 7. Mississippi—Bay St. Louis, September 25. Louisiana—New
+Orleans, September 21. Virginia—Lawrenceville, August
+24. North Carolina—Louisburg, September 19; Raleigh, September
+21. South Carolina—Summerton, September 23; Charleston,
+September 28. Georgia—Athens, September 6; Savannah, September
+23. Florida—College Point, October 19; Pensacola, October 21;
+Punta Rossa, October 30.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—Among records of this species north of its known
+breeding range are several for Maryland—one heard at North Beach
+on June 28, 1930; one heard at Clements on August 14, 1932; a
+mounted specimen in the collection of the Cambridge High School,
+taken at Fishing Creek sometime prior to 1933; and one recorded at
+Laurel on May 12, 1935. A specimen was taken at New Haven,
+Conn., on May 17, 1889; another was captured at East Boston, Mass.,
+on October 13, 1915; one was killed at Pictou, Nova Scotia, on October
+22, 1890; one was taken at Dayton, Ohio, on May 1, 1933, one
+was collected on Point Pelee, Ontario, on May 19, 1906; one was
+taken at Indianapolis, Ind., during April or May 1908; and one was
+obtained at Sugar Creek, in southeastern Iowa, on June 17, 1933.
+There are several records for Kansas north of areas where it is known
+to breed, among them being a specimen collected at Wichita on June
+12, 1898; one taken at Hamilton on April 30, 1912; and one obtained
+at Lawrence on May 4, 1935.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Arkansas: 11 records, May 15 to June 26.</p>
+
+<p>Florida: 53 records, March 7 to June 30; 27 records, March 20 to
+May 13, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Georgia: 28 records, April 25 to June 18; 14 records, May 7 to 24.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 17 records, April 4 to June 16; 9 records, May 2 to June 5.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Antrostomus163">
+    ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS VOCIFERUS (Wilson)</p>
+
+<p class="center">EASTERN WHIPPOORWILL</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate21"><span class="smcap">Plates 21–23</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits163">HABITS</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Contributed by Winsor Marrett Tyler</span></p>
+
+<p>Almost every man, woman, and child living in the wide breeding
+range of the whippoorwill knows the bird by name. Those who once
+hear it singing, reiterating its name perhaps a hundred times or
+more without a pause, cannot fail to realize that they are listening
+to a whippoorwill, but how many of this multitude who know the
+whippoorwill’s name ever saw the bird, or would recognize it if they
+did see it? Not, it may be presumed, one-tenth of 1 percent.</p>
+
+<p>Yet the whippoorwill lived many long years in denser obscurity
+still, for, playing a part behind the scenes, so to speak, its lines were
+ascribed to another actor in the play; it was not recognized as a bird
+at all until the early part of the last century. Prior to this time the
+whippoorwill was supposed to be nothing more than the voice of the
+nighthawk, and even now in many rural districts the two birds are
+not clearly distinguished from each other. William Brewster (1895)
+says: “They are still very generally regarded by country people
+throughout New England as one and the same bird.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—The whippoorwill starts northward from central Florida
+in the latter part of March. This northerly movement evidently represents
+a general migration from the southern and eastern Gulf
+States, and through them from points farther south. The bird arrives
+in the latitude of Boston, Mass., late in April or early in May,
+thus flying a distance of a thousand miles or more in 35 or 40 days—a
+migration that corresponds closely, both in time of year and in
+speed of travel, with that of the chimney swift. Of this journey
+Wilson (1831) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In their migrations north, and on their return, they probably stop a day or
+two at some of their former stages, and do not advance in one continued flight.
+The whip-poor-will was first heard this season [1811] on the <abbr title="second">2d</abbr> day of May,
+in a corner of Mr. Bartram’s woods, not far from the house, and for two or
+three mornings after in the same place, where I also saw it. From this time
+until the beginning of September, there were none of these birds to be found
+within at least one mile of the place; though I frequently made search for
+them. On the 4th of September, the whip-poor-will was again heard for two
+evenings successively in the same part of the woods. I also heard several of
+them passing, within the same week, between dusk and nine o’clock at night,
+it being then clear moonlight. These repeated their notes three or four times,
+and were heard no more. It is highly probable that they migrate during the
+evening and night.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</span></p>
+
+<p>F. Seymour Hersey (1923) tells of a striking instance of nocturnal
+migration when a multitude of whippoorwills arrived suddenly at
+Lakeville, Mass., in the middle of the night.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In 1901 [he says], on the evening of May 4, about eight o’clock, a single bird
+was heard singing. This was the first arrival noted and no others were heard
+that evening. At two o’clock the following morning, six hours later, I was
+awakened by birds singing loudly everywhere. I dressed and went out and for
+more than an hour the chorus continued. There were numbers of birds about
+the house, on the door-step and ridge-pole, others singing in the road or from
+the stone walls along the road side, while still others could be heard down in
+the pastures,—often eight or ten were singing at the same instant. I walked
+down the road for half a mile and the birds seemed equally as abundant on
+neighbors’ farms. It seems probable that the migration takes place at night
+as these birds had just arrived.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—Few observers have had the good fortune to watch
+the sexual activities of the whippoorwill. One must be very near
+the birds to see, in the semidarkness, the courtship in detail, and
+even should we catch sight of a courting pair—a rare happening—we
+may get but a glimpse of their actions, because, if they flit only
+a little way back into the gloom, they are lost to view, fading into
+the shadows.</p>
+
+<p>Frank Bolles (1912) tells of the following experience. He was
+hidden under a “narrow fringe of spirea bushes, 2½ ft. high only
+3 ft. from the stone”—a stone on which a whippoorwill sang every
+evening. He says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>It uttered its note about twenty or thirty times when to my astonishment
+another whip, alighted near it, on the left (W.) end of the boulder. One or
+two sounds like the soft popping of corn came from the new arrival, and the
+first bird, which had ceased its call, faced west and began a strange, slow
+dance, advancing a step at a time towards its mate, raising its body to the
+full length of its legs at each step, thus making a sort of undulating approach.
+The other bird remained where it alit, but seemed to be moving its body up
+and down or else slowly pulsating its wings. The first bird, which I think
+was the male, seemed to continue its dance entirely around the female. As
+he passed her, indescribable purring and popping sounds were made and one
+of the birds flew lightly away—the <abbr title="female">♀</abbr> I think. The male resumed his first
+position, and remained silent. Then he rose and circled in the air, catching
+an insect I thought, for he came back at once to the spot on the rock which
+he always covers. A moment later his mate seemed to call from below the
+house, near the lake, and he flew, his white feathers flashing as he spread
+his tail, and the strokes of his wings making a distinct and quite loud sound
+as he passed close above my head.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Henry K. Coale (1920) reporting the observation of his neighbor,
+Moritz Boehm, says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>On different occasions, while the male was calling, he saw the female going
+through some peculiar antics, but in the dusk could not make out just what
+she was doing. One evening, when he was sitting on the lower step, the birds
+came up and performed within ten feet of him. He kept perfectly quiet. The
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</span>male called from a low branch overhead, while the female strutted on the
+gravel path below, with wings and tail outspread and head lowered, and sidestepped
+back and forth, half way around to the right, then to the left, all the
+time uttering a curious guttural chuckle. This performance was kept up for
+ten or fifteen minutes.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Bendire’s (1895) account of the whippoorwill’s courtship is the
+best in the literature; it has become almost a classic, and ornithologists
+still deplore the regrettable incident that interrupted the
+observation.</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>While on a collecting trip in Herkimer County, New York, with Dr. William
+L. Ralph, in June, 1893, I witnessed a most amusing performance, which one
+may see perhaps once in a lifetime. I happened to be in a little outbuilding,
+some 20 feet in the rear of the house at which we were stopping, early on the
+evening of the 24th, about half an hour after sundown, when I heard a peculiar,
+low, clucking noise outside, which was directly followed by the familiar
+call of “whip-poor-will.” * * * Directly alongside of the small outbuilding
+previously referred to, a barrel of sand and lime had been spilled, and from the
+numerous tracks of these birds, made by them nightly afterwards, it was evident
+that this spot was visited regularly, and was the trysting place of at least
+one pair. Looking through a small aperture, I saw one of the birds waddling
+about in a very excited manner over the sand-covered space, which was perhaps
+2 by 3 feet square, and it was so much interested in its own performance
+that it did not notice me, although I made some noise trying to fight
+off a swarm of mosquitoes which assailed me from all sides. Its head appeared
+to be all mouth, and its notes were uttered so rapidly that, close as
+I was to the bird, they sounded like one long, continuous roll.</p>
+
+<p>A few seconds after his first effort (it was the male) he was joined by his
+mate, and she at once commenced to respond with a peculiar, low, buzzing or
+grunting note, like “gaw-gaw-gaw,” undoubtedly a note of approval or endearment.
+This evidently cost her considerable effort; her head almost touched
+the ground while uttering it, her plumage was relaxed, and her whole body
+seemed to be in a violent tremble. The male in the meantime had sidled up
+to her and touched her bill with his, which made her move slightly to one side,
+but so slowly that he easily kept close alongside of her. These sidling movements
+were kept up for a minute or more each time; first one would move
+away, followed by the other, and then it was reversed; both were about
+equally bold and coy at the same time. Their entire love making looked
+exceedingly human, and the female acted as timid and bashful as many young
+maidens would when receiving the first declarations of their would-be lovers,
+while the lowering of her head might easily be interpreted as being done to
+hide her blushes. Just about the time I thought this courtship would reach
+its climax, a dog ran out of the house and caused both to take flight.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The whippoorwill lays its two eggs on dry, well-drained
+ground, generally near the edge of a wood of small mixed growth—oak,
+beech, pine—where the floor of the wood is clear of dense underbrush
+and where the trees are not crowded together, but spaced far
+enough apart to cast an uneven shade. The eggs may lie on the open
+floor or under a small bush—not tucked away near the stems, but out
+in the shadow of its branches. The bird builds no nest, although a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</span>slight depression about the eggs may result from the presence of the
+parent there during incubation; for concealment it relies solely on the
+soft colors of the fallen leaves and the flickering light of the woodland.</p>
+
+<p>It is rare to find the eggs laid in a more open situation.</p>
+
+<p>Lewis McI. Terrill, in a letter to Mr. Bent, gives in detail the results
+of remarkably close observations on the home life of a pair of whippoorwills
+and their brood. His observations were made near St.
+Lambert, Quebec, in 1933.</p>
+
+<p>On May 14 Mr. Terrill came upon a pair of whippoorwills in a
+patch of deciduous trees, mainly young maple and birch. A week
+later he flushed the female “from a single egg lying on a bed of old
+leaves in a small glade” near the spot where he first saw the birds.
+“There was no depression whatever, and the egg appeared as if it
+had been casually dropped there.” The second egg was not laid
+until the <abbr title="Twenty-third">23d</abbr>, indicating “that egg deposition takes place on alternate
+days.”</p>
+
+<p>Invariably at his subsequent visits Mr. Terrill found the female
+incubating or brooding, but while the young birds remained in the
+vicinity of the nest he saw the male near it only once (June 20).</p>
+
+<p>He says: “The male spent the day in a thicket over 400 yards away.
+I usually heard him singing from this direction in the early part of
+the evening; later he sang from a point nearer the nest; and finally
+from its immediate vicinity. I gather from this that he visited his
+family regularly at night.</p>
+
+<p>“On May 27 the eggs were resting in a noticeable depression made
+by the pressure of the bird’s body. One might almost call it a nest
+although no extraneous nesting material whatever had been added.
+The female was very consistent in her behavior, usually leaving the
+eggs when I was 10–15 feet away and flying to a dead branch 2 feet
+from the ground where she uttered a few protesting chucks, which
+resembled a call of the catbird and to a lesser extent the <i>chuck</i> of the
+hermit thrush.</p>
+
+<p>“On the occasion of the male’s visit (June 20) both birds were
+very worried, and their calls, especially that of the male, resembled
+the <i>whip</i> note of his song, although much subdued. He sometimes
+called <i>whip-will</i> when excited by the distress calls of the young.</p>
+
+<p>“When returning to the nest the female frequently hovered before
+alighting, often dropping to the ground a few feet from the nest.
+Even at that short distance she would not attempt to walk onto the
+eggs, but would fly up again, hover, and then alight directly on the
+nest.</p>
+
+<p>“The nighthawk, we may note, progresses differently. To be sure,
+it occasionally flies short distances when approaching the nest, but the
+final approach is by walking, or perhaps I should say creeping in a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</span>‘Charlie Chaplin-like’ shuffle. The different methods of approach to
+the nest are, I think, indicative of the different habitats of two very
+similar birds. The woodland whippoorwill hops or flies to avoid
+obstructions, whereas the nighthawk can gain its objective without
+leaving the ground.</p>
+
+<p>“The female whippoorwill was still incubating on June 10, but on
+the 11th there were two young in the nest. The incubation period
+for the last egg laid was, therefore, at least 19 days, and possibly
+nearer 20.</p>
+
+<p>“The first definite movement away from the nest was noted on
+June 18, when the female was brooding the young 50 feet away. On
+the 19th and 20th she was respectively 70 and 85 feet from the nest.
+The female often alighted crosswise on a limb when excited, or for
+the purpose of facing me, but quickly assumed the lengthwise position.</p>
+
+<p>“June 21–22—Female brooding young 100 feet from nest.</p>
+
+<p>“June 25—One young bird flew 15 feet.</p>
+
+<p>“June 26—Older chick flew 26 feet when female was flushed.
+Younger bird still jumped, then squatted, but when I placed it on a
+branch, it flew 15 feet. Both young always alighted on the ground,
+but perched readily. This was the last I saw of the family.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Terrill’s report of this family of whippoorwills makes it clear
+that the male parent very rarely came near the nest at the times he
+was watching it. This accords with the experience of many observers
+at other nests. For example, H. E. Tuttle (1911) says: “The male
+Whip-poor-will I saw only once, and that was after the young were
+fully grown. He was very conspicuous in the dusk as he sat on a log,
+uttering rasping sounds in his throat and opening and shutting his
+tail, brilliantly marked with white at the edges. It was only a day
+or so after seeing the male bird that I lost sight of the young birds
+altogether.”</p>
+
+<p>But why should we expect the male whippoorwill to come to the
+nest in the middle of the night—the whippoorwill’s day? There
+is nothing to do there at night except to keep the eggs warm, or,
+after they hatch, to brood the young, and his mate can do that
+while she sleeps on the nest. So he sleeps a little way off. But
+when the dark comes—when his morning breaks—when the night
+insects begin to fly, and food abounds, and his hungry children cry,
+where is the male parent then? We do not know, but we may
+assume, as Mr. Terrill suggests, that he joins his family and aids
+in feeding the young.</p>
+
+<p>When a female bird is approached while she is incubating (Bendire
+says: “I believe the female attends to this duty almost exclusively”)
+the behavior varies a good deal in different individuals. In
+many accounts of her actions, she is reported to flop about on the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</span>ground, seemingly trying to lead the intruder away. Wilson (1831)
+reports that “in traversing the woods one day in the early part of
+June, along the brow of a rocky declivity, a whippoorwill rose from
+my feet, and fluttered along, sometimes prostrating herself, and
+beating the ground with her wings, as if just expiring.” On the
+other hand, H. E. Tuttle (1911) speaks of a bird, brooding young,
+which was “very fearless, allowing me to touch her back and making
+it necessary for me to shove her gently off the young when I wanted
+a glimpse of them.”</p>
+
+<p>Arthur C. Bent, in his notes, says that late in May he “flushed
+a whippoorwill from near a woodland path, where it apparently
+had been roosting regularly as evidenced by its droppings.” A few
+days later, not 25 yards from the path, he “flushed the whippoorwill
+from the ground and saw its single egg lying on the flat, bare oak
+leaves.”</p>
+
+<p>C. H. D. Clarke, writing to Mr. Bent from Ontario, Canada,
+points out how changes in the topography of a region may affect
+the local whippoorwills. He says: “The common denominator explaining
+the local distribution of this species is, I believe, to be
+found in its feeding and egg-laying habits. The whippoorwill feeds
+in the open, like the nighthawk, but unlike it, fairly near the ground.
+Although both birds lay their eggs on the ground, the nighthawk
+nests in the open, whereas the whippoorwill always nests among
+trees. Hence, as a breeding bird, it is found in glades and around
+the edges of woodlots. Many of the woodlots, however, in this
+vicinity are closely grazed by cattle at the present time, a condition
+that prevailed less commonly in the semipioneering stage of our
+country. The whippoorwill does not tolerate this change; it will
+not breed in the grazed woodlots and, as a consequence, has been
+reduced in numbers here. It also seems to avoid extensive areas of
+conifers, possibly because of the absence of hardwood litter on which
+to lay its eggs. The area at Frank’s Bay, in which the bird breeds
+very commonly, is a sand plain that was burned over about 25
+years ago and has since grown up in many places to dense stands
+of poplar from 15 to 20 feet high. Here the whippoorwill has
+plenty of shelter in the dense poplar woods, an abundance of hardwood
+litter, and may cruise about over the treetops not far above
+ground.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—[<span class="smcap">Author’s note</span>: The two eggs of the whippoorwill are
+between oval and elliptical-oval in shape and become somewhat
+glossy when incubated. The ground color is usually pure white,
+but occasionally a faint creamy tint is perceptible. The markings
+consist of spots or small blotches of “pale Quaker drab” or “pallid
+Quaker drab,” scattered over the eggs more or less irregularly; an
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</span>occasional egg has large, irregular blotches of this color. Overlying
+these pale gray markings, or scattered among them, are often many
+small spots or fine dots of various browns, such as “cinnamon-brown,”
+“tawny,” or “tawny-olive.” An occasional egg is almost
+immaculate.</p>
+
+<p>The measurements of 50 eggs average 29.0 by 21.3 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>31.5</b> by 21.0, 30.48 by
+<b>22.86</b>, <b>20.48</b> by 21.34, and 28.45 by <b>20.07</b> millimeters.]</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—The little whippoorwill chick, hatching out from an invisible
+egg, finds itself lying on the ground, with dead leaves all
+about. The dead leaves look like the chick, and the chick looks
+like the dead leaves; no one can tell them apart; practically the
+chick <em>is</em> a dead leaf, and, although hatched, it is still invisible, just
+as it was when hidden in the egg.</p>
+
+<p>Some birds depend on speed for safety, or on agility or strength,
+but the whippoorwill relies chiefly on not being seen. Safety comes
+to the whippoorwill in dim light, half shadows, and the faint, confusing
+obscurity of dusk, and among these, on the borderland of
+invisibility, the whippoorwill lives all its days.</p>
+
+<p>Nests of the whippoorwill are found almost always by accident.
+The old bird starts up from near the observer’s feet, and a search—sometimes
+a long one—reveals the eggs or the young birds. For
+example, A. Dawes DuBois (1911) says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The first nest was found on May 16, 1908, in a strip of woods of medium
+size trees, thickly undergrown, on a high bank of the Sangamon River
+[Illinois]. The ground was well carpeted with dried oak leaves. Our first
+intimation of Whippoorwills in this place was the sudden appearance of an
+adult bird fluttering along the ground in front of us, apparently with a
+broken wing. We stopped at once and while my companion stood to mark
+the place, I followed the bird a short distance. She fluttered along noiselessly,
+feigning serious injury and leading me away from the nest as rapidly
+as I could be induced to follow.</p>
+
+<p>A search revealed the nest within a pace of the spot we had marked. It
+contained one egg and the broken shell of another which gave evidence of
+having hatched. Although I stooped to examine the broken shell I did not
+see the bird that had hatched from it until my companion called my attention
+to it. The little fellow was crouched, motionless, upon the brown leaves not
+six inches from the broken egg-shell.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>H. E. Tuttle (1911) speaks thus of the young birds: “The newly
+hatched birds were very attractive-looking little chicks so long as they
+kept their mouths shut. They were a uniform buff color, which
+matched well with the leaves, and the instant their mother left them
+they each ran in opposite directions and squatted. In this maneuver
+the old bird seemed to aid them materially by the vigorous flip which
+she gave them as she rose, often tumbling them over on their backs.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</span></p>
+
+<p>J. G. Suthard writes to Mr. Bent from Muskegon, Mich., as follows:
+“On June 14, 1936, I flushed a whippoorwill from an oak-leafed
+spot on a steep hillside overlooking a large timbered swamp.
+I shortly discovered two downy young with their eyes only partly
+opened. They made no effort to escape and were silent when
+handled. The parent flew around several times, uttering a <i>whup-whup-whur</i>
+note, and then perched on a dead limb of a nearby tree.
+One of the eggshells was about 6 feet below the nest on the hillside,
+and the feces of the young had not been moved by the parents. As
+this nest was only about 30 yards from the main highway, I returned
+several times between this date and June 24 to see if, owing
+to my disturbance of the young, the parents would move them.
+Each time I visited the nest the parent was brooding the young
+in practically the same spot.”</p>
+
+<p>Lewis McI. Terrill, in his study of nest life, quoted under “Nesting,”
+says that on June 12, before the young birds were two days
+old, “whenever the female was flushed, the nestlings hopped or
+jumped several inches with the suddenness and unexpected agility
+of ‘jumping beans,’ then squatted in hiding posture in the manner
+of woodcock chicks. The entire movement was so rapid that it
+almost escaped notice.” He continues:</p>
+
+<p>“From the 13th to the 16th the female was brooding the young
+either in the nest or in the shade 2 or 3 feet away. On the latter
+date I heard one of the nestlings give a weak, complaining <i>whip</i>,
+which was answered by the mother 20 feet away. It attempted to
+follow her, progressing by little hops, but was in difficulty when it
+encountered heavy undergrowth where it was unable to hop. The
+smaller of the nestlings remained in the nest.</p>
+
+<p>“June 26—The older bird when placed lengthwise on a limb
+quickly turned about and perched crosswise, demonstrating youth’s
+objection to slavish custom! The older bird now frequently used the
+<i>whip</i> note, which appears to be the chief motif in the whippoorwill
+vocabulary. The younger bird still called in wheezy tones that I
+readily imitated by sucking my finger—so well that the mother bird
+frequently responded by flying to me and fluttering at my feet. The
+young at this date, nearly 16 days old, closely resembled their
+parents.”</p>
+
+<p>Terrill definitely established the incubation period of one of the
+eggs in the nest he observed as not less than 19 days, “and possibly
+nearer 20.” Burns (1915) gives the incubation period as 17 days,
+and Audubon (1840) gives it as 14 days.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—[<span class="smcap">Author’s note</span>: The downy young whippoorwill is
+thickly covered with long, soft, silky down, shading in color from
+“cinnamon” on the back to “pinkish cinnamon” on the chest, and
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</span>to “light pinkish cinnamon” on the crown and abdomen; it matches
+the dead leaves on which it is hatched.</p>
+
+<p>The juvenal plumage begins to grow at an early age. Ridgway
+(1914) says that the young male is “similar to the adult male in ‘pattern’
+and coloration of lateral rectrices, as well as of primaries and
+primary coverts, but rest of plumage quite different, the wing-coverts
+and scapulars deep brownish buff or clay color, the former
+with coarse and irregular small spots of black, the latter with very
+large irregular spots of black, the under parts barred with dusky
+on a brownish buffy ground and, like most of the upper parts, without
+fine vermiculations, the pileum spotted instead of streaked with
+black, and the band across lower throat indistinct, more or less
+broken by dusky barring, and buffy instead of white.” The young
+female, he says, is “similar to the young male, but three lateral rectrices
+broadly tipped with ochraceous-buffy instead of having a large
+white distal area.”</p>
+
+<p>A young bird in juvenal plumage, nearly grown, collected in
+Massachusetts in July, is like the young male described above, except
+that the feathers of the interscapular region and the median
+wing coverts are from “ochraceous-buff” to “light ochraceous-bluff,”
+with a narrow shaft streak and a conspicuous subterminal small spot
+of black.</p>
+
+<p>During July and August the juvenal contour plumage is shed, the
+juvenal wings and tail being retained, and a first winter plumage is
+acquired, in which the contour plumage closely resembles that of
+the adult. This is worn until the following summer, when a complete
+molt produces the fully adult plumage. Both young and old
+birds have a complete annual molt between July and September.]</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The earliest report on the food of the whippoorwill is that
+of Wilson (1831), who was the first writer to show that the whippoorwill
+and the nighthawk are different birds. He says: “Their
+food appears to be large moths, grasshoppers, pismires, and such insects
+as frequent the bark of old rotten and decaying timber. They
+are also expert in darting after winged insects.”</p>
+
+<p>Knight (1908) puts the following items on the whippoorwill’s bill
+of fare: “Their diet,” he says, “would seem to be entirely insectivorous
+and among the various things I have known them to eat are Sphinx
+moths of various species, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Actias luna</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Samia cecropia</i>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Samia columbia</i>,
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Telea polyphemus</i>, and a great variety of species of Noctuidae, also
+grasshoppers, crickets, mosquitoes, caddis flies, and in fact almost
+any sort of insect available.”</p>
+
+<p>Bendire (1895) reports that “in the Western States, which are
+sometimes overrun by swarms of Rocky Mountain Locusts, it also
+feeds largely on these when abundant.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</span></p>
+
+<p>Forbush (1927) tells of the whippoorwill the following story which
+will endear the bird to all mosquito-haters. He says: “While I slept
+unsheltered nightly for a week in the Concord woods, rolled in my
+blanket, with only a head-net hung to a branch overhead to protect
+me from mosquitoes, I noticed each morning upon awaking just before
+daylight that something fluttered softly about my head. The
+sound was like that produced by a large night-moth, but soon I heard
+something strike the ground a few feet away, and then a well-known
+cluck convinced me that my visitor was a Whip-poor-will. The bird
+came nightly while I remained in the woods, and each morning before
+daylight it flew around my head-net until it had caught all the
+mosquitoes there.”</p>
+
+<p>Eaton (1914) says: “I have taken 36 full-grown moths from the
+stomach of a single Whippoorwill which was killed early in the
+evening, indicating that within an hour and a half he had killed
+and devoured these full-grown moths, each one of which contained
+hundreds of eggs.”</p>
+
+<p>Whippoorwills secure a large part of their food by capturing
+night-flying insects on the wing, but Ernest Ingersoll (1920) states
+that they also “have a way of balancing themselves near a tree-trunk
+or barn-wall, picking ants and other small provender off the bark;
+and even hunt for worms and beetles on the ground, turning over the
+leaves to root them out.”</p>
+
+<p>Francis H. Allen (MS.) says: “One evening I saw one take off from
+the branch of an oak for what was probably its first feeding flight
+of the night. It opened its mouth wide <em>before</em> launching into the air.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—In order to study the whippoorwill at short range
+it is well to visit its haunts for a few evenings and learn how the
+bird we are to watch behaves when it wakes from its day’s sleep.
+Whippoorwills move about over a considerable territory when they
+come into the open for their daily session of singing and feeding,
+they follow a route, evening after evening, that varies little, and
+on the circuit there are stations—a stone wall, a low branch, or a certain
+spot on the ground—where they are almost sure to stop and sing
+for a while.</p>
+
+<p>If we seat ourselves near one of these stations where the light,
+which will be almost gone when the bird arrives, will favor our
+view, and where a dark background will obscure us from the bird,
+we shall be able to see the whippoorwill at short range, for if we
+sit motionless (no easy task, for mosquitoes will torture us) the
+bird will pay little attention to us. We must sit quiet and wait,
+following the song as it swings around the circuit, and we must
+watch the spot where the bird is about to alight, for, although in
+flight it looms big even in the dusk, when it comes to rest, with a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</span>flip of wings it becomes a bit of dead wood, a clod of earth, or vanishes
+altogether.</p>
+
+<p>On several evenings late in May 1914, at Wilton, N. H., I visited
+what appeared to be the whippoorwill headquarters—a dry wood
+of small deciduous growth bordering a sloping field, on one of
+which was a moist alder run that ran down to the edge of the wood.
+When I arrived, between sunset and dark, wood thrushes and
+veeries were singing, but before they quieted down for the night,
+the whippoorwills (from one bird to two or three) began to sing,
+always from the dry wood. They sang intermittently, and generally
+after each series of <i>whip-poor-wills</i> their voices came from a
+different part of the wood. By the time the light was becoming
+uncertain (when one would have difficulty in reading print) one
+bird, leaving the wood, worked up the slope, passing the field either
+by way of the alder run or by a wood of larger growth and an
+apple orchard that bordered the higher sides of the field.</p>
+
+<p>On each of the first evenings when I visited the ground, one bird
+paused in the corner of the field where it joined the alder run, and
+sang a few times, and on two of these evenings I was able to approach
+the bird but not near enough to see it. The next evening, therefore,
+as soon as the bird that was singing in the wood began to change his
+position, I retired to this corner of the field to await him and sat down
+on a bank where my figure would not show against the sky. That
+evening was unusually dark and cloudy. The bird left the wood by
+the lower side, and at 7:50 I heard the song coming nearer and
+nearer through the alders behind me. Then, two minutes later, it
+came with startling suddenness from almost at my side. The bird
+sat on the bare ground at the foot of the bank not 6 yards from where
+I sat. In bringing my glass to bear upon him, I disturbed him, I
+think, for he flew silently away. He alighted, however, on a rock and
+began to sing. He was now 12 yards from me and on a level with
+my eyes. His side was toward me, and he faced nearly in the direction
+from which he had just flown. He sat flat on the stone with
+his head thrown slightly backward and upward and, on alighting,
+immediately began to sing.</p>
+
+<p>The song at close range sounded like <i>cuck-rhip-oor-ree</i>, the final
+note accented and held longer than the other three, although the <i>rhip</i>
+was louder and longer than the <i>oor</i>. The song was remarkably
+regular; twice, however, the bird increased the tempo, and once he
+doubled one note—either the <i>rhip</i> or the <i>oor</i>. After a pause the
+<i>cuck</i> was invariably the first note given when he continued his song.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the dim light the band of white across the throat was
+clearly visible, and twice during each repetition of the <i>cuck-rhip-oor-ree</i>
+this band was drawn backward—slightly at the <i>cuck</i>, markedly
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</span>during the final <i>ree</i>, when, I think, the beak was open wide.
+Later, when the bird more nearly faced me, these movements of the
+white band were less noticeable. The bird sat on the rock for three
+or four minutes, singing almost continuously. He sat absolutely still
+for the most part, but twice he moved backward about an inch, as if
+each time he took a single backward step. His departure, with no
+apparent cause, was noiseless and abrupt, breaking the song at <i>oor</i>.</p>
+
+<p>F. Seymour Hersey (1923), who watched with great care a whippoorwill
+making its nightly round, says: “The time taken to make
+this circuit varied from 25 to 30 minutes. I watched this bird from
+several places of concealment and ascertained to my satisfaction that
+it was the same individual that visited each of these places and that
+the order given above was not varied. The spot from which he
+sang was, in all cases, nearly the same, i. e., within a very few feet
+of the place where he was seen on a previous evening.”</p>
+
+<p>Frank Bolles (1912) gives a remarkable picture, seen from almost
+within arm’s reach, of a singing whippoorwill. Mr. Bolles, who was
+hidden near a stone to which the whippoorwill came nightly, says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Suddenly I hear a rather feeble whip, 12 times <abbr title="South">S.</abbr> of me, then silence and
+then a bird flies to the stone in front of my face, coming low over the bushes
+and alighting with its tall towards me. It squeaks or clicks three times,
+and I fear it suspects me and is giving a slight alarm note, but the next
+moment it begins the piercing <i>quip o’rip</i> slightly raising its head and dipping
+its tail each time it makes the sound. The head rises on the <i>quip</i> and falls
+on the <i>rip</i>. The wings do not move, nor the body save by a slight tipping. I
+could see the bird’s outline perfectly against the white background of the
+shingled barn on which the moonlight fell fully.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>When the whippoorwill comes out in the dusk for its evening
+round, alighting on a stone wall, on the ground, or on a big horizontal
+branch high in a tall tree, we may sometimes catch sight of
+it against the sky, as it flies from one station to another. In the air
+the whippoorwill does not resemble the nighthawk at all. Its wings
+are broad and, compared to those of the nighthawk, short, and it
+moves them with an easy sweep, with none of the nighthawk’s jerkiness.
+When we see it flying steadily across an open field, it suggests
+an owl moving through the gloom on its broad, silent wings.</p>
+
+<p>Taverner and Swales (1907) give a remarkable description of the
+flight of a whippoorwill seen under such circumstances at Point
+Pelee, Ontario. They say:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>One evening, just as the dusk was darkening into night, a Whip-poor-will was
+heard near the camp. We stole out, and the bird was located in a large bare
+walnut tree in the open bush where, looking up against the still faintly
+illuminated sky, it could be plainly made out, sitting lengthwise, as is their
+fashion, on a rather large and almost horizontal branch. It remained perfectly
+motionless except for an occasional jerk of its white blotched tail, when it
+gave vent intermittently to a guttural “gluck.” These notes were repeated at
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</span>irregular intervals of perhaps half a minute, several times and then, without
+start or warning, it launched away into the air, starting off immediately at
+full speed, with a drop that carried it in a large, even circle half way to the
+ground, and then up on the same curve, to vanish in the gloom of the trees.
+Then it appeared on the other side, swinging down on fixed wings in great
+elliptical curves as though whirled from the end of a cord, perfectly silent
+in flight and threading the dusky mazes of the tree tops with the utmost
+confidence and precision. Here and there it rapidly wheeled, without an
+apparent stroke of the wing, now coming into view in the lower arc of its
+great circling, and then vanishing silently again on the upward sweep on the
+other side. As suddenly as it started, it ceased in the middle of a swing and,
+while the eyes vainly searched for the dark object along the continuation of
+its course, it was seated again on the branch from which it first sprang, silent
+and still. This was repeated several times, and then it was joined by another,
+and the two circled about like great soft, gliding bats until the sky above
+grew so dark that their movements could no longer be watched.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Several writers mention the fearlessness of the whippoorwill, or
+perhaps its failure to recognize man as a danger. For example,
+Bendire (1895) quotes E. A. McIlhenny, who says: “These birds are
+very tame, for on two occasions, while sitting still in the twilight to
+observe the movements of some Owls, I have had them come so close
+that I could have caught them. On one occasion one lit on my knee,
+and another on my foot as it was extended before me.” And H. E.
+Tuttle (1911) says: “Once I watched two males fighting and singing
+at intervals on a fallen birch sapling. I was quite close to them,—within
+a yard—but they did not seem to regard me as dangerous,
+and when I tried to imitate the guttural noises they were making,
+they circled round my head so closely that one touched me with his
+wings. In the darkness I was probably no more than a charred
+stump.”</p>
+
+<p>C. W. G. Eifrig (1919) mentions “a unique experience” with a
+whippoorwill, which, displaying unexpected aggressiveness, darted
+repeatedly at his head.</p>
+
+<p>It has been surmised that the whippoorwill uses its capacious mouth
+to carry its eggs, and even its young, out of danger when its nest
+has been discovered. There is no satisfactory evidence that the bird
+employs its mouth in this way, but it has been seen, on two occasions
+at least, carrying a young bird through the air held between its legs.
+J. H. Bowles (1895) says: “I flushed a whippoorwill that rose with
+a baby bird clutched firmly <em>between her thighs</em>,” and Bendire (1895)
+quotes H. W. Flint as follows: “I once, and once only, saw a female
+(the male is never present at the nest) carry a young bird about
+a rod, but can not say she used her bill, and don’t think she did, but
+I am almost sure the claws and legs only were used, as the young
+was hugged close to the body.”</p>
+
+<p>The whippoorwill is fond of taking dust baths. When driving
+after dark we sometimes catch sight of one as it starts up from its
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</span>bath on a country road, and, as it flies off and our headlights pick it
+up, the white tail feathers, if the bird is a male, shine out for an
+instant. Forbush (1927) says: “Mr. Stanley H. Bromley of Southbridge,
+Massachusetts, tells me that a farmer there placed a large tray
+of dry wood ashes on the ground, and whippoorwills came there
+at night to dust in it.”</p>
+
+<p>Wilson (1831) states: “The inner edge of the middle claw is pectinated,
+and, from the circumstances of its being frequently found with
+small portions of down adhering to the teeth, is probably employed
+as a comb to rid the plumage of its head of vermin.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—If the whippoorwill “should sing by day, when every
+goose is cackling,” the song might lose some of its witchery; we do
+not know; the bird sings in the dark, or when darkness is coming
+on fast, and the singer is invisible or almost invisible among the
+shadows. The song at a little distance comes to the ear as a penetrating
+whisper of the bird’s name, repeated perfectly regularly,
+time after time with scarcely a pause between, at a rather rapid
+rate—about once a second. The fourth note, a <i>cluck</i> before the <i>whip-poor-will</i>,
+is heard usually only when the bird is fairly near us,
+although we may hear it at a distance of 200 yards under favorable
+circumstances. The syllable <i>will</i> carries farthest of all the syllables.</p>
+
+<p>It is rare to hear any material variation in the song, but there
+are individual birds that regularly sing an unusual form, and sometimes
+a bird will introduce <a id="chg13"></a>occasionally one abnormal phrase into
+his singing.</p>
+
+<p>Simeon Pease Cheney (1891), speaking from the point of view
+of music, says: “In the courageous repetition of his name he accents
+the first and last syllables, the last most; always measuring his song
+with the same rhythm, while very considerably varying the melody—which
+latter fact is discovered only by most careful attention. Plain,
+simple, and stereotyped as his song appears, marked variations are
+introduced in the course of it. The whippoorwill uses nearly all the
+intervals in the natural scale, even the octave. I have never detected
+a chromatic tone.” Describing altercations between two or more
+birds, he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>These altercations are sometimes very amusing. Three whippoorwills, two
+males and a female, indulged in them for several evenings one season, in my
+garden. They came just at dark, and very soon a spirited contest began.
+Frequently they flew directly upward, one at a time. Occasionally one flew
+down into the patch near me, put out his wings, opened his big mouth, and
+hissed like a goose disturbed in the dark. But, the most peculiar, the astonishing
+feature of the contention was the <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">finale</i>. Toward the close of the trial of
+speed and power, the unwieldy name was dropped, and they rattled on freely
+with the same rhythm that the name would have required, alternating in their
+rushing triplets, going faster and faster, louder and louder, to the end.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</span></p>
+
+<p>The bird is remarkable on account of the regularity of its song
+and the great number of times it repeats the <i>whip-poor-will</i> without
+a pause. From 50 to 100 repetitions are not uncommon. Forbush
+(1927) says: “John Burroughs, however, made a count which
+so far as I know exceeds all others. He records that he heard a
+bird ‘lay upon the back of poor will’ 1088 blows with only a rarely
+perceptible pause here and there, as if to take breath.”</p>
+
+<p>F. Seymour Hersey (1923) writes: “The Whip-poor-will sings most
+continuously from dusk till about 9.30 p. m. and from 2.00 a. m. till
+dawn. During the intervening hours only an occasional song is
+heard. The song season lasts from their arrival in spring until late
+July or early August. Then there is a marked falling off in the
+number of singing birds heard until toward the end of August or
+early in September an increase in the number of singers is again
+noted. The songs of these late birds often lack the energy that characterizes
+the spring performance but a good many continue to sing
+until they leave for the south. My latest singing bird was noted
+September 24, 1901.” These dates refer to eastern Massachusetts.</p>
+
+<p>Of the possibility of the female singing, he says: “June 15 a Whip-poor-will
+alighted on the fence and uttered its ‘chuck’ note, which
+usually precedes the regular song, repeating it a number of times
+but not giving a note of the usual ‘Whip-poor-will’ call. It also did
+the same while on the wing. This bird was supposed to be a female
+as no conspicuous light area was visible on the tail. If so, she was
+capable of singing the same as the male for I later heard and saw
+her sing, both from the fence and while on the ground in the middle
+of the road. She finally flew and was followed by another bird
+which may have been her mate.”</p>
+
+<p>Of the whippoorwill’s minor notes, we have seen above that the
+growling <i>gr-gr-gr</i> or <i>gaw-gaw-gaw</i> is presumably associated with
+courtship. I have never heard the note except when two (or more)
+birds were together, on or near the ground. This note suggests a
+little a note of the female woodcock, which is used under similar
+circumstances. The whirring <i>whup-whup-whirr</i> is evidently an
+alarm note.</p>
+
+<p>A. Dawes DuBois (1911) mentions two other notes, evidently of
+alarm. He says: “She fluttered from the spot as she had done the
+previous day, but this time uttering a very low hissing or ‘soughing’
+sound,” and again, “She kept vigilant watch, however, at a short
+distance, moving about near the ground with a remarkably noiseless
+flight but uttering a ‘chip’ or ‘whit’ similar to that of a domestic
+chick.”</p>
+
+<p>If we are outdoors at the end of the day, when the sun has gone
+down and all the ways are darkened, if we are walking along a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</span>quiet country road fringed by woods and open fields, or, in a canoe,
+are drifting down a stream flowing slowly past farmland—pastures,
+stone walls, orchards—and if we listen, what do we hear? If it is
+summer, the bird songs are gradually fading away as the birds fall
+asleep, the robin chorus lessens when the light grows dim, and when
+it is almost dark a field sparrow may sing for the last time before
+night comes. If it is autumn we hear little bird song, only a short
+period of chipping and clucking before the birds settle for the night,
+and after that only the insects that will sing the night through. But
+let us listen. Was that a whippoorwill? Do we hear a whippoorwill,
+or do we imagine we hear one because the scene has changed to
+a world of shadows—the whippoorwill’s world—and association has
+brought the bird to our mind, and its song has come to our ears?
+The song is faint and comes from far away. Perhaps we did not
+hear it; perhaps there was no song to hear.</p>
+
+<p>This is a peculiarity of the whippoorwill’s song; it is so bound up
+with association that we are sometimes misled. It is the same with
+the bluebird when we listen for its song over the brown fields of
+March.</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—The whippoorwill and the nighthawk appear very
+much alike when sitting either on the ground or along a horizontal
+branch of a tree, for in such situations it is difficult to see the points
+where the two birds differ. The whippoorwill is bristly about the
+mouth; the nighthawk is not. The tips of the whippoorwill’s folded
+wings do not come to the end of the rounded tail, whereas the
+nighthawk’s wings project beyond the forked tail. The whippoorwill
+has a narrow line of white on the upper breast. The corresponding
+mark on the nighthawk is broader and includes the throat. Perhaps
+the best mark for diagnosis is the pale, barred sides of the nighthawk.
+For purposes of field identification this part of the whippoorwill
+may be said to be unbarred.</p>
+
+<p>In the air the distinguishing mark of the nighthawk is a conspicuous
+spot of white in the wing. The whippoorwill lacks this
+mark. The flight of the two birds (see above) is very different and
+identifies them at a glance.</p>
+
+<p>The chuck-will’s-widow, although similar to the whippoorwill in
+plumage, is a much larger bird.</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—The clearing away of a large part of the North American
+wilderness during the past two centuries or so has not materially
+affected the whippoorwill; it drove the bird back from the settlements
+a little way, farther and farther as the towns grew in extent and
+became the great cities of today, but at the present time, not far
+beyond the city limits, whippoorwills find miles and miles of country
+wild and secluded enough for their breeding purposes. Fifteen miles
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</span>from the city of Boston, Mass., for example, as well as within a mile
+or two of many small towns in the State, the bird is still abundant,
+nesting on the dry wooded ridges and eskers.</p>
+
+<p>This ability to flourish as man advanced into the country, when
+so many birds failed to hold their own, may be accounted for by
+the habits and equipment of the whippoorwill, which, when it moves
+about, is “bescreened in night” and is so obscurely colored that we
+may say “the mask of night is on its face” even in the daytime, as it
+lies motionless on a carpet of dead leaves.</p>
+
+<p>If the bird should be discovered and attacked, we may imagine
+how often the whippoorwill, with its marvelous powers of flight, may
+escape hawk, owl, or fox.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall.</i>—We rarely see whippoorwills in autumn, but as we hear
+them sing not infrequently at this season we know that they sometimes
+linger in New England almost to the end of September, a
+time when hard frosts are at hand, which will either kill the insects
+or hasten them into retirement.</p>
+
+<p>Taverner and Swales (1907) report an unusual gathering of whippoorwills
+on Point Pelee, Ontario. They say: “In our various September
+visits we have usually found them more or less common, but
+at that season they are much quieter, and seldom do more than call
+a few times in the early evening and then cease. Sometimes one
+will be heard again through the night, but more often not. September,
+1905, beginning the 4th, we saw from one to six until the
+13th, when a great flight of them appeared on the Point. That
+day, in the red cedar thickets near the extremity of the Point, we
+flushed thirty between twelve and half-past one in the afternoon.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter.</i>—George Nelson, who has known the whippoorwill for
+years in its winter quarters on the east coast of Florida, tells me
+that the bird is pretty evenly distributed in the country about
+Sebastian, frequenting chiefly the ridges and hammocks where, during
+the day, it rests on the ground or on the trunk of a fallen tree.
+Not infrequently, as Mr. Nelson has been driving after dark along
+U. S. Route 1, a bird has started up from almost beneath the wheels
+of his car and has flown off in the glare of the headlights. He says
+that the bird is not in song during winter, but just before it starts
+northward, late in March, it sings for a few evenings, and that its
+departure invariably coincides with the arrival of the chuck-will’s-widow.</p>
+
+<p>Each evening during my stay at Sebastian with Mr. Nelson in
+mid-February 1931, just as it was beginning to grow dark, a whippoorwill
+appeared in the dooryard, a clearing in a dense hammock
+on the shore of the Indian River. The bird perched lengthwise
+here and there on the thick limbs of a live oak, well up in the big
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</span>tree, but clearly visible from the ground, and made frequent sallies
+out into the air, sometimes sweeping clear away from the tree, sometimes
+only flitting among its branches, returning either to the perch
+from which it had flown, or to another one. Presumably these sallies
+were made in pursuit of flying insects—there was a businesslike
+air in the bird’s behavior—but there was no sound of any snapping
+of the beak audible to me as I stood near the foot of the tree. Our
+first intimation that the bird had arrived from its day’s seclusion
+was the sound of a low <i>chuck</i> repeated at short intervals. The bird
+gave this note from its perch and from the air; it was very similar
+to the introductory note in the whippoorwill song, but a little sharper.
+As the bird flew about, it sailed a good deal, wheeling around with
+some tilting from one side to the other, the wings held out straight
+and flat from the body with no, or very little, bend at the wrist joint.
+I was strangely reminded of the flight of a shearwater—the whippoorwill
+seeming to avoid the branches as the shearwater avoids the
+tops of the waves, tilting over them as it sails.</p>
+
+<p>This was when the bird was moving slowly, but at times it increased
+its speed and executed the most intricate maneuvers, appearing
+and disappearing among the branches, ever changing its
+direction, either sailing or flapping its wings, swerving sharply from
+side to side, heeling over till one wing pointed nearly to the zenith
+and the other to the earth, then snapping back to an even keel. It
+shot straight upward, dived head downward, and doubled back,
+twisting and gyrating with such rapidity that it seemed to be
+tumbling about in the air. The turns were so quick and the pace
+so reckless that the bird appeared in a frenzy and in danger of dashing
+itself against a limb of the tree, yet from the midst of these
+complicated evolutions it instantly righted itself and, with a flash
+of wings, settled flat and motionless on its perch.</p>
+
+<p>Although there was the appearance of a lack of caution in these
+mad dashes among the network of branches, we were convinced, as
+we watched, that the bird governed its movements with perfect
+precision, with the acme of coordination.</p>
+
+<p>The flight seemed silent; even when the bird passed within a few
+feet of my head, I heard no sound. It appeared to be alone, and
+after remaining for ten minutes or so, it flew off, and we heard
+or saw no more of it until the next evening.</p>
+
+<p>When we flashed a light on it, the eye gleamed back a bright
+orange.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Nelson said that earlier in the winter the behavior of the
+bird had been different. It came about the house every evening
+for a while, visiting a small tree (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Assonia</i>) to which insects were
+attracted by big clusters of open flowers. This tree was about 10
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</span>feet tall, with large leaves but plenty of open space between the
+branches. The bird went to the ground after each flight into the
+tree, and it appeared to Mr. Nelson that the insects, as they flew
+among the flowers, could best be seen against the sky from this
+point. The bird did not return to this tree after the flowers had
+faded.</p>
+
+<p>During a second visit to Florida, more than a month later, I saw,
+presumably, the same bird again. It acted exactly as it had before,
+perching, indeed, on the identical spot on the limb of the live oak
+that had been a favorite perch in February. On this occasion also
+only one bird visited the tree, and while feeding was silent except for
+the low chuck. On March 24, after the bird had been to the tree
+and had gone away, I heard him singing off in the hammock. This
+singing on his winter quarters indicated that he felt spring was here,
+and it was time to leave for his summer home in the north.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution181">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—United States and southern Canada east of the Rocky
+Mountains, south in winter to El Salvador.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The breeding range of the eastern whippoorwill
+extends <b>north</b> rarely to central Saskatchewan (Prince Albert);
+southern Manitoba (Gypsumville, Lake St. Martin, Shoal Lake, and
+Winnipeg); northern Michigan (McMillan and Sault Ste. Marie);
+southern Ontario (Sudbury, Algonquin Park, and Ottawa); southern
+Quebec (Montreal and Sherbrooke); rarely northern Maine
+(Presque Isle); and rarely southern New Brunswick (Scotch Lake).
+The <b>eastern</b> limits extend southward from this point along the Atlantic
+coast to eastern Virginia (Ashland and Lawrenceville); hence
+southwest through the interior to North Carolina (Raleigh and Highrock);
+and Georgia (Young Harris and Atlanta). <b>South</b> to northern
+Georgia (Atlanta); northern Alabama (Lookout Mountain and
+Sand Mountain); central Arkansas (Clinto and Big Piney Creek);
+and Texas (Troup). <b>West</b> to eastern Texas (Troup); northwestern
+Arkansas (Rogers and Pearidge); eastern Kansas (Ottawa and
+Topeka); eastern Nebraska (Peru, Omaha, and Neligh); southeastern
+South Dakota (Vermillion); Minnesota (St. Cloud, Fosston,
+and Williams); southwestern Manitoba (Treesbank); and rarely
+central Saskatchewan (Prince Albert).</p>
+
+<p>Closely related subspecies, Stephens’s whippoorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">A. v. arizonae</i>),
+is found chiefly in Mexico, but in summer it has been recorded
+<b>north</b> to Arizona (Bradshaw Mountains, Sierra Ancha, Mount Graham,
+and the Chiricahua Mountains); New Mexico (Turkey Creek,
+Blank Range, and Fort Bayard); and southwestern Texas (Chisos
+Mountains).</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—The winter range of the <em>entire</em> species is <b>north</b> to
+southern Sonora (Alamos); southern Texas (San Patricio and Port
+Arthur); rarely Louisiana (Baton Rouge); southern Alabama
+(Fairhope); northwestern Florida (Pensacola and St. Marks); and
+east-central South Carolina (Mount Pleasant). <b>East</b> to east-central
+South Carolina (Mount Pleasant); Georgia (Savannah); eastern
+Florida (Amelia Island, Orlando, Lake Worth, and Royal Palm
+Hammock); British Honduras (Toledo District); and Costa Rica
+(probably San Jose). <b>South</b> to Costa Rica (probably San Jose and
+Puntarenas); El Salvador (Rio San Miguel, Puerto del Triunfo, and
+La Libertad); Oaxaca (Tehuantepec); and southern Jalisco (Colima
+Volcano). <b>West</b> to Jalisco (Colima Volcano and Bolanos Volcano);
+probably western Durango (Salto); and southern Sonora (Alamos).</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of spring arrival are: North Carolina—Louisburg,
+March 19; Weaverville, March 23; Raleigh, March
+28. Virginia—Variety Mills, March 29; Lawrenceville, March 30.
+District of Columbia—Washington, April 1. Maryland—Mardela
+Springs, March 29; Cambridge, April 12. Pennsylvania—Williamsport,
+April 21; Berwyn, April 22; Philadelphia, April 22. New Jersey—Vineland,
+April 11; Morristown, April 23. New York—Jay,
+April 14; Geneva, April 25; Rochester, April 29. Connecticut—Jewett
+City, April 23; Hartford, April 23. Massachusetts—Boston,
+April 13; Taunton, April 20; Wilmington, April 26. Vermont—Wells
+River, April 25; St. Johnsbury, May 5; Rutland, May 7. New
+Hampshire—Charlestown, April 26; Tilton, May 2. Maine—Portland,
+April 26; Phillips, May 2. Quebec—Montreal, April 25.
+New Brunswick—Scotch Lake, May 7. Mississippi—Suffolk, March
+22. Arkansas—Delight, March 29; Clinton, March 30. Tennessee—Athens,
+March 24. Kentucky—Eubank, April 2; Bowling Green,
+April 6. Missouri—Palmyra, April 9; St. Louis, April 13. Illinois—Chicago,
+April 13; Port Byron, April 23. Indiana—Fort Wayne,
+April 11; Bicknell, April 12; Lafayette, April 16. Ohio—Columbus,
+April 13; Wauseon, April 16; Youngstown, April 18. Michigan—Detroit,
+April 15; Sault Ste. Marie, May 3. Ontario—Ottawa, April
+25; Toronto, April 28. Iowa—Keokuk, April 11; Sabula, April 16;
+Iowa City, April 18. Wisconsin—Milwaukee, April 21; Madison,
+April 26. Minnesota—Lanesboro, April 17; Elk River, April 24; St.
+Vincent, May 11. Texas—Grapevine, April 7. Kansas—Onaga,
+April 19; Topeka, April 20. North Dakota—Larimore, May 20.
+Manitoba—Aweme, May 1; Raeburn, May 1.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Late dates of fall departure are: Manitoba—Aweme,
+September 27. Minnesota—Elk River, September 23; Lanesboro,
+October 2. Iowa—Keokuk, October 2; Sabula, October 4. Missouri—Concordia,
+October 3; Palmyra, October 12. Ontario—Ottawa,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</span>October 16; Point Pelee, October 17. Michigan—Sault Ste.
+Marie, September 23; Detroit, October 6. Ohio—Wauseon, September
+20. Indiana—Bicknell, September 21; Fort Wayne, September 22.
+Illinois—Port Byron, September 19. Kentucky—Eubank, October 4.
+Tennessee—Athens, October 3. Arkansas—Delight, October 4. New
+Brunswick—Scotch Lake, September 8. Maine—Phillips, October 6.
+New Hampshire—Ossipee, October 2. Vermont—Wells River, September
+14; Rutland, September 21. Massachusetts—Harvard, October
+10. <a id="chg14"></a>Connecticut—Hartford, October 18. New Jersey—Morristown,
+October 10. Pennsylvania—Berwyn, October 5; Philadelphia, October
+11. District of Columbia—Washington, October 13. West Virginia—French
+Creek, October 2. North Carolina—Raleigh, November 6.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—The whippoorwill has been recorded, either by
+its call or by the collection of specimens, at several points outside its
+normal range. One was taken at Port Collins, Colo., on September
+14, 1903, and one was heard at Eastend, in southwestern Saskatchewan,
+on August 29, 1919. In North Dakota, two specimens have
+been obtained at Grafton, one on October 9, 1923, and the other on
+May 24, 1924, while it was recorded at Stump Lake in the spring of
+1910 and also at Cando. It has been noted occasionally near Wichita,
+Kans., and one was noted at Harper, Kans., on May 1, 1936. During
+the period July 5 to September 22, 1905, one was heard calling on
+Isle Royale, Mich., and in the summer of 1922 one was heard on the
+Cascapedia River, Gaspe Peninsula, Quebec. In Puerto Rico a specimen
+was collected for Cory, probably in 1888, and Wetmore reported
+seeing a bird that he felt certain was this species on December 23,
+1911, near the experimental station at Rio Piedras.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Arizona: 12 records, May 3 to August 8; 6 records,
+May 22 to June 12, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Connecticut: 9 records, May 20 to June 18.</p>
+
+<p>Illinois: 39 records, May 9 to July 26; 20 records, May 18 to
+June 17.</p>
+
+<p>West Virginia: 40 records, May 6 to July 7; 20 records, May 15
+to June 3.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Antrostomus183">ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS ARIZONAE Brewster</p>
+
+<p class="center">STEPHENS’S WHIPPOORWILL</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate24"><span class="smcap">Plate 24</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits183">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This southwestern race of the whippoorwill is found in southern
+Arizona and New Mexico, in southwestern Texas, and southward
+through the mountains of northern Mexico, being replaced by another
+subspecies farther south. Although it is common enough in some of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</span>the Arizona mountain ranges, it is oftener heard than seen. It sits
+so closely, is so inactive during the day, and is so protectively colored
+that it is easily overlooked. The use of a flashlight at night will often
+enable one to locate one of these birds by the “eye-shine,” even at
+considerable distance.</p>
+
+<p>William Brewster (1881), in naming this subspecies, described it as
+“generally similar to <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">A. vociferus</i> but much larger; with the rictal
+bristles considerably longer; the gular crescent and a pretty well
+defined superciliary stripe, ochraceous; the lores and auriculars tawny
+ochraceous. The white of the tail barely tipping the outer web of
+the lateral tail feathers and on the others confined to a narrow apical
+space; the under tail-coverts nearly without barring.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Brewster’s type came from the Chiricahua Mountains, Ariz.,
+where they were evidently common, for Frank Stephens, the collector,
+wrote to him: “I have heard several of these Whip-poor-wills
+singing at one time and am told that they were heard here last year.
+I hear <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">A. nuttalli</i> every evening. They keep high up the mountain
+sides, while <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">A. vociferus</i> affects the lower part of the cañons.”</p>
+
+<p>Harry S. Swarth (1904) says that this whippoorwill is a “fairly
+abundant summer resident” in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., “occurring
+principally between 5000 and 8000 feet; they may occasionally
+occur at a little higher elevation, but I have never seen any
+below the lowest altitude given.”</p>
+
+<p>A. J. van Rossem (1936) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The vertical range of Stephens’s Whip-poor-will is not limited to the higher
+mountains. Above 6000 feet in the Santa Ritas many birds were heard on every
+occasion that we stayed out after dark, but I also heard a whip-poor-will several
+times at 5000 feet in the Atascos and Dr. Miller collected a specimen at Peña
+Blanca Spring, Pajarito Mountains, in June, 1931. These two localities are well
+down in the Upper Sonora Zone.</p>
+
+<p>I took, all told, six specimens of this common, though seldom collected, whip-poor-will
+and saw or heard several times that number. In the Santa Ritas they
+showed a decided preference for groves of oaks and sycamores in the cañon bottoms,
+and nearly all of those which were found at night were feeding in the
+immediate vicinity of running water. A pair to the mile seemed to be normal
+in most cañons which contained water and it was obvious that each pair had its
+own territory.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—Mr. Swarth (1904) saw the first arrival in 1903 “on April
+28, and soon after their notes could be heard every evening, usually
+from some thickly wooded hillside, near the bottom of the canyon.”
+But Mr. Stephens wrote to Mr. Brewster (1881): “I heard the first
+Whip-poor-will about the middle of May. By June 1, they were as
+common as I ever knew them to be in the East. Sometimes I could
+hear three or four whistling at once.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—We did not succeed in finding a nest of Stephens’s whippoorwill
+in the Huachuca Mountains, but my companion, Frank C.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</span>Willard, had previously found one there on May 24, 1899; the nest
+was on the ground at the base of a bush, and the eggs were lying
+on a few dead leaves; it was at an elevation of about 6,000 feet.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stephens wrote to Major Bendire (1895): “The locality where
+I found the egg was a gulch near the summit of the Chiricahua
+Mountains, in a thick forest of yellow pine. The nest, if it can be
+called so, was a slight depression scratched in the ground, under the
+edge of a bowlder.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. A. K. Fisher sent Bendire the following notes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The Whip-poor-will’s note was not heard at Fort Bowie, Arizona, during the
+last three weeks of May, 1894. When we made camp at the mouth of Rucker
+Canyon, some forty miles south of the Post, in the Chiricahua Mountains,
+on the last day of the month, we heard a few, and a couple of days later
+found the species abundant higher up in the same canyon, among the pines
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">P. ponderosa</i>). Here at early dusk and at dawn their notes were heard almost
+continuously, and numbers of birds were seen. On June 5 Mr. Fred. Hall
+Fowler found a nest, if the slight depression in the ground can be so designated,
+on a steep side hill about 50 feet above the stream. It was situated
+under an overhanging bush at the edge of a flat rock, and contained two young,
+recently hatched, and the fragments of egg shells from which they had
+emerged.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Mr. Fowler wrote to Bendire concerning the same nest: “The eggs
+were deposited on a bed of oak leaves by the side of a large rock;
+there was no nest excepting the bare leaves, which had been hollowed
+out slightly.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. van Rossem (1936) found this whippoorwill nesting in the
+Santa Rita Mountains, Ariz., of which he writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>Though males, and sometimes, before eggs were laid, mated pairs, were
+invariably found in the cañon beds, the two nests discovered were on hillsides
+at least a quarter of a mile from water. On the night of June 6, 1931, I
+caught the red eye-shine of a whippoorwill some distance away (estimated by
+daylight at 150 yards) and across a steep-banked cañon. With no expectation
+of collecting anything I followed the trail to a point where I estimated the
+shine to have been, but could locate nothing and supposed that the bird had
+gone. On my return to the original spot the eye was seen in the same location
+as before, and this time, after a little search, I found a female sitting
+under the protection of a fallen spray of leafless twigs which lay on a steep
+bank beside the trail. Three of us had passed within five or six feet of this
+sitting bird on two occasions the day before. The sitting bird made no effort
+to escape and was picked up by hand. There was one nearly fresh egg in
+the shallow depression in the gravelly soil which served as a nest, and stuck
+to the ventral plumage of the incubating female were several small pieces of
+shell, showing that another egg had been laid and somehow broken.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The two eggs laid by Stephens’s whippoorwill have been
+said to be pure, immaculate white, but this is not always the case.
+Mr. Brewster (1882) says of the egg sent to him by Mr. Stephens:
+“The egg is white with a dull gloss. At first sight it appears to be
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</span>immaculate, but a closer inspection reveals a few faint blotches of
+the palest possible purple, so faint indeed that they might pass for
+superficial stains were it not for the fact that they underlie the
+external polish.” This egg measures 29.72 by 22.10 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. van Rossem (1936) says of the egg referred to above: “This
+single egg was by no means immaculate white, but was clouded and
+mottled with brown and lilac, mostly in the nature of semi-concealed
+shell markings. It was similar to but very much less highly colored
+than eggs of the eastern <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">vociferus</i>, however.” Another nest, found
+by him later, “contained one pure white egg and a newly hatched
+chick.”</p>
+
+<p>Philo W. Smith, Jr. (1900), received two sets of eggs, taken by
+O. C. Poling in the Huachuca Mountains, which “very much resemble
+in shape and color sets of the common Poor Will in his collection,
+being possibly a trifle larger, and one egg of each set has a few almost
+imperceptible pinkish spots on one end, the other egg in each set
+being unspotted.”</p>
+
+<p>There is a set of two eggs in the Thayer collection, taken in the
+Chiricahua Mountains, Ariz., on June 6, 1904, by Virgil W. Owen,
+that are decidedly spotted. These eggs are oval and only moderately
+glossy. The ground color is pure white, and both eggs are finely and
+irregularly marked with small spots and minute dots of “pale Quaker
+drab,” “pallid Quaker drab,” and very pale “clay color.”</p>
+
+<p>The measurements of 29 eggs average 28.8 by 20.8 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>30.9</b> by 21.8, 29.0 by <b>22.6</b>,
+<b>25.8</b> by 20.1, and 28.9 by <b>19.9</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—I have not seen the downy young of this subspecies, but
+the two newly hatched chicks, taken by Mr. Fowler, are described as
+“covered with light brown down, and were not more than 1½
+inches long.” Mr. van Rossem (1936) describes a newly hatched
+chick as “clothed with a very respectable covering of down—in color
+between ‘cinnamon’ and ‘orange-cinnamon’ of Ridgway.”</p>
+
+<p>I have not seen enough material to work out the molts of this race,
+but I suppose that they are not very different from those of the
+eastern whippoorwill. Mr. Brewster’s type was a male, which is
+described above. He later received an adult female from Mr.
+Stephens, of which he says (1882): “This specimen differs even more
+widely from the female, than does my type from the male of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">A.
+vociferus</i>. The ochraceous of the lores, superciliary-stripe, and neck-collar,
+spreads over the entire plumage both above and beneath, giving
+it a tawny tinge which overlies and obscures the usual dark markings.
+On the shoulders, breast, lores and throat this color deepens to a fine
+reddish-chestnut, and elsewhere it replaces the ashy, dirty white and
+other light tints of the eastern birds. In its general coloring the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</span>plumage strikingly resembles that of the brown phase of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Scops asio
+kennicotti</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928) says that the young male is “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. <i>Young female</i>: Similar to
+young male but outer tail feathers tipped with brownish buff instead
+of white.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—The food, feeding habits, and general behavior of
+Stephens’s whippoorwill are apparently similar to those of its eastern
+relative. Mr. van Rossem noticed a peculiarity that I have not seen
+in the eastern bird, of which he writes: “A, to me, surprising circumstance,
+was the marked erectability of the feathers above the eyes.
+Both of the sitting females carried these tufts constantly erect the
+entire time they were under observation. A male seen from directly
+in front alternately raised and flattened them. On one previous
+occasion, when night hunting in El Salvador, I had observed the
+eastern subspecies (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">vociferus</i>) to have markedly erectile tufts; in fact
+until I picked the bird up I was certain that I had shot some small
+‘eared’ owl. About 45% from the horizontal was the maximum elevation,
+though when viewed from directly in front the tufts appear
+nearly vertical.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall.</i>—Mr. Swarth (1904) says that, in the Huachucas, “they seem
+to remain rather late in the fall, as at the end of August their notes
+were heard as frequently as ever, and I have a female taken by H.
+Kimball on September 29, 1895. An adult male secured on August
+29, 1902, had not yet quite completed its moult.”</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Phalaenoptilus187">PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI NUTTALLI (Audubon)</p>
+
+<p class="center">NUTTALL’S POORWILL</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits187">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>Nuttall’s poorwill is the best known and the most widely distributed
+race of this species, occupying a wide range in western North
+America, from southern Canada to Mexico and from the Great Plains
+to eastern California. Major Bendire (1895) says of its haunts:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In some of its habits it differs considerably from the preceding species of
+this family which are almost entirely confined to the denser woodlands; the
+Poor-will, however, although frequently found in similar localities, is apparently
+equally as much at home on the open prairie and the almost barren and
+arid regions of the interior, which are covered only here and there with
+stunted patches of sage (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Artemisia</i>) and other desert plants. The climate does
+not seem to affect it much, as it inhabits some of the hottest regions of the
+continent, like Death Valley, in southeastern California, as well as the slopes
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</span>of the Rocky and Blue mountains, in Oregon, where it reaches altitudes of from
+6,000 to 8,000 feet. I have heard the Poor-will in Bear Valley, Oregon, in a
+locality where frost could be found every month in the year.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. Alexander Wetmore (1932) writes: “At times poorwills are
+found in growths of low forests, but they are more often encountered
+in regions where dense clumps of brush are scattered over otherwise
+open ground, as is common in desert and semiarid localities, or in
+brush-grown, rocky canyons, where the ground is rough and strewn
+with bowlders.”</p>
+
+<p>Referring to the Huachuca Mountains, in Arizona, Harry S.
+Swarth (1904) says: “I found the Poor-will quite abundant during
+the summer months in the foothill region and in the lower parts of
+the canyons; but though most numerous below 5000 feet they were
+by no means restricted to these parts, for I saw or heard some in all
+parts of the mountains occasionally up to an altitude of nearly
+10,000 feet.”</p>
+
+<p>George F. Simmons (1925) designates its haunts in Texas as “high,
+gravelly flats or bits of plateau grown with post oak timber and with
+occasional moist spots; gravel patches dotted with catsclaw bushes,
+located in post oak growth on slopes and flat tops of hills; high
+prairies on rough ground along the terraces of valleys; bare ground
+on rocky hillsides; among shrubbery or on semi-arid flats.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The nesting of the poorwill is a very simple affair. The
+two eggs are laid on the bare ground, without any semblance of nest
+building; a slight hollow may be scraped in the bare earth, or the
+eggs may be laid on hard gravelly ground, or even on a flat rock. The
+exact spot chosen for a nest site may be in full sunlight, but oftener it
+is at least partially shaded by some bush, often a greasewood bush or
+a bunch of sagebrush, or some other bunch of vegetation. The only
+eggs taken by Major Bendire (1895) were “laid on the bare ground
+under a small grease-wood bush (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Obione</i>) and were fully exposed
+to the sun,” near Tucson, Ariz. Prof. D. E. Lantz wrote to him
+from Kansas, regarding the nesting habits of the poorwill in that
+region, that “with one exception the eggs taken were laid upon
+bare patches of gravel or on low, flat rocks, and placed usually near
+a bunch of weeds or a tuft of grass. The exception was a set found
+on the bare ground in an alley in Manhattan City. This alley was in
+constant use and it was strange that the eggs remained for so long
+a time undisturbed, for when taken incubation had begun in both
+eggs. The Poor-wills usually keep to the vicinity of steep hills and
+old dead grass. They seem to return to the same locality from year
+to year to breed.”</p>
+
+<p>E. S. Cameron (1907), reporting from Montana, says: “On June
+26, 1907, Mr. M. M. Archdale flushed a Poor-will from her two white
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</span>eggs on a steep hillside in some rough pine brakes at his ranch near
+Knowlton. In this unfrequented place the eggs were fully exposed
+on the bare earth amidst the pines. On June 28, we went together
+to the place intending to photograph the eggs, but they had been
+already removed by the bird.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The two eggs of the poorwill are generally said to be
+pure white, but Bendire (1895) says that the color is not pure white
+and that “on close inspection it can readily be seen that it is a
+delicate cream, with a faint pinkish tint which does not perceptibly
+fade. Eggs in the collection taken more than twenty years ago still
+plainly show this peculiar tint. The eggs are unspotted as a rule,
+but an occasional specimen shows a few faint, darker shell markings
+around one end, which are barely perceptible to the naked eye, and
+which fade considerably in time.”</p>
+
+<p>In shape the eggs vary from oval to elliptical-oval; and they are
+only moderately glossy. The measurements of 50 eggs average 26.3
+by 19.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure
+<b>28.9</b> by 19.8, 27.5 by <b>21.6</b>, <b>22.1</b> by 19.3, and 24.6 by <b>18.1</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—The period of incubation does not seem to be definitely
+known. Dr. Wetmore (1932) says: “Both birds are said to assist
+in incubation. When disturbed about the nest, they tumble about
+and with widely opened mouths make a loud hissing sound terrifyingly
+like the hissing of a snake.”</p>
+
+<p>Robert B. Rockwell writes to me that he found a female with
+two young “as large as an ordinary week or ten days old chick.
+They were squatting perfectly motionless on the ground, about a
+foot apart, each in the shadow of something. Their feathers were
+quite well developed. They made no move when I picked them up,
+but opened their eyes when I put them down again.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Elmer C. Aldrich (1935) describes the downy young
+of the dusky poorwill, less than a day old and about 2½ inches long,
+as covered with a rich buff down. Ridgway (1914) describes the
+downy covering of a young <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nuttalli</i> as “vinaceous-buff, paler on underparts.”
+Two small partially downy young in my collection are
+showing the growth of the first plumage on the forehead, crown,
+nape, back, and scapulars; these feathers are dull buffy white, minutely
+sprinkled with grayish, and have small spots and narrow bars
+of black; the new feathers on the underparts and flanks are dull
+white, indistinctly barred with dusky; the wings are less than one-third
+grown, and the tail is just sprouting.</p>
+
+<p>Ridgway (1914) says of the young in juvenal plumage: “Not essentially
+different from adults, but markings in general less sharply
+defined, especially on underparts, and throat patch buff instead of
+white.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</span></p>
+
+<p>I have been unable to learn anything about the molts of either
+young or adults, but Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1908) says that a specimen
+in juvenal plumage, “taken August 22, shows many feathers of
+the full adult plumage in the throat and breast. The juvenal plumage
+is characterized by having the throat patch buff and the back
+conspicuously mixed with cinnamon-rufus.”</p>
+
+<p>A young male, collected by Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) in Brewster
+County, Tex., on May 25, was in the midst of the postjuvenal
+molt; “the crown is uniform gray, without any suggestion of a dark
+central patch, the feathers being only lightly speckled with black.
+* * * The chest lacks entirely the black patch and band, the feathers
+being lightly and indistinctly tipped with tawny and whitish.”</p>
+
+<p>The so-called frosted poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nitidus</i>) is now regarded as merely
+a color phase of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nuttalli</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The food of the poorwill consists, so far as it appears by
+the data available, entirely of insects, mostly the smaller, night-flying
+species, such as moths, beetles, chinch bugs, and locusts.
+Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that “in one stomach, 80 per cent of the
+contents was grasshoppers and locusts.” Many of these insects are
+caught on the wing in the capacious mouths of these birds, but many
+are also picked up on the ground.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. R. W. Shufeldt (1885) noticed a poorwill “apparently amusing
+himself by making short jumps of two feet or more up in the air,
+then resting on the road to repeat the performance in a moment or so.
+Another was going through similar capers on the broad walk. They
+seemed to be perfectly oblivious to my presence, and, indeed, some
+children further along were trying to catch them with their hands.”
+He shot one of the birds, and “was much surprised to find in its mouth
+some four or five quite sizable moths, and the upper portion of the
+oesophagus was filled with a wad of a dozen or fifteen more. Fully
+half of these were yet alive, and two or three managed to fly away when
+freed from the bodies of their more disabled companions. This, then,
+is what the bird was up to; instead of flying about as a Nighthawk
+does, taking his insect prey in a conspicuous manner upon the wing,
+he captures it in the way I have described above.”</p>
+
+<p>A. Brazier Howell (1927) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>August 28, 1926, I was sitting near midnight, on the observation platform of
+the California Limited as it stopped at Needles, California. It was with much
+interest that I then noted at least three poorwills (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phalaenoptilus nuttalli
+nitidus?</i>) hawking about a powerful arc light in the railway yards close by.
+The observation point of one of these was upon the top of a board fence
+well within the circle of illumination; of the others, some point out of my
+direct vision and just beyond the fence. One after the other, until my train
+left ten minutes later, they would flutter up in their quest for insects, not
+just somewhere near the light but apparently right against the glass globe
+which inclosed the arc, returning each time to their respective stations for
+observation.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</span></p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Bailey (1928) says: “When hunting for food the Poor-will
+skims swiftly and noiselessly close over the ground with irregular
+turnings and windings and rests between, and when its catch contains
+hard indigestible parts like the wing coverts of beetles, ejects
+them in the form of pellets, as do the hawks and owls, kingfishers,
+and others of similar food habits. A road through a forest with its
+abundant flies and insects is said to be one of its favorite hunting
+grounds.”</p>
+
+<p>The stomach of one taken by Van Tyne and Sutton (1937) on
+May 25 in Brewster County, Tex., was crammed with four large
+June beetles (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phyllophaga</i> sp.) and a large army ant (male
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Eciton</i> sp.).</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that a poorwill, wounded by
+Mr. Bailey, exhibited a surprising method of defense; he “opened
+his mouth wide and hissed and blew and flopped about on the
+ground, always facing the enemy. Blowing like a blow snake and
+opening and shutting his mouth, he was enough to terrify all minor
+enemies.”</p>
+
+<p>Referring to the eye-shine, common among the Caprimulgidae,
+Mrs. Bailey quotes Dr. Bergtold as saying: “While motoring at night
+through a particularly dark canyon, I noticed far ahead in the
+illuminated road, two small glowing pink spots which were extinguished
+when a bird flew from the road on the near approach
+of the car. The bird alighted again, some distance ahead in the
+road, when the pink spots reappeared and were identified as the
+bird’s eyes; it was shot and proved to be a Poor-will.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Wetmore (1932) says that poorwills “rest during the day on
+the ground, though after night, when feeding or calling, may seek
+higher perches on stones or posts or on low branches. On one occasion
+I saw one by bright moonlight calling from a bush, where it
+perched crosswise on a small limb, like any ordinary bird, though
+ordinarily they rest lengthwise of branches, like others of their
+family.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Elliott Coues (1874) says: “Like others of its family, Nuttall’s
+Whippoorwill is oftener heard than seen. When flushed from
+its retreat in the daytime, among the shrubbery or tall weeds, it
+rises hurriedly with wayward flight, dashes a few yards, and re-alights.
+There is something about it at such times that strongly
+recalls the Woodcock, and the bird is quite as difficult to shoot on
+the wing.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—The call of the poorwill is generally recorded as a clear
+pronunciation of its name, but many observers have noted a third
+syllable, audible at only a short distance, making the complete song
+sound like <i>poor-will-low</i>, or <i>poor-will-ee</i>, when the bird is near, or
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</span><i>poor-will</i> when farther away, or even <i>p’-will</i> when still farther away.
+Mr. Simmons (1925) writes it <i>puih-whee-ee</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Coues (1874) says: “This cry is very lugubrious, and in places
+where the birds are numerous the wailing chorus is enough to excite
+vague apprehensions on the part of the lonely traveler, as he lies
+down to rest by his camp-fire, or to break his sleep with fitful dreams,
+in which lost spirits appear to bemoan their fate and implore his
+intercession.”</p>
+
+<p>Some other writers give a less unpleasant impression of the song;
+for instance, Dr. Wetmore (1932) says: “Near at hand these calls are
+harsh, but with distance the first two assume a pleasant, somewhat
+melancholy cadence.” And Mrs. Bailey (1928) writes: “When we
+were camped on the edge of a canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains,
+at dusk while the bats were flying down in the canyon, up along the
+edge came the Poor-wills so near that we could hear their syllables
+distinctly—<i>poor-will´-uck, poor-will´-uck</i>. Sometimes two would call
+antiphonally, faster and faster till they fairly tripped over each
+other. The call as it is often given is a delightfully soft, <i>poor-will´,
+poor-will´, poor-will´-uck</i>, which like the delicious aromatic smell of
+the sagebrush clings long to the memory of the lover of the west.”</p>
+
+<p>Henry W. Henshaw (1875) says that “their notes are most
+often noticed in early evening, and again just before dawn, but not
+infrequently their song is heard through the entire night. * * *
+When flying, they emit a constantly repeated clucking note, which
+is, I think, common to both sexes. * * * The males continue their
+notes till very late in the season; for I frequently heard them during
+the first part of October, and even as late as the 17th.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—In superficial appearance the poorwill looks very
+much like a small whippoorwill, and its behavior is similar. It also
+somewhat resembles a partly grown young nighthawk, but its behavior
+is different; whereas the nighthawk flies about high in the air
+in pursuit of its prey, the poorwill hunts on or near the ground,
+flitting about like a large moth on silent wings; the poorwill is more
+strictly nocturnal in its activities than the nighthawk; furthermore,
+it exhibits no white patch in the wing, while flying, but shows white
+tips on the lateral tail feathers. Its note is, of course, characteristic.</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter.</i>—The poorwill retires from the northern portions of its
+range late in fall and spends the winter near, or beyond, our southern
+borders. Dr. Coues (1874) reports, in some notes from Ogden,
+Utah, that “it lingers at its summer home till the autumn is far advanced,
+as we found it at Ogden as late as October 6, quite far up
+the slope of the mountains, in the midst of a driving snow-storm—the
+first of the season—the snow having then already accumulated to
+the depth of several inches.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</span></p>
+
+<p>In Arizona, New Mexico, and central Texas it is usually absent
+from late in October to early in April. It apparently winters more
+or less regularly in southern Texas, though its main winter range
+is in Mexico.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution193">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Central and western United States, and southern British
+Columbia, south to central Mexico.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The breeding range of the poorwill extends
+<b>north</b> to southern British Columbia (Kamloops and Okanagan Landing);
+Montana (Billings and Terry); northwestern South Dakota
+(Slim Buttes); north-central Nebraska (Long Pine Canyon); and
+southwestern Iowa (Pottawattamie County). <b>East</b> to southwestern
+Iowa (Pottawattamie County); eastern Kansas (Blue Rapids, Onaga,
+Lawrence, and Clearwater); central Texas (Kerrville, San Antonio,
+and Somerset); eastern Coahuila (Sabinas and Saltillo); and probably
+Morelos (Cuernavaca). <b>South</b> to probably Morelos (Cuernavaca);
+southern Sonora (Alamos); and southern Baja California (San Jose
+del Cabo). <b>West</b> to Baja California (San Jose del Cabo, Miraflores,
+Triunfo, Pozo Grande, San Fernando, Santo Domingo, La Joya, San
+Telmo, and probably Todos Santos Islands); California (San Diego,
+Escondido, Ojai Valley, Santa Cruz Mountain, San Geronimo, Covel,
+and probably Yreka); Oregon (Brownsboro, Bridge Creek, and
+probably Netarts); eastern Washington (Crab Creek and Cheney);
+and British Columbia (Summerland and Kamloops).</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—The species is probably resident in the southern part
+of its range and during the winter season is found <b>north</b> to southern
+California (Berryessa Station, Paicines, Death Valley, and Laguna);
+rarely southern Arizona (Tucson); and southern Texas (El Paso,
+rarely Kerrville, Laredo, and Falfurrias).</p>
+
+<p>The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been
+separated into four currently recognized geographic races. The typical
+subspecies, Nuttall’s poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">P. n. nuttalli</i>) occupies all the
+United States portion of the range except that part of California
+west of the Sierra Nevada. The dusky poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">P. n. californicus</i>)
+is found in western California from the northern part of the Sacramento
+Valley south to northwestern Baja California; the desert
+poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">P. n. hueyi</i>) is restricted to the lower Colorado River
+Valley, southwestern Arizona, and northeastern Baja California; and
+the San Ignacio poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">P. n. dickeyi</i>) is found in Baja California
+south of latitude 30° N.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of spring arrival are: Texas—Kerrville,
+February 4; San Antonio, February 27. Kansas—Manhattan,
+April 7; Onaga, April 7. New Mexico—Chloride, March 31;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</span>State College, April 7; Rinconada, April 10. Colorado—Beulah,
+April 29; Denver, May 9. Wyoming—Laramie Peak, May 2; Lingle,
+May 3. Montana—Terry, May 16. Arizona—Tombstone,
+March 20. Utah—Kobe Valley, May 23. California—Piedra,
+March 5; Daggett, March 12; San Clemente Island, March 30; Lassen
+Peak, April 16. British Columbia—Okanagan Landing,
+April 22.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia—Okanagan
+Landing, September 20. California—Daggett, October
+21; Los Angeles, October 25; La Verne, October 28; Garnsey,
+November 2. Arizona—San Francisco Mountain, September 29.
+Montana—Big Sandy, September 4; Bighorn River, September 19.
+Wyoming—Powder River, September 9; Clear Fork, September 19.
+Colorado—Beulah, October 8. New Mexico—State College, October
+30; Sierra Hachita, November 24. South Dakota—White River,
+September 27. Kansas—Onaga, September 27. Oklahoma—Kenton,
+September 26.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Arizona: 5 records, May 2 to August 2.</p>
+
+<p>California: 42 records, March 22 to August 8; 21 records, May
+6 to June 25, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Colorado: 5 records, May 26 to July 27.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 11 records, April 29 to June 20.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Phalaenoptilus194">PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI CALIFORNICUS Ridgway</p>
+
+<p class="center">DUSKY POORWILL</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate25"><span class="smcap">Plates 25–27</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits194">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The goatsuckers are now in their proper place in the A. O. U.
+Check-list, showing their relationship to the owls, which they strikingly
+resemble in several characters. The poorwills are conspicuous
+in this respect; they are more strictly nocturnal in their activities than
+some of the owls, for which they are well adapted; the eyes are very
+large, suggesting those of owls; the mouth is very broad, but some
+of the owls have broad mouths also; the plumage is fully as soft as
+that of the owls; and their flight is noiseless, like that of most
+night-flying birds. The Caprimulgidae are not predators on vertebrate
+animals, although the chuck-will’s-widow has been known to
+eat birds; but they all live on animal food; and many owls live
+largely on insects.</p>
+
+<p>The dusky poorwill does not enjoy so extensive a distribution as its
+inland relative, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nuttalli</i>, but perhaps it is equally as well known
+throughout its range in California.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The steep slopes and ridges of the foothills and the sides
+of canyons seem to form the favorite nesting haunts of this, as well
+as other poorwills. Elmer C. Aldrich (1935) gives a very good
+description of a locality in Tuolumne County, Calif., where a nest
+was found on July 5, 1934:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>The altitude was about 5600 feet, and the general vegetation of the area
+consisted of yellow pines, incense cedars, white firs, black oak islands, a few
+species of ceanothus, and a little manzanita, with mountain misery covering
+most of the open hillside. The immediate location of the nest was in a little
+circular clearing about fifteen yards in diameter, surrounded by young yellow
+pines closely knit together by small, interwoven branches. The clearing contained
+three manzanita bushes and one ceanothus bush. The greater part of
+it was strewn with long dead pole-like logs, which appeared to be one of the
+basic requirements for the Poor-will’s protection. The entire north side of
+the opening was bordered by a large decayed log of a diameter of three feet,
+which, because of the common use by the Poor-will, came to be called “the log.”</p>
+
+<p>The nest was found when we were coming from the north and upon advancing
+four yards after stepping over this log. When the adult flushed from
+the nest the observer’s foot was but eighteen inches from the site. The bird
+flew across the clearing into the edge of the dense forest, where it lit on a
+small log and watched without movement for fifteen minutes while pictures
+of the two light buff eggs were obtained.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Dr. William L. Holt writes to me that he found a nest near Banning,
+Calif., on June 13, 1909, on the bare ground on the north side
+of a sandy hill, nearly bare of vegetation. J. E. Patterson has sent
+me two excellent photographs (pls. 25, 26) of poorwills’ nests. The
+one taken in Stanislaus County, Calif., on June 23, 1934, was on the
+ground in open timber; the other, taken in Mariposa County, Calif.,
+on June 21, 1933, was on the ground in a fire deadening on a hillside;
+both were in the Transition Zone.</p>
+
+<p>A. J. van Rossem (1920) found a nest on April 18, 1919, a very
+early date, on the side of a canyon, where there was a heavy growth
+of wild lilac and white sage; “no attempt whatever seemed to have
+been made at constructing a nest, the eggs lying on the bare ground
+among pebbles, etc., in the shade of some dense brush that bordered
+upon a small open space.” The nest has also been found on bare
+rock, but is usually, at least partially, shaded by some bush, loose
+brush, brakes, or weeds. The birds are very apt to return to the
+exact spot to nest each year.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—As a rule the eggs of the dusky poorwill, two in number,
+are similar to the eggs of other poorwills, but van Rossem and
+Bowles (1920) write:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In a majority of the descriptions that are given for eggs of the various
+forms of the Poor-will, the color is stated as white, without markings, sometimes
+with a pinkish tinge. However, such was by no means the case with
+the set of eggs under discussion. Before blowing, the ground color was a
+strong salmon pink; but this, after blowing, turned to a clear, glossy, pinkish
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</span>white, strongly suggesting eggs of the Merrill Pauraque (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Nyctidromus albicollis
+merrilli</i>), although the pink of the Poor-will eggs showed a closer
+approach to salmon. Around the larger ends was a rather dense wreath of
+lavender and dusky spots and dots, making the eggs look exceedingly like the
+marked eggs of some small petrel. * * * In the course of time many of the
+smaller dots have faded out, leaving only a comparatively few spots and dots
+to show where the heavy wreath was once located. The strong pinkish tinge
+has also very largely gone, in spite of the fact that the eggs have been carefully
+kept from exposure to the light.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The measurements of 40 eggs average 26.3 by 19.4 millimeters; the
+eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>28.4</b> by 20.0, 27.7 by <b>21.1</b>,
+<b>24.2</b> by 18.2, and 24.9 by <b>17.0</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Poorwills are notoriously close sitters, but the pair
+studied by Mr. Aldrich (1935) were unusually tame. He was repeatedly
+able to approach cautiously to within 3 or 4 feet of the
+incubating bird; once, at night, eight observers managed to approach
+within 2 feet, while the bird sat tight all the time. The next morning,
+“when we were but three feet from the nest, the bird’s large
+clear white spots on the tail identified it to be the male that was
+doing the incubating. Many pictures were taken, some as close as
+ten inches, without the slightest sign of fear on the part of the
+sitting bird. * * * Experiments were made to find the extent of
+his ‘bravery’ by touching him. While touching the head the first
+time he flattened out his wings and spread the fan-like tail over
+the tips of them showing all the tail spots. The large head was
+then brought far back on the shoulders, the cavernous mouth opened
+extremely wide showing the pink interior, and a low guttural hiss
+was emitted at short intervals.”</p>
+
+<p>Later in the same day, at 2 p. m., he flushed the female from the
+nest and sat down 5 yards away to watch her return; “exactly ten
+and one-half minutes marked the reappearance of the same bird. She
+had flown from behind the log nearly to the top where she could
+barely look over and observe the surroundings. Immediately she
+started swaying from side to side very slowly and rhythmically for
+about five seconds before walking to the top of the log, each step in
+synchronization with the swaying. Here she paused for about twenty
+seconds, and then flew a few yards, within two and one-half feet of
+the nest, where she began swaying again. The rest of the distance
+to the nest was accomplished by this slow walking-swaying process,
+and she did not seem to get anxious and speed up as she came closer.
+Two short stops were made on the way.”</p>
+
+<p>The dusky poorwill is tame and unsuspicious at other times also.
+Rollo H. Beck (1897) watched one at short range while it was catching
+insects on a road and finally succeeded in putting his hat over
+it, though it escaped; he says: “After watching it a while I crawled
+up within four feet and had a chance to watch it in the bright moonlight.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</span>It would fly perhaps twenty or thirty feet into the air after
+insects and return again within four or five feet of me. One time
+it flew up and evidently picked an insect off the leaf of a wild cherry
+tree, fluttering for several seconds in its endeavor to do so. It several
+times flew by me after food and returning would fly within a foot or
+so of my head and alight just in front of me.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—H. Gordon Heggeness writes to me of the song of the
+dusky poorwill as he heard it in the Sequoia National Park: “Sometimes
+early in the morning the poorwill would be heard—the calm,
+liquid notes carrying far on the cool air. On August 12, 1935, a poorwill
+began singing back of my cabin at 2:30 a. m. His most pleasing
+notes were heard continuously for the next half hour.”</p>
+
+<p>Grinnell and Storer (1924) write: “It is heard most persistently at
+dusk of evening or in the early morning; but near Pleasant Valley
+on the morning of May 23, 1915, one of these birds suddenly broke
+out at 10 o’clock and uttered its <i>poor-will-o</i> 85 times (by count, within
+2 or 3) at intervals of two or three seconds.”</p>
+
+<p>R. H. Lawrence wrote to Major Bendire (1895) that, according
+to his hearing, “the words ‘Pearl-rab-it’ give a fair idea of its call”;
+and that “when startled it gave quickly, two or three times in succession,
+a low, soft note, like ‘pweek, pweek, pweek,’ which could only
+be heard a few yards away.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Phalaenoptilus197">PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI HUEYI Dickey</p>
+
+<p class="center">DESERT POORWILL</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits197">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>Donald R. Dickey (1928) described and named this pale race of
+the poorwill from a fine series of specimens collected in the valley
+of the Colorado River by Mrs. May Canfield and Laurence M.
+Huey. As to its subspecific characters, he says that it is “nearest
+in color to the light type of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phalaenoptilus nuttalli nuttalli</i> (Audubon),
+which Brewster named <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nitidus</i> and to which he gave the
+eminently fitting vernacular of the Frosted Poor-will, but averaging
+very much lighter. The backs of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i> are pinkish tan, almost
+devoid of the silver frosting characteristic of more eastern birds,
+and with the size of the dark dorsal ‘owl’s eye’ marking greatly
+reduced, in many cases practically obsolete; under parts lighter
+throughout, with the dark band below the white collar narrower
+and of lighter tone, and with narrower barring of sides and flanks.
+Tail lighter and less contrastingly barred above and below.”</p>
+
+<p>The 1931 Check-list gives the range of this race as the valley
+of the lower Colorado River, in southeastern California, southwestern
+Arizona, and extreme northeastern Baja California.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</span></p>
+
+<p>A. J. van Rossem (1936) took four poorwills near Bates Well, in
+south-central Arizona, that were somewhat intermediate between
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i> and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nuttalli</i>, though nearer the latter; this locality probably
+indicates the approximate area of intergradation between the
+two races. “All were collected in an arrowweed-mesquite association
+along the borders of the dry stream bed. Conditions, both as
+to habitat and temperatures, closely approximated those found along
+the Lower Colorado River Valley, beyond the confines of which
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i> has not been detected.”</p>
+
+<p>This poorwill probably does not differ materially in its habits
+from neighboring races of the species.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Phalaenoptilus198">PHALAENOPTILUS NUTTALLI DICKEYI Grinnell</p>
+
+<p class="center">SAN IGNATIO POORWILL</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits198">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>Three races of the poorwill are found on the peninsula of Baja
+California. The present form ranges from about latitude 30° southward
+to the Cape region; the dusky poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">californicus</i>) extends
+its range southward in the northwestern portion to about latitude
+30°, chiefly on the Pacific slope; and the desert poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i>) is
+found in the extreme northeastern portion.</p>
+
+<p>The San Ignatio poorwill is a small, dark race. Dr. Joseph
+Grinnell, who described and named it, says (1928) that it is “similar
+to <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ph. n. californicus</i> in degree of general darkness but decidedly
+smaller, and with black areas on the individual feathers of
+scapulars, top of head and chest greatly reduced, in this respect
+resembling <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i>; terminal white of lateral rectrices greater in
+amount than in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">californicus</i>; light portions of general color scheme
+much darker than in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i> or <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nuttallii</i>, tinged with clay color rather
+than ‘frosted’—in this respect darker even than in average <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">californicus</i>;
+dark barring on posterior lower surface much more extensive
+and heavier than in <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hueyi</i> or <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nuttalli</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>William Brewster (1902) referred the poorwills of the Cape
+region to the race he named the frosted poorwill (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ph. n. nitidus</i>),
+based on a pair collected by M. A. Frazar in the Sierra de la Laguna.
+Mr. Frazar said that on the mountains the poorwills did not
+begin singing until about the middle of May. “Their note is a
+<i>pow-wè-hoo</i>, the first syllable given long, the accent on the second,
+and the last little more than a retraction of the breath. They were
+almost invariably in large oaks and very seldom on the ground. A
+female shot June 6 was undoubtedly mated and would have laid
+soon.”</p>
+
+<p>Nothing seems to be known about the nesting or other habits of
+this poorwill.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Nycitdromus199">NYCTIDROMUS ALBICOLLIS MERRILLI Sennett</p>
+
+<p class="center">MERRILL’S PAURAQUE</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate28"><span class="smcap">Plate 28</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits199">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>Merrill’s pauraque is the largest subspecies of a widely distributed
+species of goatsucker that ranges throughout Mexico, Central
+America, and northern South America, and that has been divided
+into six subspecies. Our pauraque extends its range from northern
+Mexico into the valley of the Rio Grande and northward through
+the Gulf coast of Texas to Nueces, Aransas, and Refugio Counties.
+The vernacular name, pauraque, pronounced “pou-rä´-kā,” is derived
+from a fancied resemblance to one of its notes. The Mexican name,
+cuiejo, pronounced “coo-ya-ho,” has a similar origin.</p>
+
+<p>This bird was first introduced to our fauna by Dr. J. C. Merrill,
+who took the first specimen at Fort Brown, Tex., on April 1, 1876.
+The subspecies was first described and named by George B. Sennett
+(1888), who gives a full account of its plumages at different ages
+and says of its relation to other races of the species: “This form,
+when compared with others of the species from Southern Mexico,
+Costa Rica, Panama, Guiana, and Brazil, can be distinguished, first
+by the prevailing gray color on upper parts, where the others have
+brown, rufous or cinnamon; second, by its large size, exceeding the
+large southern Brazilian form in length of wing and equalling it in
+length of tail; third, by the males having the outer tailfeather
+generally without white, and the white when it does occur being
+much restricted, while in more tropical and South American forms
+the rule is that males have much white on inner web of outer tailfeather.”
+This third point seems open to question, as this character
+seems to be very variable, possibly owing to age.</p>
+
+<p>D. B. Burrows, in some notes sent to Major Bendire (1895) says:
+“During the winter the birds may be flushed from the dense thickets
+in the bottom lands, but as the nesting season approaches they leave
+these close retreats and seek more open ground.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Sennett (1878) says of their haunts: “I saw them occasionally,
+singly and in pairs, about the thickets and open chaparral, and once
+in the canebrakes close to the woods.” Again (1879) he says: “They
+breed in the more open places among the cactus and scattered bushes
+along with <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">O. texensis</i>—Texas Nighthawk. On dark days I flushed
+them from thickets in the chaparral, or from copses near the bottom lands
+on the edges of the woods.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Mr. Sennett’s nests “were found in open brush, on the
+bare ground. One of them was partly concealed by the branches of
+a low bush 6 or 8 inches from the ground.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Burrows wrote to Major Bendire (1895): “I have never found
+the Pauraque nesting in the dense thickets, where they hide during
+the winter. They seek the more open ground, the high, level spots
+near the river, or up some arroya, among scattering bushes and pear
+cactus, but never on the rocky hills, where the Texan Nighthawk
+is frequently found. In one instance a nest was found at the edge
+of a cultivated field. The eggs are placed on the bare ground, with
+no attempt at nest building, and usually at the foot of a clump of
+bushes. The bird, when flushed from the nest, quietly darts off and
+drops to the ground but a short distance away.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. James C. Merrill (1878) writes: “On the 15th of May, 1876,
+I found a set of eggs near camp at Hidalgo, and on returning in
+about fifteen minutes to secure the parent, who had disappeared
+among the thickets, I found that she had removed the eggs, although
+they had not been touched.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The pauraque lays two very handsome eggs, quite unlike
+the eggs of any other species in the family. They vary in shape
+between oval and elliptical-oval, with a decided tendency toward
+ovate or elliptical-ovate, one end often being slightly more pointed
+than the other. The shell is smooth, with little or no gloss. The
+ground color varies from “light ochraceous-salmon” to “pinkish
+buff”. Some eggs appear to be nearly immaculate, but in most
+cases they are more or less evenly covered, some sparingly and some
+profusely, with small blotches, spots, or dots of pale “clay color,”
+pale “cinnamon,” or, more rarely, with deeper shades of “cinnamon-rufous”;
+often there are underlying blotches or spots of “ecru-drab”
+or “light cinnamon-drab.” Occasionally the markings are concentrated
+around the larger end, but usually they are quite evenly distributed.</p>
+
+<p>The measurements of 50 eggs average 29.80 by 22.36 millimeters;
+the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>35.10</b> by 23.10, 31.50 by
+<b>24.64</b>, <b>27.18</b> by 20.57, and 28.96 by <b>20.32</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—In his unpublished manuscript on the birds of the Caribbean
+lowlands of Central America, kindly lent me, Alexander F.
+Skutch devotes considerable space to his studies of the care and
+feeding of the young of the local race of the pauraque (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Nyctidromus
+albicollis albicollis</i>). As the habits of the different races of this
+species probably do not differ materially, it seems pertinent to include
+here some of his remarks on this subject. He says that “during
+the day male and female take turns on the eggs, relieving each
+other every two or three hours. The male is usually found incubating
+in the early morning. At night, I have found only the
+female covering the eggs.” Other species of goatsuckers have been
+reported as moving their eggs to a place of safety after being disturbed,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</span>but he found no evidence that this species does so, saying:
+“I have given pauraques all kinds of incentives to move their eggs
+to a safer place, but they have never shifted their positions even a
+few inches as a result of my interference. The case was quite different
+when I moved the eggs from the spot which the birds had
+selected as their nest.” In this case, he had moved the eggs twice,
+once only a few inches and once a foot away from an area infested by
+fire ants; but each time the parents moved them back again to their
+chosen spot; the result was that, as soon as the eggs began to hatch,
+the chicks were destroyed by the ants. He did not see how the eggs
+were moved; probably they were pushed along with the feet and
+body, as the nighthawk has been seen to do.</p>
+
+<p>Both parents took turns in brooding the young throughout the
+day, relieving each other at intervals of two or three hours, as they
+did on the eggs. As the young were fed in the dusk or deeper darkness
+of evening, it was only after several trials that he was able to
+see the performance clearly. He writes: “It was dark now, but at
+the critical moment I pushed the button of a powerful flashlight. The
+mother was resting on the ground in her customary position, looking
+toward me with eyes that shone like rubies in the beam of light. The
+little ones stood on tiptoe in front of her, their necks stretched up,
+bringing their heads on a level with her mouth. One was being fed
+while the other waited impatiently for its turn. Though her <em>mouth</em>
+was so big she could easily have swallowed her nestling whole, her
+little <em>bill</em> was inserted into its widely open mouth, just as with a
+hummingbird, and with distended throat and convulsive movements
+of the body she regurgitated into it the insects she had captured.
+When she had given sufficient to the first one, she paused with head
+erect, clearly much alarmed by the light, but the second continued its
+silent importunities and the parent yielded despite her fears, feeding
+it in the same manner. Then she went off to hunt more insects.</p>
+
+<p>“Presently one of the parents entered the thicket again, but instead
+of going to the youngsters it settled on the ground behind the blind,
+fully 20 feet from them, and began the low croaking-clucking call,
+which draws them as the magnet draws the floating needle. The two-
+and three-day-old bantlings drew themselves up and began hopping
+bravely toward the voice, peeping as they went through the darkness.
+Directly in their path was a young banana plant, which I had felled
+in clearing a place for the blind. The large, slippery leaves lay in a
+tangled mass that loomed above them; the Alps formed no more
+insurmountable obstacle to the advance of Hannibal’s army than this
+confusing barrier to the young pauraques. Dauntless as the renowned
+Carthaginian, they pushed resolutely onward, lured by the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</span>continued calls. I completely lost sight of them in the obscurity, but
+for many minutes their weak cries emerged from the dark mass. At
+length they descended victorious into the plains of Italy, and henceforth
+their path, although not free from obstacles, was comparatively
+easy. Finally they found a haven beneath their parent’s sheltering
+wings.”</p>
+
+<p>On this and previous occasions Mr. Skutch discovered that the
+young pauraques were perfectly capable of locomotion, even at an
+early age, in response to warning calls from their parents. He saw
+no evidence that the adults ever carried them in their capacious
+mouths, as other species of the Caprimulgidae have been reported to
+do, or assisted them to move in any other way. He says that “during
+the day male and female take turns on the eggs, relieving each other
+every two or three hours. The male is usually found incubating in
+the early morning. At night, I have found only the female covering
+the eggs.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—The downy young pauraque is as unique among the
+Caprimulgidae as are the eggs. It is completely covered with fine,
+soft down, leaving nothing exposed but the tip of the bill and the
+feet. The colors are rich and contrasting; the forehead, crown, and
+nape are “pinkish buff”; the lores, cheeks, and auriculars are “mikado
+brown”; the back and rump are “sayal brown,” with a central band
+of “pinkish buff”; the chin and throat are pale “pinkish cinnamon,”
+and the remainder of the under parts are “pinkish buff.”</p>
+
+<p>Ridgway (1914) describes a female nestling, not yet fully grown,
+as follows: “General color of upper parts pale brownish gray, very
+minutely vermiculated or stippled with darker; pileum and scapulars
+with scattered roundish and subtriangular small spots of black; interscapular
+region clouded or blotched with black; under parts light
+grayish buff, narrowly barred with dusky on chest, more broadly
+barred with the same on throat, breast, and sides, the abdomen and
+under tail-coverts immaculate; thighs uniform light fawn color;
+remiges and rectrices (not fully grown) apparently as in adult
+female.” Of a young female, fully grown, he says: “Primaries and
+rectrices as in adult female; pileum spotted, instead of streaked,
+with black, the spots mostly of broadly triangular form; back also
+heavily spotted, or blotched, instead of streaked, with black; scapulars
+without buff margins; barring of under parts much less sharply
+defined, less dark in color; throat band light dull buff, barred with
+blackish.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Sennett (1888) says of the young male: “White wing-patch of
+male mixed with buff; white on tail not so sharply defined, nor does
+it extend so near to base as in mature birds. The outer tail-feathers
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</span>are barred and streaked with brown and buff. White throat-patch
+smaller and barred sparingly with black and buff. In this immature
+stage the sexes are not easily determined aside from the difference
+in the white tail-patches; in the males the white on second feather
+from outside is never less than 2.5 inches long, while in the females
+the corresponding patch is about one inch in length.”</p>
+
+<p>The above descriptions evidently refer to the juvenal, or first
+plumage, which is largely replaced in summer, July and August, by
+a first winter plumage. In this the contour plumage is much like
+that of the adult, the spots on the crown and back being replaced
+by streaks; but the juvenal wings and tail are retained; the sexes
+are much alike in this plumage but can always be distinguished by
+the amount of white in the tail.</p>
+
+<p>I have seen birds in this plumage in October, December, and
+March, from which I infer that it is worn until the first postnuptial
+molt the following summer. Mr. Sennett (1888) thought that “at
+least two years must elapse before the perfect plumage is attained”;
+but it seems more likely that the first postnuptial molt produces a
+plumage that is practically adult, except for some dusky mottling on
+the tips and edges of the white tail feathers, and some buffy intrusion
+of the white wing patch, which may indicate that the full purity
+of these white areas is not attained at the first postnuptial molt.</p>
+
+<p>Dickey and van Rossem (1938) say: “Young birds which have
+assumed the postjuvenal plumage may be distinguished from adults
+by the narrower, more pointed, and usually impurely colored tail
+feathers and by the buffy edgings and mottlings on the tips of the
+primaries. The juvenal primaries which are worn until the bird
+enters the second fall (first annual) molt, are from 5 to 10 mm.
+shorter than those of adults. Males, at least, breed the first spring
+as shown by dissection of several specimens. The annual molt of
+adults takes place in August and September.”</p>
+
+<p>There are two distinct color phases in the adult plumage, a gray-brown
+phase and a tawny phase, mainly recognizable in the coloration
+of the upper surface. Ridgway (1914) says of the former,
+“pileum, hindneck, and interscapular region grayish brown,” and of
+the tawny phase, “general coloration of upper parts much more
+tawny or ochraceous, the general color of the pileum varying from
+fawn color to mars brown or russet.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Bendire (1895) says that “the food of Merrill’s Pauraque,
+like that of the rest of the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Caprimulgidae</i>, consists mainly of night-flying
+insects, such as moths, beetles, etc. The crop of a specimen
+shot by Mr. H. P. Attwater, near Rockport, Texas, was filled with
+fireflies, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Photinus pyralis</i>?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</span></p>
+
+<p>On several occasions, Mr. Burrows (Bendire, 1895) observed a
+pauraque “perched upon the extremity of a low, dead limb, or on
+the top of a bush. At these times I found that the bird was watching
+for food, and at intervals would leave the perch, dart off a short
+distance as if in pursuit of an insect, and as quickly return, in very
+much the same manner that the Whip-poor-will is accustomed to
+do. I believe that these birds are strictly insectivorous; but I have
+never made an examination of the stomach except in one instance.
+The stomach of this bird, killed in January, showed parts of the
+feet and wings of beetles and other insects.”</p>
+
+<p>Three stomachs examined by Cottam and Knappen (1939) contained
+parts of ant lions, stink bugs, soldier bugs, locusts, click
+beetles, tiger beetles, ostomid beetles, twig borer, carrot muck beetle,
+long-horned beetles, and traces of butterflies, moths, bees, or wasps.
+Beetles made up 89 percent of the whole food.</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—Mr. Burrows (Bendire, 1895) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>During the daytime the birds were commonly found on the ground at the
+foot of a growth of bushes or among fallen branches, and I have occasionally
+found them perched, nighthawk-fashion, upon a low branch not more than a
+foot from the ground. When closely approached, they dart quickly forward
+in a zigzag course, dropping as suddenly to the ground. This flight is short,
+usually not more than 50 or 80 feet, and when settled they commonly remain
+perfectly quiet until again flushed. They have a peculiar way of turning or
+facing about as they strike the ground, so that they can better watch
+the approaching danger. They lie so close that it is with great difficulty
+that they can be detected, unless the spot is carefully marked. In a number
+of instances, where the bird seemed to feel that it was observed, I have had
+them go through a peculiar bowing movement, resembling that of the Burrowing
+Owl, except that the body is raised from its completely prostrate condition.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The pauraque has a relatively longer tarsus than our other members
+of the goatsucker family; hence it is more active on its feet.
+Dr. Frank M. Chapman (1896) observes: “I was surprised to learn
+how rapidly these birds can run. On one occasion two lit within a
+few feet of me when it was light enough to distinguish their movements.
+They crouched close to the earth, sometimes running quickly
+and with unexpected ease for a few steps, then turned their heads
+sharply from side to side as though looking for insects. They would
+also spring suddenly fifteen feet into the air to catch a passing
+insect.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—Dr. Merrill (1878) writes: “Their notes are among the
+most characteristic night sounds of the Lower Rio Grande, and are
+constantly heard at evening during the summer months. They consist
+of a repeated whistle resembling the syllables <i>whew-whew-whew-whew-whe-e-e-e-e-w</i>,
+much stress being laid upon the last, which is
+prolonged. The whole is soft and mellow, yet can be heard at a
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</span>great distance. The preliminary <i>whews</i> vary somewhat in number,
+and late in the season are often omitted altogether.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Burrows wrote to Major Bendire (1895): “At the approach
+of the breeding season and as early as the middle of March the peculiar
+whistle of the <a id="chg15"></a>Pauraque becomes general, and along the lower
+Rio Grande, where they are common, it may be heard on all sides.
+* * * The birds begin to call as the dusk of evening comes on.
+The commonest call is a long-drawn ‘ko, whe-e-e-e-e-w’, much prolonged,
+and raised to a high pitch toward the last. This is repeated
+often and with great energy, and on a still night may be heard at a
+long distance. At other times the first syllable is omitted. Again it
+is varied by a repetition of the first syllable, as ‘ko, ko, ko, ko-whe-e-e,’
+the first syllables repeated deliberately, and the last not so
+long-drawn and suddenly cut short.” He also refers to a short <i>put,
+put</i> note, resembling one of the notes of a wild turkey.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the pauraque is said to have been derived from a
+fancied resemblance to one of its notes; the same is true of its Mexican
+name, cuiejo.</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter.</i>—The pauraque is a permanent resident in southern Texas
+and farther south, and even as far north as the Nueces River. Mr.
+Burrows found it “to be fairly common” during the winter and
+spring of 1894. He met with it during the winter in Starr County,
+southern Texas, and says: “When the nesting season is over the birds
+remain quiet, and their peculiar whistling note is not heard with
+regularity, and yet, on very warm nights during each of the winter
+months, I have occasionally heard them. During the winter the
+birds may be flushed from the dense thickets in the bottom lands.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution205">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—Southern Texas and northeastern Mexico; not regularly
+migratory.</p>
+
+<p>The range of Merrill’s pauraque extends <b>north</b> to southern Texas
+(Refugio County and Aransas County). <b>East</b> to Texas (Aransas
+County, Corpus Christi, Rio Hondo, and Brownsville); eastern
+Tamaulipas (Aldama, Altamira, and Tampico); and Veracruz (Mirador
+and Jalapa). <b>South</b> to central Veracruz (Jalapa); and Puebla
+(Metlaltoyuca and Tehuacan). <b>West</b> to southeastern Puebla (Tehuacan);
+western Tamaulipas (Santa Leonor and Rio Cruz); and Texas
+(Lomita, Neuces County, San Patricio County, and Refugio County).</p>
+
+<p>Closely allied races of this bird are found in Central and South
+America.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—Mexico: 9 records, March 22 to June 22.</p>
+
+<p>Texas: 66 records, March 5 to June 26; 33 records, April 15 to May
+16, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chordeiles206">CHORDEILES MINOR MINOR (Forster)</p>
+
+<p class="center">EASTERN NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate29"><span class="smcap">Plates 29–33</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Contributed by Alfred Otto Gross</span></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits206">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The nighthawk, because of its piercing calls and the extraordinary
+evolutions and gyrations of its flight, attracts many persons, even
+the casual observers who ordinarily pay no special attention to birds.
+A bird so unique and striking, one that during its breeding season
+plays such an important role in our experiences out of doors, is
+destined to be the recipient of many common names.</p>
+
+<p>Long before the white man came to America the nighthawk was
+well known to the Indians, and we find it taking a prominent place
+in their myths and traditions. Apparently the notes of this bird
+appealed most, since the names chosen by the various tribes were
+usually graphic allusions to the calls or to the characteristic booming
+noise heard during the courtship season. To the tribes along
+the Connecticut River this booming was the sound of the Shad
+Spirit announcing to the shoals of shad, about to ascend the river,
+of their impending fate. The nighthawk was known to the Seminoles
+of Florida as “Ho-pil-car.” In the Milicite Indian Natural
+History there is the name “Pik-teis-k wes,” and according to W. W.
+Cooke (1884) the Chippewas not only had the name “Besh-que” for
+the nighthawk but recognized it as a species distinct from the whippoorwill,
+to which they gave the name “Gwen-go-wi-a.” That the
+Chippewa Indians differentiated these two species is all the more
+remarkable when we recall that this distinction was confused by
+Catesby and the American ornithologists of the next 50 years who
+followed him. It was Alexander Wilson who first noted that they
+were distinct species.</p>
+
+<p>When the first European settlers came to our coast they compared
+the nighthawk and the whippoorwill with the nightjar of their
+old homes, and hence we find this name in the earlier ornithological
+writings used as a synonym for the American bird. In certain
+districts of England and Scotland the nightjar is called the goatsucker,
+a name that originated from the queer superstition that this
+bird with its enormous mouth sucked the teats of goats. Like the
+name nightjar the name goatsucker also crossed the Atlantic, as is
+manifested by such names as long-winged goatsucker and Virginia
+goatsucker to be found in the older books and papers dealing with
+American birds. The name goatsucker is still applied to the order
+and family but is seldom used today in designating the species.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</span></p>
+
+<p>In parts of the United States, especially in the South, nighthawks
+are known as bats, since the birds are usually seen at dusk when
+their erratic flight resembles somewhat that of the common mammal.
+This resemblance linked with the bellowing or booming sound produced
+by the wing feathers during the courtship plunge has given
+source to the commonly used name bullbat. Audubon (1840) used
+the synonym Virginia bat and stated that the French Creoles of
+Louisanaknew the nighthawk by the metaphorical French name
+“crapau volans,” or flying toad. In the Bahamas, as well as in
+certain localities of America, a common local name is “pick-a-me-dick,”
+a crude imitation of one of its notes. The name mosquito
+hawk was well earned by one individual that, according to the
+Biological Survey, had eaten 300 mosquitoes. Other names sometimes
+applied to the nighthawk but less frequently than some of
+those previously mentioned are pisk, pork and beans, will-o’-wisp,
+burnt-land bird, and bird hawk.</p>
+
+<p>The commonly accepted name nighthawk probably originated
+because of the bird’s resemblance to the smaller hawks when observed
+in flight. However, it has sometimes proved to be an unfortunate
+choice, since to the layman it suggests a bird of the true hawk type.
+This name on occasions has been a source of trouble to an innocent
+bird as illustrated in the following cases. According to B. H.
+Warren (1890) the Pennsylvania Game Commissioners, in their
+interpretation of the Scalp Act of 1885, took the stand that they
+were obliged to allow bounty on all nighthawks because they were
+known as hawks. Mr. Warren also states that there is a somewhat
+prevalent idea that nighthawks are destroyers of young poultry, the
+name doubtless having given origin to the absurdity. The following
+clipping taken from the Portland (Maine) Press is another example
+of the way the name has misled well-meaning persons. “The Press
+building acquired a new claim to distinction yesterday as the haunt
+of wild fowl when janitor Phillip Ward, upon making an ascent to
+the roof, discovered two hen hawk’s eggs there. Apparently some
+bird of the genus so despised by farmers had found the top of
+Portland’s skyscrapers the right kind of a nesting place, and had
+laid her plans to hatch a few juvenile hen hawks up there. Janitor
+Ward’s unexpected arrival put an end to such plans, however, and
+farmers may rest assured that the breed of distasteful birds who
+pillage their chicken yards is two the less.” Arthur H. Norton,
+director of the Portland Society of Natural History, investigated
+the story and found the victim to be an innocent nighthawk. Adverse
+criticisms of the name nighthawk have been numerous but the
+name although inappropriate is destined to persist.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring.</i>—The vanguard of the nighthawks in the spring migration
+reaches Florida and the Gulf States about the middle of April.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</span>There have been March arrivals reported, but these are exceptional.
+Large flocks, some of them numbering thousands of individuals,
+have been seen during May. Many of these southern records may
+be representatives of the southern form, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles minor chapmani.</i></p>
+
+<p>It is not necessary to search the isolated retreats away from the
+habitations of man for the first nighthawk arrivals. In fact, they
+are more likely to appear in the midst of our populous cities and
+towns, where they may be seen flying high above the graveled roofs
+that later are to be the scene of their nesting activities.</p>
+
+<p><i>Courtship.</i>—The courtship of the nighthawk is an ardent and
+amorous performance on the part of the male. He may be seen at
+twilight or early dawn uttering his sharp <i>peent</i> calls as he flies in
+wide circles sometimes hovering or soaring in the air high above the
+proposed nesting site. At more or less regular intervals he swoops
+down often within a few yards of his mate. Just as he seems about
+to dash into the ground he makes an abrupt upward turn, the
+vibrating primaries producing the well-known boom. After these
+preliminary aerial performances the male alights on the ground or
+graveled roof near the resting passive female. He now stands on
+his feet instead of resting his body on the ground. His tail is widely
+spread like a fan and wagged from side to side while the body is
+given a peculiar rocking motion. The throat is frequently puffed
+out, displaying a large white patch, which is ordinarily concealed
+when he is at rest. Synchronized with the throat distension is the
+uttering of guttural croaking notes. In producing these notes the
+bird holds the beak tightly closed, so that the throat membrane is
+distended by the pressure of the air emitted from the lungs. Under
+these conditions the sound waves originating at the syrinx beat
+against the tense membrane, producing notes of a striking and
+peculiar resonant quality. These notes are not uttered under ordinary
+conditions and constitute a very important part of the courtship.</p>
+
+<p>The female, as far as outward manifestations are concerned, does
+not seem to be at all impressed by these extraordinary antics. The
+male at times in seeming desperation flies directly over the female
+uttering a sharp <i>peent</i>. He may then circle the female several
+times but even to this she seems unmoved. At times, when he
+approaches too near, the female will take a short flight, alighting
+a few yards away. The male follows and the performance described
+above is repeated. Eventually the courtship terminates in copulation.</p>
+
+<p>The aerial evolutions of the male, including the downward plunges
+and “booming,” are continued throughout the nesting period, but
+after the young are hatched his effervescent energies are directed
+in part to securing food for his offspring. With regard to the courtship
+of the nighthawk, Charles W. Townsend (1920b), who gave
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</span>the subject of the courtship of birds careful study, stated: “The
+rapid headlong plunges of the nighthawk may be classed as a display
+of motion, a form of the dance. Incidentally, and perhaps accidentally
+at first, a loud booming sound is produced by the rush of air through
+the wing feathers. This instrumental music is now the important
+feature, although the dance is by no means a negligible one.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The nesting site, according to the procedure of a pair
+of nighthawks studied by me at Brunswick, Maine, is chosen by
+the female. A banded female returned to the same nesting site on
+the graveled roof of the high school building for four successive
+years, although the males, during at least two seasons, were different
+individuals.</p>
+
+<p>The nighthawk is solitary in its nesting habits, though there have
+been instances where the nests of this species have been placed very
+near together, approaching a gregarious tendency. For example,
+E. A. Samuels (1872) states that on “a ledge of rocks back of the
+settlement known as Wilson’s Mills, which seemed a favorite breeding-place
+for these birds, and, in the space of every four or five
+rods, a female was sitting on her eggs.” B. H. Warren (1890)
+writes that he has found several nighthawks breeding within a few
+yards of each other. A similar case of this kind was noted at
+Gardner, Maine, where five pairs of birds nested in a very restricted
+area of an old deserted dock. I am inclined to believe that the
+existence of a good nesting site rather than a social tendency is the
+more important factor in causing these birds to nest in proximity.
+In general, each pair of birds has a relatively large nesting territory,
+which is vigilantly guarded. I have never noted any marked tendency
+of the birds to flock together until after the nesting season
+prior to and during the migrations.</p>
+
+<p>The nests of the nighthawk located on the ground are found in
+a diversity of situations as far as the surroundings are concerned.
+It prefers gravel beaches or open barren areas of rock or soil unobstructed
+by tall shrubbery or trees. It never builds a nest in the
+seclusion of a forest. In regions where forests abound it nests in
+places where vegetation is sparse or preferably where forest fires
+have left a barren waste. C. F. Batchelder (1882) found the nighthawk
+frequenting burnt lands in the region of the upper St. John
+River near Fort Fairfield, Maine, and it has also been found to be
+common in the burnt lands of the Restigouche Valley, New Brunswick.
+R. W. Chaney (1910) found a nest in a burnt-over area near
+a partly burned log in Mason County, Mich. I found three nests of
+the nighthawk in a burnt-over area near the Biological Station,
+Douglas Lake, northern Michigan, and C. E. Johnson (1920) saw
+two young on a scantily moss-covered and stick-strewn rock outcrop
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</span>in Lake County, Minn., in a district previously burnt over. It has
+been noted that in regions that have been burnt over the nighthawk
+population increases; hence the burning of timber land, which is so
+destructive to many species of birds, is not a hindrance but possibly
+an aid to the general welfare of the nighthawk.</p>
+
+<p>The nighthawk has also been found to breed in cultivated areas.
+I. E. Hess (1910) noted its nesting in plowed fields in central Illinois,
+and T. G. Gentry (1877) states that old stubble fields are frequently
+selected as nesting sites. H. J. Rust (1911) has reported the
+western nighthawk in cornfields in Idaho and California. The
+Texas nighthawk, according to Sharp (1907), is a common inhabitant
+of the vineyards of San Diego, Calif., where the eggs are placed
+on the ground under or near the vines. Nests have also been found
+in potato fields and even in gardens near the houses of man. C. B.
+Ressel (1889) reported the eggs of the nighthawk placed upon the
+loose soil thrown up by the woodchuck (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Marmota monax</i>), indicating
+that barren places even though they are composed of loose soil may
+be preferred to sites covered with vegetation, twigs, or other debris.</p>
+
+<p>In Virginia, according to H. H. Bailey (1913), the nighthawk
+often departs from its usual ground nest to a place on a stump, fence
+rail, or tops of drifts formed on the islands off the Virginia coast.
+Nests on stumps have been reported from various localities. I have
+found nests on the flat surface of top rails of fences in central
+Illinois; one of these nests was 8 feet from the ground. V. Max
+Kemery (1925) reports an unusual nesting site between the rails on
+a railroad track that was in daily use. The bird would fly when
+the cars or engine approached but returned as soon as the train had
+passed. Another unique nesting place that has come to my attention
+is an old robin’s nest located in a tree near Farmington, Maine.
+This nighthawk, according to Mr. Jewell (1908), nested in this
+unusual site for five successive years, the tree being destroyed by
+fire at the end of that time.</p>
+
+<p>The nighthawk in increasing numbers is availing itself of nesting
+sites provided by the graveled roofs of our cities and towns. In
+certain sections of the country this tendency is so marked that nighthawks
+are now seldom seen remote from graveled roofs during the
+nesting season, according to Lynds Jones (1909). The chimney
+swift, a not distant relative of the nighthawk, long ago forsook its
+primitive nesting sites in hollow trees, and today we no longer
+associate them with such places. Occurring simultaneously with
+the destruction of the giant forest trees was the erection of chimneys
+in connection with the homes of civilized races. The chimney swift,
+deprived of its original nesting site, was quick to make the radical
+but necessary change. Doubtless this adaptability to a changing environment
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</span>has been an important factor in the preservation of the
+species. Chimneys have been used in America for centuries, but the
+graveled roof on which the nighthawk builds its nest is a comparatively
+recent development. It was not until the middle of the
+nineteenth century that the mansard and the flat type of graveled
+roofs were introduced. It was not long after these first roofs were
+built that the nighthawks discovered the possibilities of a new and
+admirable type of nesting site. As early as 1869 W. P. Turnbull
+wrote that the nighthawk was often seen high in the air above the
+streets of Philadelphia and that their nests were frequently found
+on the roofs of the warehouses of the city. Louis A. Zarega (1882)
+reported finding them breeding on a roof on the north side of 71st
+street, Philadelphia, in June 1882. In 1870 and 1871 Dr. T. M.
+Brewer (1874) found a number of instances of this bird nesting on
+the flat mansard roofs of Boston, and a few years later it was discovered
+nesting on the flat roofs of Montreal, Canada, by William
+Couper (1876). In 1879 a pair of the birds built a nest on a roof
+in the heart of the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and a few years later
+E. Sterling (1885) observed three pairs nesting on a slate roof of a
+large building near his study. Since 1880 there are innumerable
+records of nighthawks that have deserted the rural districts to take
+up their residence in the city. Today roof-nesting sites of the nighthawk
+seem no more unusual than the nests of the chimney swift
+built in our sooty chimneys. It is difficult to determine the factors
+that have been instrumental in this radical change, for unlike the
+case of the swift’s hollow trees, there are just as many rocky
+knolls, pebbly beaches, and barren fields as there were prior to the
+appearance of the flat-roofed buildings. Although certain insects
+such as flies and mosquitoes are abundant about our cities I do not
+believe that the food supply has an important bearing on this question,
+as has been maintained by certain observers. Even in the small
+country villages, wherever there are graveled roofs there is the usual
+quota of nighthawks. In these villages the environment, as far as
+food for the nighthawk is concerned, is not different from regions
+isolated from civilization.</p>
+
+<p>W. E. Saunders (1917) states that the young after their first
+flight often land on the ground and he asks the question: “What
+chance of survival is there for a young nighthawk on a city street
+or vacant lot?” Mr. Saunders believes that the nighthawk has
+steadily decreased in numbers since the bird has taken up its abode
+in the city and states further that immigration is the only thing
+that keeps up the city population. To the contrary my observations
+of the past 25 years in Maine indicate that the birds are not only
+maintaining but are increasing their numbers. Furthermore, the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</span>mortality of the birds that nest on roofs is much less than among
+those that choose nesting sites on the ground. In the latter place
+the birds are constantly exposed to the ravages of predatory animals
+including the cat. In the country hundreds of young birds meet
+with a tragic end without any of us being the wiser, while in the
+city such cases are more likely to be brought to our attention. On
+the city roof there is freedom from natural enemies. In the study
+of a large number of nighthawk families I have noted relatively
+few young that left the nesting roof prematurely, and it has been
+a common experience to see them return to the roof many times
+after the initial flight. One bird, the account of which is related
+in a subsequent division of this paper returned to the roof every
+day until it went south on its migration at the age of 52 days.
+Many of the birds that nest on the roofs are never disturbed by
+human beings during the entire nesting period, and under such
+circumstances the young do not leave the security of the roof until
+they are able to fly well. It is obvious that the young of parents
+that nest on roofs are the ones most likely to survive, and they in
+turn will nest in similar situations the following seasons. It seems
+reasonable to suppose that after the habit is established natural
+selection and heredity play an important part in the general
+departure from the old to the new nesting environment.</p>
+
+<p>No attempt is made by the nighthawk to construct a nest, and
+no materials are added to those already present on the nesting site
+chosen by the birds. The eggs may be in a slight depression, but
+no material is excavated or removed by the bird except that incidentally
+shoved aside by the incubating bird.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—Normally two eggs are laid, and there is seldom a departure
+from this number. In a letter dated January 20, 1936, F. W.
+Rapp, of Vicksburg, Mich., writes that he found a nest of the nighthawk
+containing three eggs on May 22, 1889.</p>
+
+<p>The eggs are elliptical-ovate or elliptical-oval, one end being
+slightly smaller than the other. The shell is strong, closed grained
+and moderately glossy. The ground color varies from pale creamy
+white to shades of cream olive-buff and olive-gray. The eggs are
+marked and speckled with shades of slate, black, drab, smoke and
+lilac gray, and tawny-olive, and some of the eggs have shades of
+pearly gray, lavender, and plumbeous. In some eggs the markings
+are fine and uniform in size, almost obscuring the ground color; in
+others they are less numerous but larger and more prominent. There
+is an endless variation in the details of the markings and colors,
+but the eggs in general exhibit a coloring that blends effectively with
+their surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>The average measurements of 81 eggs in the United States
+National Museum are long diameter 29.97, short diameter 21.84
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</span>millimeters. The largest egg of the series measured 33.53 by 22.86
+and the smallest 27.68 by 20.57 millimeters. The average capacity
+of nighthawk eggs, according to Walter Hoxie (1887), is 0.448
+cubic inch.</p>
+
+<p>The eggs do not necessarily remain in the position in which they
+are first laid, especially when the nesting site is on a comparatively
+level surface such as that provided by graveled roofs. During the
+period of incubation of two nests under daily observation, the eggs
+were gradually moved for a distance of 5 to 6 feet. This shift in
+position comes about by the habit of the female pulling or pushing
+the eggs under her breast, thus moving them a short distance each
+time she settled on the eggs. As the direction of the bird’s approach
+was more or less constant, the eggs were moved in the same
+general direction. This resulted in a distinct trail being formed,
+giving an appearance that one would expect to see if a giant snail
+had traveled over the graveled surface and forced the larger pebbles
+to one side. B. H. Warren (1890) writes that the eggs of a nighthawk
+in one instance were moved 200 feet by the bird, which carried
+them in her mouth. I have never been able to verify this extraordinary
+behavior of a nighthawk transporting an object as large
+as an egg in its mouth.</p>
+
+<p>The following experiment is of interest as it suggests an interpretation
+of the manner in which a nighthawk locates its eggs. One
+evening when the female nighthawk was away feeding I moved the
+eggs to a place on the graveled roof about 6 feet from their original
+position. When the bird returned she alighted in the accustomed
+place and waddled up to the spot where she had left the eggs. No
+eggs being there, she went by a few inches, turned around, and recrossed
+the spot. This was repeated several times, and finally much
+bewildered she flew away. The eggs were in plain view yet were
+not discovered. Fearing she might desert her nest, I returned the
+eggs. In about 10 minutes the female returned, alighted in the usual
+position and without hesitation went directly to the eggs. This
+experiment was repeated on this and other birds with essentially the
+same results. It is evident that some factor such as a hypothetical
+sense of location or orientation is important, whereas sight plays a
+minor role for the nighthawk in locating its eggs. The same factor
+is probably important to the nighthawk in finding its way over thousands
+of miles during migration and its ability to arrive punctually
+not only in the same State and the same town but to the identical
+nesting site.</p>
+
+<p><i>Incubation.</i>—Both the male and female have been reported as
+sharing the duties of incubation. George H. Selleck (1916) states
+that the male nighthawk incubated the eggs during the daytime,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</span>whereas the female took charge of the nest at night in the case of a
+pair of birds he observed at Exeter, N. H. Dr. A. A. Allen (1933)
+states that the male takes his place on the eggs in the evening while
+the female is away feeding. Forbush (1927) states that both male
+and female share in incubation. On the other hand, J. H. Bowles
+(1921), who made an intensive study of the nighthawk, records only
+the female incubating the eggs. T. G. Gentry (1887) states that incubation
+“is the exclusive labor of the female” but that the young are
+cared for by both parents. It is evident, if the above statements are
+all true observations, that there is considerable individual variation in
+the behavior of the male in regard to incubation. In my own intensive
+studies of several pairs of nighthawks that nested on graveled
+roofs at Brunswick, Maine, I have never seen the male incubating
+the eggs. In the case of one nest under daily observation the birds
+were subject to study day and night by a relay of observers for a
+considerable part of the incubation period. The same held true for
+a pair of nighthawks studied in northern Michigan. Furthermore,
+visits made to numerous nests revealed in those cases that only the
+female was incubating the eggs, although the male was often very
+near to the female or to the eggs. My observations agree with the
+statement of Gentry that the female does all the incubating, but the
+male in most instances assists in caring for the young.</p>
+
+<p>The behavior of the birds in relation to the nest and eggs and
+correlated with the time of day, the weather, environmental conditions,
+and the activities of other birds can be illustrated by field
+notes taken on June 20, 1921. These notes are representative of observations
+taken throughout the nesting season. The nest under
+consideration was located on the graveled roof of a two-story high-school
+building at Brunswick, Maine, a village of about 7,000 inhabitants
+located on the Androscoggin River. There are numerous giant
+elms and other shade trees along its streets, and the spacious yards
+and gardens present an environment attractive to a large number of
+birds. The times given throughout the following notes are eastern
+daylight saving:</p>
+
+<p>June 20, 1921. 2:50 a. m. Cloudy, moon hidden by clouds, clear
+near the eastern horizon where the stars shine brightly. Entered the
+blind on the roof at 3 a. m. Female incubating the eggs. Her eyes
+were wide open when viewed with the flash light.</p>
+
+<p>3:20 a. m. The female has been quiet during the past 20 minutes
+but has now shifted her position and is facing northeastward directly
+toward the first faint light of dawn. (Daily observations revealed
+that the nesting bird usually faced the sunrise in the morning and
+the sunset in the evening. In other words, she oriented herself toward
+the source of light preceding the times she anticipated leaving
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</span>the nest to feed. It became evident through repeated experimental
+tests that her leaving the nest was considerably influenced by the
+factor of the intensity of light.)</p>
+
+<p>3:24 a. m. The male gives a loud <i>peent</i> call as he awakens on his
+perch in the elm tree. (The elm stands in the school yard and some
+of its branches extend over the roof wall. The male’s favorite perch
+was on a large horizontal limb just above the level of the roof.
+When he was through with his activities in the morning or evening
+he usually retired to this limb. He generally perched lengthwise
+on this limb, but it was not rare for him to depart from the conventional
+nighthawk position and perch crosswise to the limb.)</p>
+
+<p>3:40 a. m. Light growing brighter in the east, the female can be
+seen without the use of the flashlight. She sits with her eyes closed,
+but from time to time she opens them, then raises her head and peers
+around, as if testing the intensity of the light prior to her leaving
+the nest.</p>
+
+<p>3:42 a. m. The male nighthawk alights on the roof and gives a
+sharp <i>peent</i> call, followed by a series of guttural <i>awk-awk-awk</i> notes.</p>
+
+<p>3:44 a. m. The male shifts his position to the roof wall but
+continues the guttural calls, each time displaying his conspicuous
+white throat patch.</p>
+
+<p>4:04 a. m. The male leaves the roof wall and alights on the
+graveled surface within 8 inches of the female. He utters a single
+sharp <i>peent</i> note, then continues with the striking guttural <i>awk</i>
+calls. The female shows no outward signs of being impressed by
+the ardent attentions of her mate.</p>
+
+<p>4:08 a. m. The male leaves the roof but soon returns and is
+joined by a second male. Female leaves her nest and flies toward
+the males, and all leave under great excitement, uttering sharp,
+piercing calls. The female lent a hand in driving away the strange
+male.</p>
+
+<p>4:10 a. m. The female returns and pulls her eggs beneath her in
+the usual manner.</p>
+
+<p>4:14 a. m. The male alights on the roof about 30 feet from the
+nest and utters a series of <i>awk</i> calls in rapid succession, as if much
+excited as the result of his combat.</p>
+
+<p>4:30 a. m. The male is chasing a strange nighthawk and, as he
+pursues he utters a series of <i>yap-yap-yap-yap</i> calls in rapid fire
+succession, a note I have not heard before.</p>
+
+<p>4:33 a. m. The male is now going through his hair-raising dives
+and producing the so-called boom notes, which to me resemble
+<i>swo-o-o-onk</i>, with the accent on the last syllable.</p>
+
+<p>4:46 a. m. The sun has not yet risen. The male nighthawk flies
+to his perch in his favorite elm tree, and thus end his activities for
+the morning.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</span></p>
+
+<p>9:00 a. m. The nighthawks have been quiet since 4:46 a. m. For
+the greater part of the time the female has been motionless, with
+her eyes closed, but at intervals she opens her eyes wide in response
+to some unusual disturbance. She did not leave to feed, as is usual
+for her to do each morning.</p>
+
+<p>9:10 a. m. The female shifted her position and turned her eggs.
+I left the blind at 9:15 a. m. and my place was taken by student
+observers, who took notes in relays until my return in the evening.
+They reported no activity on the part of the male. He remained
+on his perch in the elm throughout the day. The female did not
+leave the nest but merely shifted her position slightly from time
+to time in adjusting her eggs. When the heat was excessive she
+panted vigorously in order to adjust her body temperature.</p>
+
+<p>7:30 p. m. When I arrived at the roof the sun was shining on
+the nesting female. Her eyes were opened as I approached the nest
+but were again closed after I had entered the blind.</p>
+
+<p>8:05 p. m. The first <i>peent</i> call of the nighthawk is heard from
+the male nighthawk, perched in the elm tree near the school building,
+where he had retired at 4:46 a. m.</p>
+
+<p>8:09 p. m. Male leaves his perch in the elm. Simultaneously another
+nighthawk appears from the elms farther down the street.</p>
+
+<p>8:46 p. m. The male alights near the nesting female.</p>
+
+<p>8:47 p. m. The female, facing toward the western sky, opens her
+eyes wide and turns from side to side. With this preliminary
+action repeated several times, she leaves the nest. The male remains
+within a few inches of the nest but makes no attempt to incubate
+the eggs. He merely serves as a guard while the female is away.</p>
+
+<p>8:48 p. m. The male leaves the roof for a moment, uttering the
+sharp <i>peent</i> calls, and then returns to take up his position near to
+the nest.</p>
+
+<p>8:50 p. m. The female returns to the nest after being away only
+three minutes. The male was quiet while on the roof alone, but as
+soon as the female returned he started his guttural notes.</p>
+
+<p>8:58 p. m. The male takes leave without any ceremony and flies
+to his perch in the elm tree.</p>
+
+<p>9:01 p. m. The female leaves the nest quietly.</p>
+
+<p>9:22 p. m. No nighthawks have been seen or heard during the past
+20 minutes. The female unannounced returns, after her quest for
+food, to brood her eggs for the remainder of the night.</p>
+
+<p>Activities began again at 3:14 a. m. the next day, and the program
+was in all essentials similar to that recorded for June 20. Although
+a large series of such observations were made the male never was
+seen to incubate the eggs, but he regularly visited the nesting female
+each morning and evening. Sometimes, especially in very cloudy
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</span>weather, the male left the elm tree during the day and flew about
+uttering the usual <i>peent</i> calls. He was never seen on the roof during
+the middle of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The female was always faithful to her task regardless of a parching
+sun or torrential downpours of rain. At one time the thermometer
+placed on the graveled roof reached 130° F., although it
+was only 98° F. in the shade on the street level. At such times her
+enormous mouth was wide open, and she panted incessantly. The
+female’s presence was needed to protect the eggs from the excessive
+heat fully as much as it was to supply warmth during the cool
+evenings when the temperature sometimes dropped as low as 45° F.
+If the female should leave her eggs when the temperature rises as
+high as 130° F. the embryos inside of the eggs would be killed in a
+few minutes.</p>
+
+<p>It was common for the heat to melt the tar beneath the
+gravel so that it oozed to the surface of the pebbles. Milton Goff
+(1932) relates an interesting experience of a nighthawk that nested
+on a school roof at Rockford, <abbr title="Illinois">Ill.</abbr> One of the two eggs became
+firmly embedded in some tar melted by the sun. The female was
+unable to move the egg after nine desperate attempts made during
+the course of two hours.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—In 1922 the nighthawks arrived at Brunswick, Maine,
+on May 15. On June 3 the first egg was laid and was marked No. 1.
+It was not incubated the first day. On June 4 the second egg was
+laid at 11:05 a. m. and marked No. 2. The laying of the second
+egg was observed. It was seen when it first appeared and watched
+until it emerged from the cloaca two minutes later. The egg was
+moist at first but quickly dried in the warm air, after which the
+female turned around and tucked it under her breast. Incubation
+began immediately after the second egg was laid.</p>
+
+<p>On June 23, 1922, egg No. 1 was pipped at 8:30 a. m. and at this
+time the peeps of the confined embryo could be heard distinctly. At
+11:00 a. m. the chick had emerged. The egg shells of the first egg
+were removed about noon. The female took them in her beak and
+dropped them during flight at a point about a hundred yards from
+the building. Egg No. 2 was pipped at 2 p. m., and at 3 p. m.
+portions of the shell were broken away. The female seemed little
+concerned about the first chick but lavished all her attentions on the
+unhatched bird. At times she elevated her body, peered at the egg,
+and responded to the calls of the embryo with an assuring note. She
+frequently rocked her body over the egg as if to assist in removing
+the shell. At 6 p. m. the shell was cracked latitudinally and soon
+thereafter the cup of the larger end was slightly lifted. At 6:30
+p. m. the young was completely freed from the shell, which broke
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</span>away in two parts. As the shell membrane dried the two cups
+closed again forming a complete empty shell case. At this time
+the first young was being brooded while the second, in a wet bedraggled
+condition, awkwardly and weakly wavered its head beneath
+the bill of the female. The faint peeping notes uttered by the
+youngster were answered with guttural purring notes of the proud
+and triumphant mother. After the down of the second youngster
+was dry it joined its fellow under the breast of the mother. The
+egg shell was not removed until the following morning. The incubation
+period for this set of eggs was definitely established to be
+19 days.</p>
+
+<p>The next day the female attempted to brood the young continuously.
+One of the young, however, persisted in its attempts to
+break away from parental care in spite of the warning notes of its
+mother. In one instance the mother dragged the one young under
+her body until within reach of the unruly youngster, which was
+quickly and violently tucked under her breast with something of an
+attitude of rebuff.</p>
+
+<p>On the second day the young frequently appeared in the open
+and at such times often pecked at the mother’s beak as if recognizing
+it to be the door of a well-filled cupboard. The young had not yet
+been fed, as they were still dependent on the yolk provided by the
+egg and stored in their bodies at the time of hatching. The female
+remained with the young throughout the day, whereas the male did
+not make his appearance until 8:50 in the evening. He announced
+his arrival with a sharp call as he landed on the roof. His call was
+immediately answered by the female, whereupon he made his way
+to the nest and without ceremony or delay delivered the first food
+received by the young.</p>
+
+<p>I was not prepared to see the male feed the young because the
+male of the preceding summer (another individual) never assisted in
+the care of the young. This striking difference in individual behavior
+emphasizes the point that it is not safe to generalize on
+observations of a single individual.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning the female was brooding her young, and being
+accustomed to my daily presence she allowed me to reach under her
+breast to remove the young without exhibiting the least bit of fear.
+A female nesting on another roof when visited for the first time
+scooted away hurriedly, fluttered helplessly on the roof, enacting
+a perfect imitation of a crippled bird, a ruse to attract my attention
+away from her young. When I followed her she quickly flew away.
+On subsequent visits this bird stood her ground, elevated her wings
+in an upright position, and hissed at me in defiance of my approach.</p>
+
+<p>The following notes are from observations made of the young that
+were hatched on the high-school roof the preceding year (1921).
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</span>The female of that year was the same bird that nested there in 1922.
+The identity of the female was established by banding and also by
+a slight deformity of the maxilla, the tip of which was broken off.
+The males of the two broods were different individuals.</p>
+
+<p>The young were fed during the early morning before sunrise and
+again in the evening after sunset. During the heat of the day, when
+the temperature frequently went soaring above 110° F., the young
+kept well concealed under the breast of the brooding bird in close
+contact to her abdominal air sacs. When the temperature was less
+torrid the young peeked their heads through the feathers and often
+came out entirely. At such times they sometimes amused themselves
+by picking at the mother’s beak and rectal bristles. If the annoyance
+became too great the female would thrust her head beneath her breast.
+The young then proceeded to pick at the feathers of her crown and
+nape.</p>
+
+<p>The female left the nest regularly about 8:30 p. m. (daylight
+saving time) to obtain food for herself and young. In the case of
+this brood the female delivered all the food required by the young.
+The food was delivered by the process of regurgitation. The beak
+of the female was thrust well into the large and widely distended
+mouth of the young when the transfer of food was made. After
+feeding, the adult brooded her young in the earlier stages of their
+development.</p>
+
+<p>For the first three days the young remained near the spot where
+they had been hatched, but on the fourth day after a heavy rain
+they had moved to a slightly raised portion of the roof, which was
+free from excessive dampness. The female never left the young
+during a rain at this stage of their growth, even if it meant depriving
+them of food. The male regularly visited the roof early in the
+morning and again in the evening throughout the breeding season,
+but he was never seen to deliver food to the young. The male
+was usually stationed on the roof when the female was away and
+thus served as a watchdog in her absence. More than once he was
+called upon to chase away a strange nighthawk that had inadvertently
+alighted in his territory on the high-school roof.</p>
+
+<p>On the fifth day (June 29) the young had wandered to the southern
+end of the building where the shadow of the roof wall protected
+them from the direct rays of the burning sun. The heat during the
+middle of the day was frequently excessive. On July 7, when the
+young were 13 days old, a thermometer placed on the gravel of the
+roof registered 140° F. The heat was too much for one of the young,
+which succumbed and was found dead near the middle of the roof.
+Its fellow nestling, hidden in the shadow of the roof wall and behind
+a clay ventilating pipe, escaped death but was in a serious condition.
+A sponge soaked with cold water was placed near the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</span>youngster, whereupon it ignored its parent to enjoy the comfort provided
+by the cool sponge. This act probably aided the survival of
+the young nighthawk through the remainder of the record-breaking
+hot day.</p>
+
+<p>As the nighthawk grew older he became very aggressive and
+pugnacious and never hesitated to pester his mother whenever he
+was hungry. At times he seemed mischievous. It was not a rare
+experience to see him crouch under his mother’s breast and then by
+standing up quickly and rigidly topple his mother so that she was
+forced to extend her wings to keep from falling over. During the
+period of the rapid growth of the wing feathers the youngster was
+continually extending and stretching his wings as if to relieve the
+uncomfortable feeling caused by growing pains.</p>
+
+<p>When the young nighthawk was three weeks old he was able to
+make short flights from one place to another on the gravel roof. At
+this stage of his growth he had become so large that it was difficult
+for the female to cover him adequately while brooding. This was
+strikingly demonstrated on the evening of July 17, when he was 23
+days old. The mother had left him alone on the roof while she was
+away on her regular evening search for food. It was so cool and
+damp that the young bird uttered notes that clearly indicated discomfort.
+I placed him in a woolen bag, and this, combined with the
+warmth of my hands, was very satisfying, as indicated by his change
+to notes of contentment. He remained there in comfort until his
+mother alighted on the roof and gave the characteristic call note,
+announcing supper. The little nighthawk struggled out of my bag
+and ran directly to his mother to be fed. After he was gorged with
+insects, the female attempted to brood him, but to her apparent dismay
+he rushed back to the woolen bag, clearly recognizing that I
+could do a much better job at brooding.</p>
+
+<p>On July 19, when the nighthawk was 25 days old, I discovered
+that he was no longer solely dependent on his parent for food. I
+found him busily engaged catching some white moths that had
+collected about a drain pipe of the roof. He was flying this way
+and that, catching the moths with great delight. As I sat there
+watching I chanced to pull a small handkerchief from my pocket,
+whereupon he dashed at the white object with the ferociousness of
+a tiger. Evidently to the nighthawk this was some giant moth large
+enough to provide for an entire meal.</p>
+
+<p>The female now made frequent attempts to entice the young bird
+away from the roof by first offering food but flying away before it
+was delivered. The youngster would follow her in extended flights
+but invariably returned to the roof.</p>
+
+<p>On July 24, when the bird was 30 days old, the female was photographed
+with the young for the last time. Thereafter she forsook
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</span>her offspring for a roost in the nearby elm tree. She then visited
+the roof only for short intervals at feeding times. On each successive
+day the young bird took longer and longer flights, and each day
+I anticipated it would be my last opportunity to photograph and to
+observe him. Much to my delight he continued to return, seeming
+to enjoy my companionship.</p>
+
+<p>On August 15 he left with the other nighthawks of the vicinity
+on their migration to the south. This unusual experience of having
+the bird return to the roof gave me an unprecedented opportunity
+to make a continuous set of daily observations and measurements of
+a nighthawk living under normal natural conditions up to the time
+it was 52 days of age. By this time the growth of the juvenal
+plumage was completed and exchanged in part for the first winter
+plumage.</p>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—On the first day the young are able to stand upright
+and are very active from the time of hatching. The eyes are open,
+iris bluish black; skin darkly pigmented darker above than below;
+bill “pale mouse gray”; tarsus and toes brownish drab. Down
+present on both dorsal and ventral parts of the body. Down of the
+ventral tracts pale gray shading to “pallid neutral gray” on the
+belly; chin gray, malar stripes and patch on the throat “dark mouse
+gray,” approaching black. Upper parts mottled and marbled, made
+up of patches of pale gray and “dark mouse gray.” In the region
+of the nape and scapulars the down has a distinct “pale olive-buff”
+tint. At the base of the beak the down has a tinge of buff. A
+circular area about the anus, the outer part of the shanks, and fore
+arm have patches of darker colored down. Patterns of dark and
+white vary considerably in different young. The average length of
+the down on the various parts of the body varies as follows: Crown
+9, base of bill 4, region over eye 6, throat 12, belly 15, wing 11, and
+region of anus 8 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p>On the third day the color of the bill has changed to a “deep
+neutral gray,” and the tarsus and toes become a dusky drab. Down
+at the base of the beak, scapular region, and irregular patches of
+the back has faded from the colors present in the day-old chick to
+a “tilleul buff.” Iris is now a clear brown instead of the bluish
+black of the freshly hatched chick.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of 10 days the tarsus and toes are “deep Quaker drab,”
+bill “dark neutral gray,” eyelids “light neutral gray.” Exposed
+portions of the eyes are noticeably greater. Down of the back much
+worn and matted down, the feather papillae in the region of the
+crown, wing coverts, scapulars, and rump now more conspicuous
+than the down. The tips of the feathers of the back are unsheathed
+and exhibit a black and cinnamon color. The color pattern of the
+back is completely lost since the appearance of the feather papillae
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</span>and their unsheathed tips. The papillae of the tail feathers are
+only 8 millimeters long and as yet do not show through the down. The
+feather papillae of the head and tail are the last to unsheath.</p>
+
+<p>In chicks 13 days old the “pinkish cinnamon” of the tips of the
+feathers of the dorsal tracts has faded to a “pinkish buff,” and some
+of the feathers approach a “tilleul buff.” Freshly unsheathed
+feathers of the crown are “pinkish cinnamon.” Black markings
+have faded to a “fuscous-black” or “dusky neutral gray”; yellowish
+color of the breast feathers of the younger stages now faded to gray
+tinged with yellow. The juvenal plumage is rapidly replacing the
+natal down in all parts of the body. The yellowish-gray breast
+feathers are barred with “dusky neutral gray.” As previously noted,
+one of the two birds died from exposure to great heat at this time
+and the remaining descriptions are based on one bird.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of 15 days the down is ragged in appearance but is
+still prominent on the breast, sides of the head, wing coverts, and
+region of the tail. The down is worn off the feathers in the region
+of the crown and scapulars. Feathers of all tracts of the juvenal
+plumage are partially unsheathed. When the young are handled
+there are numerous particles of the feather sheaths that scale off.
+The wings exhibit a marked development. The tips of the under
+tail coverts recently unsheathed are ivory colored. The down persisting
+at the tips of the feathers comes off with the slightest pull.
+The pupil of the eye appears bluish black and the iris has changed
+to a “Van Dyke brown.”</p>
+
+<p>When 17 days old the sixth primary has now proceeded with
+unsheathing so that the white patch is 13 millimeters in extent.
+Tarsus and toes are “blackish plumbeous,” bill is a “dusky purplish
+gray,” eyelids are “dark olive-gray”; otherwise the markings are
+similar to those of the 15-day-old bird.</p>
+
+<p>When 20 days old a relatively small amount of down remains, but
+a few filaments can be seen on the tips of some of the crown feathers,
+sides of neck, and breast. Feathers of the wings are growing fast
+and are so heavy from the large amount of blood and large sheaths
+that the wings rest on the surface of the roof, the bird being unable
+to support them. The wings are frequently outstretched, apparently
+to relieve the uncomfortable sensation produced by rapid growth
+of the feathers. Bristlelike feathers now appear around the base
+of the beak. The fifth primary is grown so that the white patch
+is beginning to unsheath, and the base of the fourth primary shows
+white area on sheath, which is destined to form part of the white
+patch on the wing of the fully grown young. The white on the
+sixth primary made its first appearance in the 17-day-old chick.</p>
+
+<p>At this age the crown is “dusky neutral gray” or black, the feathers
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</span>tipped, barred, and spotted with “vinaceous-buff”; some of the tips
+approach “avellaneous.” The feathers of the upper parts are dark,
+or dusky, neutral gray variously mottled with shades of gray and
+“avellaneous” many of the feathers tipped with “pinkish buff.”
+Auriculars “light cinnamon-buff” and black, tipped with lighter
+shades. Primaries and secondaries blackish warm gray, some of the
+feathers having an olivaceous-black appearance. All the remiges
+are tipped with “tilleul buff” or “vinaceous-buff.” Some of the
+secondaries and inner primaries spotted with “vinaceous-buff.”
+Coverts of primaries unspotted “blackish mouse gray” or black.
+Coverts of secondaries spotted with “tilleul buff” and “vinaceous-buff.”
+Lesser wing coverts variously mottled with colors mentioned
+above. Feathers of the breast barred with “dark mouse gray” and
+shades of gray and white. Throat and chin with a crescentic band
+of feathers, which are barred with dark gray and white, the white
+predominating. Band of feathers along the edge of mandible extending
+below the eyes to the auriculars “neutral gray” and marked
+with “vinaceous-buff.” Under tail coverts “cartridge buff,” narrowly
+barred with black. Middle of the belly a heavy mat of down. Eyelids
+“light olive-gray,” tarsus deep metal gray.</p>
+
+<p>At 25 days the down has been lost, except that of the middle of
+the belly and small patches on the legs above the heels.</p>
+
+<p>At 28 days the colorings are about as described for the 20-day-old
+chick, but the colors are subdued and faded because of exposure to
+the intense sunlight. The down is now entirely replaced by the
+feathers of the juvenal plumage. Although the outer primaries are
+only partially unsheathed, the young bird is capable of long flights
+and frequently leaves the roof, but invariably returns.</p>
+
+<p>At 30 days the secondaries and the primaries, except the outer
+ones, are now unsheathed. The barred feathers lining the wings
+are now in process of unsheathing.</p>
+
+<p>At 35 days the prevailing color of the upper parts is olivaceous-black,
+glossed with greenish, but this base color is very much broken
+by irregular markings, spotting, and marbling of buffy gray and
+whitish; many of the larger spots approach a light vinaceous-buff,
+which is especially evident on the crown. Spots of the crown are
+larger than those of the back. The throat patch now is clear white,
+an indication of its sex.</p>
+
+<p>At 40 days, all the primaries except the outer two are completely
+unsheathed. The white patch of the second to fifth unsheathed, that
+of the first is 11 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p>The bird, although able to fly as well as an adult, returned to the
+roof each day and allowed me to make daily measurements and
+weighings without the least resistance. It never attempted to run
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</span>or fly away when I approached to pick it up. When I arrived on
+the roof wall it gave a series of calls, which seems to be a sign of
+recognition. The bird placed before me in a natural sitting pose
+measured 187 millimeters from the tip of the bill to the tip of the
+wings. Distance from level of the crown to the board on which it is
+seated is 90 millimeters. Tip of tail to front of toe in natural position
+150, and tip of folded wing to toe 165 millimeters.</p>
+
+<p>The bird at this age is very active and vivacious and captures all
+its own food. It offers no difficulty for me to capture it for measurements
+and poses perfectly for photographs.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday, August 15, there was a great flight and departure of
+nighthawks, and after that date the nighthawk was seen no more.
+Presumably it went southward on its migration. The bird was 52
+days old, and I had an unexcelled opportunity to observe the bird
+up to the time of the completion of its growth.</p>
+
+<p>The completed juvenal plumages of both sexes is similar to that
+of the adult female except that the throat patch is not so well defined;
+in some it is replaced by blackish and buffy bars. The barring of
+the underparts is more extensive and the coloration in general is
+paler than that of the adults. There are whitish tips on all the
+primaries.</p>
+
+<p>The postnatal molt has already been described in detail under the
+account of the young. There is a partial molt that does not include
+the wings and tail in September. There is a partial or complete
+prenuptial molt in spring when the young attain the plumage of
+the adult. The adults have a complete postnuptial molt before they
+return for their nesting activities the following year. I have not
+been able to ascertain the time of the postnuptial molt.</p>
+
+<p>Albinistic phases of plumage, in which there is an absence of
+dark pigment, may appear in any species of birds. W. A. Strother
+(1886) reports a perfect albino taken at Lynchburg, <abbr title="Virginia">Va.</abbr></p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—The nighthawk is insectivorous in its eating habits. Since
+the major part of the insects it destroys are destructive to useful
+vegetation or are otherwise adverse to human welfare, the nighthawk
+ranks high in the list of birds beneficial to man.</p>
+
+<p>The nighthawk captures the insects chiefly during its flight. The
+birds sweep up in their capacious mouths all types of insects from
+the large moths and beetles to the tiniest of flies and mosquitoes.
+Some of the stomachs examined have contained no less than 50
+different species of insects, and some of the smaller insects are at
+times represented by thousands of individuals.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most conspicuous elements of the food is flying ants.
+In the examination of 87 nighthawk stomachs, the United States
+Biological Survey reports that ants comprised nearly one-fourth of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</span>the total food eaten by the birds. In 24 of the stomachs the number
+of ants ranged from 200 to 1,800, and in all the stomachs examined
+there were not less than 20,000 ants (Beal, 1897). In the stomach
+of a nighthawk that met with accidental death at Brunswick, Maine,
+on August 20, 1925, there were 2,175 ants. The mass and weight
+of these insects were so great that they constituted a serious handicap
+and probably a factor in the bird’s untimely ending. Charles
+Drury (1887) obtained a specimen in August that contained 320 insects,
+chiefly winged ants. W. L. McAtee (1926) found more than
+one hundred carpenter ants (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Camponotus herculeanus</i>) in one
+nighthawk stomach. In most all instances the ants captured are
+the mating winged individuals, which fly in immense swarms during
+the late summer. These ants are killed at a time when they are
+preparing to propagate their kind, and hence the death of every
+female means the destruction of thousands of the next generation.</p>
+
+<p>According to examinations of the United States Biological Survey
+(Beal, McAtee, and Kalmbach, 1916) beetles comprised one-fifth
+of the food eaten by 87 nighthawks examined. May beetles, dung
+beetles, and others of the leaf-chafer family were in greatest numbers.
+Beal (1897) reported finding the remains of 34 May beetles
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Phyllophaga</i>) in a single nighthawk stomach, in another 23, and
+in a third 17. In the stomach contents of one specimen no less than
+17 species of beetles were identified. Chester Lamb (1912) reports
+that all nighthawks collected by him had eaten enormous quantities
+of beetles. Thomas G. Gentry (1877) reports eight species of
+beetles in food examined by him. McAtee (1926) reports various
+leaf chafers, sawyers, wood borers, bark beetles, weevils, and plant
+lice in the food eaten by nighthawks in the course of his study of
+the relation of birds to woodlots in New York State. In the examination
+of hundreds of droppings of nighthawks obtained from
+various nesting sites chiefly at Brunswick, Maine, a large percentage
+of the identifiable remains consisted of parts of various species of
+beetles.</p>
+
+<p>Nighthawks, especially in the Middle West, have been known to
+eat a considerable number of grasshoppers and locusts. According
+to Ernest Harold Baynes (1915) seven Nebraska specimens were
+found to have eaten 348 Rocky Mountain locusts; five specimens
+collected in Indiana reported by A. W. Butler (1898) had eaten 9
+grasshoppers, 19 beetles, 23 Heteroptera, and 4 Neuroptera. B. H.
+Warren (1890) reported that grasshoppers were an important
+element of the food eaten by nighthawks collected in Pennsylvania.
+F. E. L. Beal (1897) states that one nighthawk contained the remains
+of 60 grasshoppers. A male killed on July 7, 1882, was reported
+by Everett Smith (1883) to have “an ichneumon fly, a black cricket,
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</span>about twenty small grasshoppers, and many small, hard insects” in
+its crop.</p>
+
+<p>Flies, plant lice, and mosquitoes frequently form an important
+element of the food of the nighthawk. A nighthawk examined by
+the Biological Survey had eaten more than 300 mosquitoes, and
+E. H. Forbush (1907) reports finding 500 mosquitoes in the stomach
+of one bird. McAtee (1926) reports that he found 650 plant lice in
+the stomach of a single nighthawk. Phoebe Knappen (1934) found
+stone flies in 21 nighthawks. The insects were chiefly adults but
+also a few larvae, nymphs, and eggs were present.</p>
+
+<p>In the South various observers have noted that the nighthawk is
+an important factor in the control of the cotton-boll weevil. F. H.
+Herrick (1901) writes of a nighthawk that had been feeding on
+fireflies; the wide open mouth of an adult observed feeding its young
+was brilliantly illuminated like a spacious apartment all aglow
+with electricity. F. H. Carpenter (1886) relates a unique experience
+with nighthawks that darted at the artificial flies on his line when
+he was casting for trout. It is not an unusual experience to see
+nighthawks after dusk flying about electric lights of city streets
+(Knowlton, 1896) or about campfires of remote districts where they
+capture myriads of insects attracted by the lights.</p>
+
+<p>During the migration nighthawks frequently fly near the ground
+and at such times may take advantage of any insects that appear in
+their path. During an afternoon late in August I observed a flight
+of several hundred nighthawks near Urbana, Ill. As I sat in a car
+alongside a large meadow I noticed that the birds were ravenously
+feasting on grasshoppers. Some of the birds lingered long enough
+to capture half a dozen of the insects before passing on to make
+place for other nighthawks in the migrating procession. A. Dawes
+DuBois, of Excelsior, Minn., relates a similar experience he had in
+the vicinity of Salt Creek, Logan County, Ill., as follows: “At dusk
+on the evening of May 22, 1913, as I walked along a cloverfield, we
+witnessed an assemblage of nighthawks in pursuit of low-flying
+insects. They skimmed over the clover like swallows; and their
+dusky forms were so numerous that they seemed to be weaving an
+intricate pattern in the gray twilight. They were so intent on their
+bountiful repast that they paid no heed to our presence, but sometimes
+darted past us only a few feet away.”</p>
+
+<p>Nighthawks not only capture food on the wing, but they also have
+been observed to drink, in the manner of swallows, as they skim near
+the surface of the water of lakes and streams. F. Stephens (1913)
+observed a nighthawk drinking from a watering trough. This bird
+dropped its lower mandible into the water, rippling the surface of
+the water as it passed along. A. Dawes DuBois writes of the following
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</span>experience he had at Springfield, Ill., on July 29, 1923: “Mr.
+R. B. Horsfall and I were walking along the margin of a small pond
+when a nighthawk swooped down, touched the surface of the water
+and rose again; but we could not tell whether it was scooping up a
+floating insect or a drink of water.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—The nighthawk has no claim as a singer, but nevertheless
+its notes are of great interest and attract fully as much attention
+as the voices of our more gifted songsters.</p>
+
+<p>The loud piercing calls uttered by the nighthawk during flight
+are simple yet, like all bird notes, extremely difficult to represent in
+written words so as to enable a reader unfamiliar with them to
+gain a clear conception of their character and quality. This fact is
+at once emphasized if we compare the interpretations of a few of
+the many authors who have attempted a written version of its calls.
+For example to C. G. Abbott (1914) it sounds like a “grating
+‘beedz, beedz,’” and to Charles Bendire (1895) it is a querulous and
+a squeaky note resembling “aek-aek, aek-aek” or “speek-speek, speek-speek.”
+W. E. Grover describes this note as a sharp “mueike”; and
+E. H. Forbush (1907) states that “the note is s-k-i-r-k or s-c-a-i-p-e,
+a little like the call of Wilson’s snipe,—rather a startling squeak
+when heard close at hand.” W. L. Dawson (1903) interprets the
+note as “mizard, mizard,” and E. H. Eaton (1914) describes it as a
+“loud nasal ‘peent, peent.’” N. S. Goss (1891) writes that its voice
+is a “squeak” or a “pe-up” note, and Arkansas Hoosier (1890) states
+that “the note is best produced by speaking the word ‘beard’ in a
+whisper.” To G. R. Mayfield (1921) the call is a shrill “B-e-e-r-b” and
+to H. Nehrling it is “Brirrr-brirrr.” H. Tullsen (1911) interprets it as
+a sharp penetrating “Spe-eak,” and H. H. Bailey (1913) thinks it
+sounds like “Queek-queek.”</p>
+
+<p>There was probably only the slightest variation in the notes of
+the different nighthawks as heard by the authors mentioned above,
+yet how strikingly different are the interpretations as represented in
+the written or printed words. The note described above is the one
+most frequently heard, and it is uttered independently of the seasons.
+It is the note that announces the arrival of the nighthawk in spring,
+and it is the call uttered at the time the nighthawks are congregating
+in fall in preparation for their departure to the south. I
+have been unable to ascertain whether this call is heard at their
+winter home in South America.</p>
+
+<p>Frequently, during the courtship season, the males in their competition
+for a mate vigorously pursue each other. At such times
+both birds utter a series of sharply accented calls recorded in my
+field notes as resembling <i>Dick-a-dick-a-dick-dick-dick-dick-dick</i>,
+given in rapid succession.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</span></p>
+
+<p>There is another note of the nighthawk very different in character,
+an aeolian sound, produced by the rush of air through the primaries
+of the wings at the termination of the extraordinary downward
+plunge executed during the courtship season. In order to see this
+performance and to hear this peculiar and unique note to the best
+advantage it is necessary to visit the vicinity of the nesting site.
+Alexander Wilson (1828) described this note as a “loud booming
+sound very much resembling that produced by blowing strongly
+into the bunghole of an empty hogshead.” E. H. Eaton (1914)
+offers a modification of Wilson’s description in stating that the note
+is like that produced “by blowing across an empty bottle.” T. G.
+Gentry (1877) describes it as a sound resembling that “produced
+by a tense cord set in vibration by a sudden gust of wind.” T.
+Jasper (1878) states that it is a hollow whir like the rapid turning
+of a spinning wheel, and F. A. Hartman (1914) describes it as a
+“guttural ‘woof.’” The note reminds W. A. Stearns (1883) of the
+sound produced by a bellowing bull. In my field notes I have
+described this note as a muffled <i>wr-r,r,r,r,r-oonk</i>, but sometimes more
+nearly approaching <i>sw-r,r,r,r-ooonk</i>, the last syllable decidedly accented
+and produced with great resonance. There is nothing about
+this note suggesting an explosive boom or bellowing.</p>
+
+<p>It has long ago been well established that this peculiar note is
+not a vocal sound but one produced by the vibration of the primaries.
+As keen an observer as Alexander Wilson (1828) stated that it is
+“produced by the sudden expansion of his capacious mouth.” Others
+shared Wilson’s view or thought that it was a sound produced by the
+syrinx. After one has observed the performance it can be readily
+understood how such an erroneous interpretation was made by the
+earlier observers. The plunge takes place so quickly that it is only
+by repeated observations made under the most favorable conditions
+that the observer is convinced that the primaries are involved.
+Audubon (1840) was the first to arrive at a correct explanation.
+He writes that the source of the singular noise is “the concussion
+caused, at the time the bird passes the centre of its plunge by the new
+position of its wings, which are now brought almost instantly to
+the wind, like the sails of a ship suddenly thrown back.” This
+observation with variation of its details has been made by numerous
+subsequent observers. J. B. Canfield (1902) gives a description of
+the performance as follows: “He suddenly paused and came soaring
+toward me like an arrow. About fifty feet in front of me his wings
+were lowered below his body, throwing them forward with the flight
+feathers spread wide apart * * * His speed was so great that
+the flight feathers vibrated like a loosely-stretched rubber band when
+snapped with the fingers. This performance was repeated in front,
+back, and beside me twelve times in all, never more than fifty feet
+away, and as near as fifteen. In all cases the wings were in the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</span>same position, and his mouth never open.” F. A. Hartman (1914)
+writes, “It is very evident that the mouth plays no part, otherwise
+the sound would be produced at other times [than on the downward
+glide]. * * * The bird threw its wings far to the front at the
+end of his downward glide, so that the uppermost quill feathers were
+pointed exactly in the direction of his glide. Going at such headlong
+speed, these quill feathers when thrown edgewise to the air
+vibrated strongly, causing the ‘woof’.” Alden H. Miller (1925)
+while at Camp Lewis, Wash., during June and July succeeded in
+attracting nighthawks within 10 feet of himself by merely waving
+his hat in the air. He noticed that if the wings, during the downward
+plunge, were held in the upturned V-shaped position, a normal
+pose when soaring, no boom was heard, but when the wings were
+bent downward near the end of the dive the boom sound was produced.
+The intensity of the sound, according to Mr. Miller, is more
+or less proportional to the speed attained. The main explosive boom
+seems to be preceded by a brief, lesser vibrating sound, which bursts
+forth into the full bellow. Both parts seem to have a distinct
+element of pitch, but the latter part is lower, with greater resonance
+and depth of quality.</p>
+
+<p>The sound produced by the wings described above is a part of
+the courtship performance and is usually produced near the nesting
+site. After the young no longer require the constant attention of
+both parents, the male loses the glamour of romance and performs
+less frequently and soon after ceases almost entirely until the courtship
+season of another year. However, birds migrating in August
+sometimes “boom.”</p>
+
+<p>Another note associated with the courtship season is a guttural
+call uttered only when the male is at rest and in the presence of
+the female. It may be described as an oft repeated <i>auk, auk, auk</i> or
+<i>awk, awk, awk</i>. This note is produced by the syrinx, but as it is
+uttered the bill is tightly closed and the gular membrane is tightly
+distended each time the note is produced. The distension is caused
+by the expulsion of air from the respiratory system. The distended
+membrane, although feathered, acts as a resonator and modifies the
+note, giving it a peculiar quality. Such a mechanism is present in
+other birds. It is especially highly developed in the prairie chicken,
+in which large lateral vocal sacs are present that give the “booming”
+notes of this grouse great carrying power.</p>
+
+<p>The notes of the female nighthawk are simple calls uttered in
+response to the those of the male or of the young. She may utter a
+purring, pacifying note when brooding the young, but often these
+notes are so weak that they cannot be heard by the observer unless
+he is stationed very near in a blind.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Game.</i>—Today we do not think of the nighthawk as a game bird,
+yet 60 years ago large numbers of them were killed by gunners and
+sportsmen, especially in the Southern States. M. G. Elzey, writing
+on September 18, 1876, stated: “Bull-bats (nighthawks) are the best
+of the minor game of this country for sport or table; have been very
+abundant and in superb condition here (Blacksburg, Virginia) for
+the past two weeks. I have killed several hundred. On one occasion
+took out 28 cartridges and brought in 23 birds besides 2 which
+fell out of bounds and were recovered by boys. Killed 17 in succession.
+The bats are quite as fat and better game than the reed birds.”
+Dr. E. Sterling (1885) wrote: “Their rapid and irregular flight
+makes them a difficult mark for the young sportsman to practice on,
+as he never fails to make a target of them when the opportunity
+offers. I can now understand the object for which this bird was
+created.” Dr. F. M. Chapman (1888), writing of conditions at
+Gainesville, Fla., stated, “‘Bat’ shooting is here a popular pastime,
+great numbers being killed for food, and in August, when the birds
+have gathered in flocks, favorite fields may be occupied at nightfall
+by as many as a dozen shooters.” Stockard (1905) lamented the fact
+that the birds “are foolishly slaughtered by pseudo-sportsmen who
+shoot them merely to watch the bird’s graceful fall or to improve
+their skill as marksmen.”</p>
+
+<p>The practice of killing nighthawks was stopped through laws and
+by educational methods initiated by the National Association of
+Audubon Societies. William Dutcher (1902), in writing of conditions
+in Florida, stated, “It is believed, on very satisfactory evidence
+that the new law has stopped to a large degree the disgraceful
+practice of shooting ‘bull-bats’ or Nighthawks (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles virginianus</i>)
+for sport.” Bird-Lore for September-October 1903 published
+the following note: “The Night-hawk, or Bullbat, has
+been so long considered a legitimate target for shotgun practice, in
+the south, that a report of prosecution for killing these birds at
+Greensboro, North Carolina, marks a new era of bird protection in
+our southern states.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Enemies.</i>—The greatest enemy of the nighthawk has been man.
+In the past great numbers of the birds were killed for food and
+often for mere sport or for satisfying a lust for killing. This was
+especially true in the Southern States, where the birds were slaughtered
+during the great flights of the annual migrations.</p>
+
+<p>Nighthawks nesting on the ground are subject to the same enemies
+experienced by other species of ground-nesting birds. Night hawks
+nesting on roofs are usually free from such molestation, but Albert F.
+Ganier informs me that he has known of sparrow hawks invading
+the cities and preying upon the nighthawks, especially the young.
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</span>Cats and dogs become enemies of the city dwellers in the event the
+young leave the nest prematurely and land on the streets below.</p>
+
+<p>Nighthawks have a remarkable protective coloration and have
+developed methods of deception such as imitating a wounded individual
+when an enemy approaches the nesting site. At times they
+assume an attitude of aggression; i. e., raising their elongated wings
+in a vertical position and hissing in defiance at an intruder.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Distribution231">DISTRIBUTION</p>
+
+<p><i>Range.</i>—The Western Hemisphere generally, from Yukon to
+Patagonia.</p>
+
+<p><i>Breeding range.</i>—The breeding range of the nighthawk extends
+<b>north</b> to Yukon (Sixty-mile River and probably Lapierres House);
+Mackenzie probably Fort Goodhope, (probably Fort Franklin,
+Fort Resolution, and Hill Island Lake); northern Saskatchewan
+(Methye Portage, Stanley, and Reindeer River); northern Manitoba
+(probably Du Brochet Lake, Grand Rapids, and probably
+Churchill); northern Ontario (Martin Falls, probably Fort Albany,
+and probably Moose Factory); and Quebec (Lake Mistassini,
+Godbout, and Mingan Island). The <b>eastern</b> boundary of the
+range extends from this point southward through the coastal regions
+of the Maritime Provinces, the Eastern United States,
+the Bahama Islands (Nassau), to Puerto Rico (Mayaguez). <b>South</b>
+to Puerto Rico (Mayaguez); Haiti (Hinche and Jean Rubel); Jamaica
+(Port Henderson and Grand Cayman); Cuba (Isle of Pines);
+southern Texas (Brownsville, San Antonio, Kerrville, and Pecos);
+Chihuahua (Babicora); Sonora (Oposura and Los Nogales); and
+southern California (San Bernardino Mountains and Pine Knot).
+<b>West</b> to California (Pine Knot, Mona Lake, Grass Valley, and Eureka);
+western Oregon (Medford, Eugene, Corvallis, Portland, and
+St. Helen); western Washington (Bumping Lake, Gig Harbor,
+Seattle, and Blaine); British Columbia (Errington, Courtenay, Fort
+St. James, and Hazleton); southeastern Alaska (Wrangell); and
+western Yukon (Carcross, Whitehorse, and Sixty-mile River).</p>
+
+<p><i>Winter range.</i>—When the numerical abundance and extensive breeding
+range of this species are considered, it is surprising that knowledge
+concerning the winter range should be extremely limited. It
+seems certain, however, that it is entirely in South America <b>north</b> to
+Colombia (Antioquia); Venezuela (Orinoco Valley); and central
+Brazil (Matto Grosso). <b>East</b> to southeastern Brazil (Matto Grosso,
+São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro); Uruguay (Concepcion); and Argentina
+(Barracas and La Plata). <b>South</b> to central Argentina (La Plata
+and Cordova). <b>West</b> to Argentina (Cordova, Santiago, Tucuman,
+and the Gran Chaco); western Paraguay (Asuncion); western Brazil
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</span>(Chapada); western Ecuador (Portoviejo); and western Colombia
+(Bogota and Antioquia).</p>
+
+<p>The outline presented is for the entire species, which has, however,
+been separated into seven subspecies, or geographic races. The
+typical eastern nighthawk (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. minor</i>) breeds in the eastern part
+of the continent west to the edge of the Great Plains from Oklahoma
+to Minnesota and in Canada to British Columbia and southern
+Yukon; the Florida nighthawk (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. chapmani</i>) nests in the Gulf
+and South Atlantic States north to Arkansas, southern Illinois, central
+Alabama, and central North Carolina and west to eastern
+Texas; Howell’s nighthawk (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. howelli</i>) breeds in the southern
+part of the Great Plains region from northeastern Utah and western
+Kansas south to Oklahoma, central Texas, and New Mexico; Cherrie’s
+nighthawk (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. aserriensis</i>) is found in south-central Texas
+and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas; Sennett’s nighthawk (<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m.
+sennetti</i>) occupies a breeding range in the northern Great Plains
+from northeastern Montana and North Dakota south to eastern
+Wyoming, Nebraska, and northwestern Iowa; the western nighthawk
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. henryi</i>) breeds in southwestern Colorado, eastern Arizona,
+New Mexico, Chihuahua, and Sonora; and the Pacific nighthawk
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">C. m. hesperis</i>) nests in the western part of the continent from
+southeastern British Columbia and California east to southwestern
+Saskatchewan, northwestern Wyoming, and central Utah. In no
+case is it possible to indicate subspecific winter ranges, but it appears
+that all forms winter together in South America.</p>
+
+<p><i>Spring migration.</i>—Early dates of spring arrival in North America
+are: Florida—Orlando, March 20; Palma Sola, March 29; Pensacola,
+April 8. Georgia—Savannah, April 1; Kirkwood, April 19.
+South Carolina—Frogmore, April 12; Columbia, April 17. North
+Carolina—Hendersonville, April 13; Raleigh, April 15. Virginia—Variety
+Mills, April 10; New Market, April 24. District of Columbia—Washington,
+April 18. Maryland—Mardela Springs, April 19.
+Pennsylvania—Philadelphia, April 23; Beaver, April 27. New Jersey—Morristown,
+May 7. New York—New York City, April 20;
+Ballston Spa, April 29; Rochester, May 7. Connecticut—Hartford,
+April 24; Jewett City, May 6. Massachusetts—Harvard, April 19;
+Amherst, May 10. Vermont—St. Johnsbury, May 6; Rutland, May
+12. New Hampshire—South Manchester, May 2; Concord, May 14.
+Maine—Dover-Foxcroft, April 29; South Portland, May 1. New
+Brunswick—St. Johns, May 13. Quebec—Quebec City, May 4;
+Montreal, May 9. Louisiana—New Orleans, April 8. Mississippi—Biloxi,
+April 8; Rodney, April 19. Arkansas—Monticello, April 11.
+Tennessee—Athens, April 20. Kentucky—Lexington, April 19;
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</span>Eubank, April 23. Missouri—St. Louis, April 22; Kansas City,
+May 2. Illinois—Chicago, April 21; Odin, April 27. Indiana—La
+Fayette, May 1; Fort Wayne, May 6. Ohio—Cleveland, April 20;
+Oberlin, April 21. Michigan—Sault Ste. Marie, April 30; Detroit,
+May 1. Ontario—Toronto, April 30; Ottawa, May 9. Iowa—Keokuk,
+April 23; National, May 6. Wisconsin—Madison, May 2;
+Milwaukee, May 3. Minnesota—Minneapolis, April 26; Lanesboro,
+May 7. Kansas—Onaga, April 30; Manhattan, May 1. Nebraska—Omaha,
+May 8; Red Cloud, May 3. South Dakota—Vermillion,
+May 10; Forestburg, May 16. North Dakota—Grand Forks, May 1;
+Argusville, May 18. Manitoba—Margaret, May 10; Aweme, May 12.
+Texas—San Antonio, April 2; Kerrville, April 22. Colorado—Denver,
+May 4; Yuma, May 9. Wyoming—Cheyenne, May 8; Torrington,
+May 24. Montana—Great Falls, May 15; Columbia Falls, May
+29. Saskatchewan—Indian Head, May 18; Eastend, May 26. Arizona—Oracle,
+April 20; Santa Rita Mountains, May 1. Utah—Kobe
+Valley, May 24. Idaho—Ruper, May 18; Meridian, May 20. Alberta—Flagstaff,
+May 27; Banff, May 28. California—Red Bluff,
+April 1; San Diego, April 22; Eureka, May 7. Oregon—Coos Bay,
+May 1; Klamath Lake, May 26. Washington—Tacoma, May 22.
+British Columbia—Burrard Inlet, May 26; Okanagan Landing,
+June 1.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall migration.</i>—Late dates of fall departure are: British Columbia—Okanagan
+Landing, September 15. Washington—Tacoma, September
+11. Oregon—Weston, September 9. California—San Francisco,
+September 21. Los Angeles County, October 27. Alberta—Banff,
+September 17. Idaho—Meridian, September 15; Rupert, September
+16. Arizona—Chin Lee, September 25. Saskatchewan—Eastend,
+September 15. Montana—Columbia Falls, September 28; Great
+Falls, October 6. Wyoming—Yellowstone Park, September 15.
+Colorado—Yuma, September 25; Denver, October 14. Texas—Taylor,
+October 2; Palo Pinto, October 21; Corpus Christi, November
+6. Manitoba—Winnipeg, September 19; Aweme, September 24.
+North Dakota—Charlson, September 22. South Dakota—Forestburg,
+September 21; Sioux Falls, October 1. Nebraska—Blue
+Springs, October 5; Red Cloud, October 10. Kansas—Topeka, October
+6; Onaga, October 22. Minnesota—Minneapolis, September 15;
+Lanesboro, September 30. Wisconsin—Madison, October 6. Iowa—National,
+September 30; Keokuk, October 8. Ontario—Ottawa, September
+23; Toronto, October 11. Michigan—Detroit, September 17.
+Ohio—Wauseon, September 30; Cleveland, October 8. Illinois—Chicago,
+October 7; Odin, October 14. Missouri—Concordia, October
+18. Kentucky—Eubank, October 9. Tennessee—Athens, October
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</span>5. Arkansas—Rogers, October 4; Dardanelle, October 25.
+Louisiana—New Orleans, November 3. Quebec—Montreal, September
+17. New Brunswick—St. Johns, September 27. Maine—Portland,
+September 26; Livermore Falls, October 2; Vermont—Rutland,
+September 12; St. Johnsbury, September 13. Massachusetts—Amherst,
+September 27; Harvard, October 3. Connecticut—Hartford,
+September 26. New York—Rochester, September 28; New York
+City, October 1. New Jersey—Morristown, October 11. Pennsylvania—Renovo,
+September 23; Philadelphia, October 15. District
+of Columbia—Washington, October 11. North Carolina—Raleigh,
+October 6; Hendersonville, October 13. South Carolina—Columbia,
+October 22; Mount Pleasant, November 9. Alabama—Autaugaville,
+October 11. Florida—Orlando, October 13; Pensacola, October 20.</p>
+
+<p><i>Casual records.</i>—With a range that covers most of the Western
+Hemisphere, it is not surprising that comparatively few nighthawks
+should be recorded beyond the known normal limits. A specimen
+was taken by an Eskimo at Allakaket, on the Koyukuk River in
+northern Alaska, late in September or early in October 1923. One
+was seen at Grand Falls, Labrador, on May 31, 1895, and a specimen
+was collected at Makkovik in June 1929. The species is a fairly
+regular visitor at Bermuda during migration, sometimes being very
+common.</p>
+
+<p><i>Egg dates.</i>—California: 36 records, March 20 to July 26; 18
+records, June 18 to July 1, indicating the height of the season.</p>
+
+<p>Colorado: 11 records, May 31 to July 18.</p>
+
+<p>Florida: 40 records, April 7 to July 17; 20 records, May 15 to
+June 3.</p>
+
+<p>Georgia: 16 records, May 17 to July 13; 8 records, May 24 to
+June 10.</p>
+
+<p>Kansas: 28 records, May 31 to July 7; 14 records, June 13 to 28.</p>
+
+<p>Maine: 30 records, May 24 to July 3.</p>
+
+<p>Michigan: 13 records, May 15 to July 19; 7 records, June 2 to
+July 3.</p>
+
+<p>New York: 9 records, May 29 to July 8.</p>
+
+<p>South Dakota: 9 records, June 10 to July 1.</p>
+
+<p>Texas (Brownsville region): 28 records, April 5 to June 28; 14
+records, May 10 to June 5.</p>
+
+<p>Texas (elsewhere): 62 records, April 11 to July 29; 31 records,
+May 15 to June 1.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</span></p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chordeiles235">CHORDEILES MINOR HENRYI Cassin</p>
+
+<p class="center">WESTERN NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits235">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Gross has contributed such a full life history of the eastern
+nighthawk that it hardly seems necessary to say much about the other
+subspecies, as they are all much alike in general habits.</p>
+
+<p>The above name formerly covered most of the western races that
+are now recognized as subspecifically distinct. This race is now
+supposed to be confined to the southern Rocky Mountains and adjacent
+high plains, from Colorado southward into Mexico, Chihuahua,
+and Sonora. Other races are recognized in the more lowland plains.</p>
+
+<p>Cassin (1862), in his original description of this bird, named it as
+a species in honor of Dr. T. Charlton Henry and said of it: “This
+bird may be distinguished from other American species by its color,
+which is lighter and of a different style of variegation, the prevailing
+tone being a dull, pale reddish and yellowish, somewhat approaching
+what is called buff or drab color. It is larger than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles
+virginianus</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Harry C. Oberholser (1914), in comparing it with some more
+recently described races, says that it is “similar to <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles virginianus
+howelli</i>, but upper surface, both ground color and markings,
+much darker, the latter more tawny and also coarser; lower parts
+posteriorly more buffy, anteriorly more rufescent.” It is lighter and
+more brownish than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hesperis</i>, darker and more rufescent than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sennetti</i>,
+and lighter and more brownish than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">virginianus</i>.</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The nesting habits of the western nighthawk are very
+similar to those of the eastern bird. Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1890)
+says of his experience with it in the mountains of Arizona: “I have
+never known this species to infringe on the territory of the Texan
+Nighthawk during the breeding season; each keeps to its own
+ground, the latter being confined to the region below the pines, and
+the former residing in the pines and spruces, breeding in great numbers
+in these limited areas. * * * Two fresh eggs were taken at
+Flagstaff on June 18, 1887, in a level place, bestrewn with volcanic
+scoria, beneath the pines.”</p>
+
+<p>We found only the western nighthawk in the mountains and only
+the Texas nighthawk in the lower valleys. After I left, Mr. Willard
+found a nest on July 9, 1922, at an elevation of 5,200 feet in the
+Huachuca Mountains, Arizona. The eggs were lying in the open on
+gravelly soil; just before the eggs were taken, a heavy hailstorm occurred,
+during which nearly 6 inches of hail fell; evidently the female
+had covered the eggs during the storm, or the eggs might have been
+broken.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</span></p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The two eggs of the western nighthawk are indistinguishable
+from those of other nighthawks, showing the same variations.
+In shape they are between oval and elliptical-oval, usually with little
+or no gloss, though some incubated eggs are quite glossy. The
+ground color is dull white, or grayish white, rarely “dark” or “deep
+olive-buff”. Usually they are quite evenly marked; some are closely
+sprinkled with fine dots, but oftener they are covered with small
+spots, streaks, or small blotches of “olive-brown,” “sepia,” or
+“mummy brown”; occasional eggs are marked with brighter browns,
+such as “russet” or “hazel”; very often there are underlying spots or
+blotches of “pale Quaker drab.” The measurements of 19 eggs average
+30.2 by 21.6 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes
+measure <b>33.0</b> by 21.1, 30.0 by <b>23.1</b>, <b>27.3</b> by 21.5, and 27.5 by <b>19.7</b>
+millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Mrs. Bailey (1928) says of the food of the western nighthawk
+in New Mexico: “Ants in large proportion and also beetles
+which are the adult forms of noted pests. Specimens taken at Fort
+Stanton—caddice flies and gnats, together with injurious insects,
+including ants, plant bugs, leaf hoppers, crane flies, click beetles,
+wood-boring and engraver beetles, clover root weevils, and nut
+weevils.”</p>
+
+<p>Beal, McAtee, and Kalmbach (1916) say that these birds are “so
+expert in flight that no insects can escape them. They sweep up in
+their capacious mouths everything from the largest moths and
+dragon flies to the tiniest ants and gnats, and in this way sometimes
+gather most remarkable collections of insects. Several stomachs
+have contained fifty or more different kinds, and the number of individuals
+may run into the thousands.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Mearns (1890) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In our summer camp, near the summit of the Mogollon Mountains, a small
+beetle was annoyingly abundant, flying into our tents in great numbers during
+the day, and at night swarming around our log fires. As the twilight gathered,
+hundreds of these Nighthawks appeared upon the scene, preying upon the
+troublesome insects. Careless of our presence at the fires and of the noisy
+hilarity of camp, they flitted through the smoke with astonishing freedom from
+diffidence, capturing myriads of the hated beetles, as they passed and repassed
+above, between, and around us, until their flickering forms were as familiar
+as the stirring of the pine boughs overhead, and the fanning of their wings
+almost as little heeded.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Field marks.</i>—There are two other races of this species, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hesperis</i>
+and <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">howelli</i>, that are likely to be seen within the range of the western
+nighthawk on migrations; these three races are not easy to recognize
+in life, though <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">henryi</i> is lighter than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hesperis</i> and darker than
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">howelli</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The western nighthawk can be distinguished in flight from the
+Texas nighthawk by the position of the white wing band; in the
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</span>western nighthawk this band is about halfway between the bend of
+the wing and the tip; in the Texas nighthawk the white wing band
+is nearer the tip than the bend of the wing.</p>
+
+<p><i>Fall.</i>—Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that after the breeding season and
+in the fall the western nighthawks range up to higher altitudes in
+the mountains, even as high as 12,600 feet. “They all desert the
+State for the winter, beginning their southward journey soon after
+the middle of summer. They are most numerous in migration during
+August and have nearly all left [New Mexico] by the end of
+September. * * * On the return journey in the spring they
+are among the very latest migrants, seldom reaching northern New
+Mexico before May 10.”</p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chordeiles237">CHORDEILES MINOR CHAPMANI Coues</p>
+
+<p class="center">FLORIDA NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits237">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>This small race occupies the southern Atlantic and Gulf States,
+from North Carolina to eastern Texas. In general appearance it
+differs but little from the eastern nighthawk, except in size. Dr. H.
+C. Oberholser (1914) characterizes it as “like <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles virginianus
+virginianus</i>, but decidedly smaller; upper parts averaging a little
+more mottled and spotted with whitish and buffy, particularly on
+back, wings, and scapulars, and the ground color averaging slightly
+less deeply blackish (more grayish or brownish); posterior lower
+parts usually more purely white.”</p>
+
+<p>Nighthawks are tender birds and spend their winters in South
+America, from Colombia to northern Argentina. Even in Florida
+they usually do not arrive until some time in April. Arthur H.
+Howell (1932) says of the haunts of the Florida race: “The Florida
+Nighthawk frequents open pine forests, old fields, pastures, prairies,
+cultivated lands, marshes, and ocean beaches. Although most active
+early in the morning and late in the evening, the birds frequently
+may be seen flying about in search of food in bright sunshine.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Mr. Howell (1932) says on this subject: “The two eggs
+are deposited on the ground, with no semblance of a nest, in an open
+situation, often in a pasture, broomsedge field, or wood lot, or in
+palmetto scrub in open forest or on the prairie, or sometimes among
+sparse grasses on or near the ocean beaches.”</p>
+
+<p>Major Bendire (1895) says that Dr. William L. Ralph took several
+sets of eggs in Putnam County, Fla., and that here “during
+the breeding season at least, the Florida Nighthawk frequents mainly
+low, flat pine woods, especially such as have recently been burnt
+over, the eggs generally lying on the bare ground. Sandy soil seems
+to be preferred for nesting places. One set of eggs was found by
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</span>him under a small orange tree in an orange grove on the side of a
+sandy hill; three others were taken in flat pine woods, and in one
+instance the eggs laid on a few fragments of charcoal left where a
+fallen tree had been partly burnt, between the remaining part of
+the tree and the stump, about 3 feet from each.”</p>
+
+<p>On Cat Island, off the coast of Mississippi, I found the Florida
+nighthawk very common in the extensive forest of tall, long-leaf
+pines, with which the island is largely covered. Here, on June 16,
+1910, I saw two pairs with young, the old birds fluttering along the
+ground to toll us away from their little ones; and I found one
+nest with two eggs on the bare, sandy ground among the pines.</p>
+
+<p>The only other nests of this subspecies that I have seen were on
+some low, sandy islands in Galveston Bay, Tex., where several pairs
+were breeding on May 4, 1923; two nests were seen, the eggs lying
+in slight hollows in the bare sand, in such situations as might be
+chosen by least terns. In some of the southern cities this nighthawk
+has developed the habit of nesting on the flat, gravel roofs of buildings,
+after the manner of the species elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The eggs of the Florida nighthawk are similar to those of
+the eastern nighthawk but will average somewhat more heavily
+marked with darker colors and are somewhat smaller. The measurements
+of 38 eggs average 28.86 by 21.23 millimeters; the eggs showing
+the four extremes measure <b>31.75</b> by 21.59, 31.59 by <b>22.61</b>, <b>26.42</b>
+by 20.32, and 28.20 by <b>20.10</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p>The habits of the Florida nighthawk are not essentially different
+from those of its northern relative; the two are not easily recognizable
+in life; and the two forms are seen on migrations all through
+the Southern States, where heavy flights often occur. R. J. Longstreet
+noted an unusually heavy flight at Daytona Beach on May 11,
+1926; “in about an hour, from 6 to 7 p. m., he estimated that about
+3,000 birds passed north over the beach” (Howell, 1932).</p>
+
+<p>Heavy flights also occur on the fall migration, mainly during
+August, when formerly large numbers of “bullbats,” as they were
+locally called, were shot for food or sport. Dr. Chapman (1888),
+writing of Gainesville, Fla., in 1888, said: “‘Bullbat,’ or as it is more
+frequently termed, ‘Bat,’ shooting is here a popular pastime, great
+numbers being killed for food, and in August, when the birds have
+gathered in flocks, favorite fields may be occupied at nightfall by as
+many as a dozen shooters.” This bad practice is now outlawed, and
+very wisely, as the small bodies of the nighthawks have very little
+food value, and the nighthawk is one of our most useful birds; it has
+no objectionable food habits and is so valuable as a destroyer of troublesome
+and injurious insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, gnats,
+mosquitoes, and the destructive cotton-boll weevil, that it ought to be
+rigidly protected.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</span></p>
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chordeiles239">CHORDEILES MINOR SENNETTI Coues</p>
+
+<p class="center">SENNETT’S NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits239">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The nighthawks of the northern plains were given the above name
+by Dr. Elliott Coues (1888), who gave as the characters of the
+subspecies “silvery grayish-white predominating above, the white
+below greatly in excess of the narrow, irregular or broken, dark bars,
+and little or no rufous anywhere.” It is a bird of the treeless plains
+and prairies, ranging from northern North Dakota and northeastern
+Montana south to eastern Wyoming, northwestern Iowa, and northern
+Nebraska. It migrates southward through Oklahoma and
+Texas, and probably to South America.</p>
+
+<p>F. A. Patton (1924) says of its haunts in South Dakota: “The
+Sennetts Night Hawk, is a bird of a barren, isolated region, moving
+ahead and away from settlements, to a thinly settled section, preferring
+a dry, almost a desert region.</p>
+
+<p>“Through the eighties and up until about 1890 this bird could be
+found much over the entire State of South Dakota. At present its
+range is confined to that part of the state from the Missouri River
+to the Black Hills, frequenting the Bad Lands section, well up in the
+foot hills, preferring barren knolls and stony places. Never have I
+seen the bird or its eggs in any way concealed by grass or vegetation.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—The same observer writes: “A favorite nesting place is
+in a cattle or horse trail over a stony knoll destitute of vegetation
+and what sets I find are found mostly by the bird flying from beneath
+my saddle horse. * * *</p>
+
+<p>“The eggs are laid on a rock or stones. No depression or formation
+towards a nest whatever, the eggs are plain gray in color and
+so blend with the rock that though they may be almost at one’s feet
+are difficult to see.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The Sennett’s nighthawk lays two eggs, the usual number
+for the species, which are practically indistinguishable from those of
+the eastern nighthawk, though they may average a trifle paler with
+somewhat smaller markings. The measurements of 9 eggs average
+31.1 by 22.3 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure
+<b>33.8</b> by 21.6, 31.5 by <b>23.3</b>, <b>29.3</b> by 23.1, and 29.6 by <b>21.5</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Young.</i>—Ernest T. Seton (1890) made an interesting observation
+on two young nighthawks, which were apparently about three days
+old and still retained the shell tooth on the tip of the bill; he says:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>I gently touched one of them, whereupon it crouched down more closely to
+the ground; but its companion, rising, hissed with open beak and snapped
+savagely at my fingers. On being further teased they ran off, exactly in the
+manner of young ducks, with outstretched wings and with neck and body at
+an angle of 45 degrees. After running a few feet they stopped, squatted as
+before, and closed their eyes. This they repeated several times, but at best
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</span>they only made little progress, and each time on being overtaken the bold one
+was always ready to fight. * * *</p>
+
+<p>In the light of these observations it seems likely that in some of the cases
+in which the Night-hawks are supposed to have carried off their young, the
+latter had really run from danger, or were led away by the parent birds.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Plumages.</i>—Dr. Louis B. Bishop (1896) has called attention to the
+fact that the females of this race do not show the characters of the
+race as well as the males. He collected a series of 13 birds in North
+Dakota, of which he writes: “Three females from the same locality
+taken in June and July—one of them a breeding bird taken with a
+typical male and two eggs—are similar but with the upper parts
+darker and the entire lower parts tinged with buff, which becomes
+ochraceous-buff on the throat. Two other female Nighthawks from
+the same region, one taken on June 11, and the other with two eggs
+on June 24, are quite different, the prevailing tint of the entire
+plumage, except the greater wing-coverts, wings and tail, being
+ochraceous-buff. These birds might readily be referred to <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">henryi</i>,
+but all the males taken or seen during the breeding season were
+unmistakably <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sennetti</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>He says further: “The pale colors of the male protect him admirably,
+harmonizing with the dull gray of the fences and rocks, perched
+on which he passes the day, while the darker colors of the female
+render her less conspicuous when seated over her eggs on the black
+soil.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Behavior.</i>—F. A. Patton (1924) says that “these birds will perch
+on a hot rock in the blazing sun the hottest summer day, the rock so
+hot one cannot hold a hand on it. You would think they would
+cook, they however seem stupid, they seem to lack the pep of other
+Night Hawks, to get out and soar at twilight, but are a quiet retiring
+bird, and I have known them on a hot day to let one approach
+close enough to strike them with a stick.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chordeiles240">CHORDEILES MINOR HESPERIS Grinnell</p>
+
+<p class="center">PACIFIC NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate34"><span class="smcap">Plates 34</span></a>, <a href="#Plate35"><span class="smcap">35</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits240">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>What was formerly part of the range of the western nighthawk
+(<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">henryi</i>) is now assigned to this more recently described race. According
+to the 1931 Check-list, it “breeds from southeastern British
+Columbia to southwestern Saskatchewan, central Montana, central
+Utah, and northwestern Wyoming south along the Pacific coast to
+northern California and in the Sierra Nevada south to the San
+Bernardino Mountains, southern California.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1905a) named this race and described it as
+“most nearly resembling <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ch. v. virginianus</i>, but:—outer surface of
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</span>closed wing grayer toned; lower tail-coverts and feathers of belly
+region more narrowly and sparsely dark-barred; and, in the male,
+white patches on throat, wings, and tail more extensive.” He remarks
+further:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>In tone of coloration the male is much darker than in either <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ch. v. sennetti</i> or
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Ch. v. henryi</i>. Altho somewhat lighter than <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">virginianus</i>, this is in the direction
+of pale gray and white rather than ochraceous. The extended mottling of the
+otherwise blackish feathers dorsally is responsible for this lighter tone, and
+especially notable is the extensive silvery gray mottling on the wing coverts.
+Yet this dorsal tone does not nearly reach the paleness of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sennetti</i>. * * *
+The [white] patch on the outer primary invades across the shaft to include
+the outer web; and the same is observable of the patches on the tail-feathers.
+* * * The female of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">hesperis</i> is gray rather than tawny, and is thus at
+once distinguishable from the female of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">henryi</i>.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p><i>Nesting.</i>—Major Bendire (1895) writes:</p>
+
+<blockquote>
+<p>A set of eggs of this subspecies was found by me on July 3, 1875, in the
+foothills of the Blue Mountains, some 6 miles northeast of Camp Harney,
+Oregon, laid among some pebbles on the bare ground under a little sage bush.
+The sitting bird allowed me almost to touch it, and was very reluctant to
+abandon its eggs, which were but slightly incubated. On my approach, it
+ruffled its feathers and emitted a hissing sound, resembling somewhat the spitting
+of a cat when mad. Their favorite nesting places in that vicinity were the
+crests of gravelly ridges, always selecting a well-drained spot, where the rains
+could not chill the young or eggs. Bare, rocky table-lands are also frequently
+resorted to for similar purposes, and less often the flat tops of bowlders.
+Extensive burnt tracts also furnish favorite abiding places for them in the
+more northern portions of their range; in fact, in such localities they are
+fully as abundant as on the more open sagebrush plains.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Henry J. Rust (1911) tells of a nest that he found near Coeur
+d’Alene, Idaho, in an open space in a cornfield, where the scattered
+cornstalks and a few weeds furnished scanty shade for the young.
+D. E. Brown tells me that “on the prairies of Pierce County [Washington]
+the bird nests on small patches of gravel, where the two
+eggs blend perfectly and the bird itself is hard to see. In King
+County, I find most of the nests in burnt-over sections. The eggs
+are usually placed among the remains of a rotten and charred log,
+where both egg and bird blend with the surroundings.”</p>
+
+<p>A. Dawes DuBois has sent me some notes on three nests found by
+him in Flathead County, <abbr title="Montana">Mont.</abbr>; in one of these the eggs lay on a
+thick bed of coarse moss which covered the rocky ground for some
+distance around it; this was on the top of a high foothill. Of this
+nest he says: “The bird was sitting when I approached, July 16.
+When she saw me coming she closed her eyes and appeared to be
+asleep. By covering the large shiny eyeballs with the lusterless lids
+the nighthawk makes herself much more a part of her surroundings.
+The eyes are not shut tight; a narrow slit is left through which
+to peek. While I was in the tent blind, placed near the nest, her
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</span>eyes were usually wide open; but if I slipped out at the rear and
+looked around the corner of the tent she slowly closed her eyes until
+only a narrow slit remained.”</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Grinnell (1908) found the Pacific nighthawk “to be a common
+species of the Boreal and upper Transition zones” in the San
+Bernardino Mountains. On June 18 he flushed a female from her
+two eggs at an altitude of about 9,000 feet. “These were laid on the
+bare ground in an open place among the pines. Nothing but a few
+pine needles separated them from the granite gravel.”</p>
+
+<p><i>Eggs.</i>—The eggs of the Pacific nighthawk are similar to those of
+the eastern nighthawk, but will average somewhat paler. The measurements
+of 38 eggs average 30.23 by 21.6 millimeters; the eggs showing
+the four extremes measure <b>32.5</b> by 21.8, 31.5 by <b>23.1</b>, and <b>24.6</b> by
+<b>19.0</b> millimeters.</p>
+
+<p><i>Food.</i>—Dr. Grinnell (1908) says: “A specimen shot at dusk, July
+4, 1906, was skinned at 11 o’clock the next day. The capacious
+throat and gullet were found to be crammed with large winged white
+ants. By actual count there were forty-three of these and many
+of them were still alive, although it was at least fifteen hours since
+they had been captured by the nighthawk.”</p>
+
+<p>Like other nighthawks this subspecies feeds mainly during the
+dusk of early morning and evening, but all observers seem to agree
+that it hunts largely during the day, even in bright sunlight. Its
+food consists of a great variety of insects, such as beetles, moths,
+ants, grasshoppers, and other flying insects.</p>
+
+<p><i>Voice.</i>—This nighthawk indulges in all the characteristic notes of
+the species, but Mr. DuBois mentions a note that he heard on August
+20, which is somewhat different; he writes: “For two weeks or more
+some of the nighthawks flying over the hill by the ranger station
+have been uttering a <i>click-click-click-click</i>—rapidly repeated and
+continued at considerable length. It is somewhat like a series of
+high-pitched quacks. Other nighthawks, flying with these birds,
+are calling the characteristic <i>peënk</i> at the usual intervals. I suppose
+the rapidly uttered quacks to be the notes of the young.”</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Chordeiles242">CHORDEILES MINOR HOWELLI Oberholser</p>
+
+<p class="center">HOWELL’S NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center"><a href="#Plate36"><span class="smcap">Plate 36</span></a></p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits242">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>The 1931 Check-list gives the range of this subspecies as “southern
+Great Plains and central Rocky Mountain regions; from Wyoming
+to middle Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma, middle and western Kansas,
+northeastern Utah, northeastern New Mexico, and southwestern
+Nebraska, casually to North Dakota.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</span></p>
+
+<p>In naming this bird in honor of his friend Arthur H. Howell, Dr.
+Harry C. Oberholser (1914) characterized it as “somewhat like
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles virginianus sennetti</i>, but male with upper parts more
+rufescent and somewhat paler, the dark brown color more rufescent,
+less grayish, and the light markings much more buffy or ochraceous;
+posterior lower parts more buffy, and the anterior dark brown areas
+more rufescent.”</p>
+
+<p>Robert B. Rockwell writes to me that this nighthawk is common
+in the region about Colorado Springs and that he has seen it in
+various other parts of Colorado, on the plains, in the valleys, and
+in the mountains up to 10,000 feet altitude.</p>
+
+<p>George Finlay Simmons (1925) says that it reaches about its
+southern limit in the vicinity of Austin, Tex., and that its habitat
+includes “the plains; barren fields; cowtrails in pastures; roadsides
+and along railroad tracks; barren gravelly ridges, and gravelly surfaces
+in the open, barren hills; backland plowed fields; rocky hillsides;
+edges of woodlands; flat, gravelly roofs of office buildings in
+town.”</p>
+
+<p>I cannot find anything to indicate that the habits of Howell’s
+nighthawk differ essentially from those of the other neighboring
+subspecies. Mr. Simmons (1925) says of the fall migration in Texas:
+“Gathers in flocks in late summer, mid-July to third week in August;
+migration begins early in August, and by the end of that month the
+local breeding birds have departed; hundreds pass through, August
+10 to August 30, but the last have not gone until late in October.
+During one fall migration flocks containing as many as 200 to 300
+birds were observed on the open prairies northeast of Austin. During
+both migration seasons the various subspecies of nighthawks
+mix up on their way to and from South America, so that identification
+of migrants is hopeless without a specimen in hand.”</p>
+
+<p>The eggs are similar to those of other nighthawks. The measurements
+of 26 eggs average 30.2 by 21.7 millimeters; the eggs showing
+the four extremes measure <b>33.0</b> by 21.9, 31.7 by <b>23.4</b>, and <b>26.3</b> by <b>20.2</b>
+millimeters.</p>
+
+
+<p class="p2 center" id="Cordeiles243">CHORDEILES MINOR ASERRIENSIS Cherrie</p>
+
+<p class="center">CHERRIE’S NIGHTHAWK</p>
+
+<p class="center" id="Habits243">HABITS</p>
+
+<p>George K. Cherrie (1896) described this race from a bird collected
+on November 2, 1893, in the valley of the River Aserri, Costa Rica.
+It is a small, pale race, about the size of <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">chapmani</i>. Nothing was
+known about its distribution at that time, but it has since been found
+to be the breeding form of southern Texas, from San Antonio southward
+and into Tamaulipas.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</span></p>
+
+<p>Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1914) describes it as “resembling <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles
+virginianus sennetti</i>, but decidedly smaller; general tone of upper
+parts lighter and more ochraceous, the light areas more buffy or
+ochraceous (less grayish or whitish) and somewhat more extensive;
+and the dark brown areas of anterior lower surface less grayish.”
+He remarks further: “This heretofore unrecognized race seems to
+be in color most nearly like <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles virginianus sennetti</i>, though
+in this respect also near <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Chordeiles virginianus howelli</i> and probably
+in reality most closely resembling this form, which it adjoins
+geographically.”</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Cherrie’s type specimen seems to have been lost; at least,
+neither he nor Dr. Oberholser have been able to locate it, but the
+full description of the type convinced Dr. Oberholser that “there is
+no doubt that Mr. Cherrie had in hand a male nighthawk of the
+<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">virginianus</i> style in fully grown juvenal or first autumn plumage,
+not adult, as he supposed. Allowing for this immaturity, the characters
+that Mr. Cherrie gives are just those distinguishing the small,
+pale race which summers in southern Texas.”</p>
+
+<p>The nesting habits, eggs, food, and behavior of this nighthawk
+probably do not differ materially from those of other races living in
+similar environment. The measurements of 43 eggs average 29.3 by
+21.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure <b>32.5</b>
+by <b>22.5</b>, <b>27.1</b> by 21.3, and 28.4 by <b>20.6</b> millimeters.</p>
+</section>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter" role="doc-chapter">
+  <h2 class="nobreak" id="Plates">
+    <i>Plates</i>
+  </h2>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate1"></a>PLATE 1<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Groove-billed Ani.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp68" id="plate01a" style="max-width: 58.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate01a.jpg" alt="">
+  <div class="attl">Tela, Honduras, July 5, 1930.</div>
+  <div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Female on nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate01b" style="max-width: 81.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate01b.jpg" alt="">
+  <div class="attl">Ulua Valley, Honduras, August 5, 1930.</div>
+  <div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Nest of two pairs.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate2"></a>PLATE 2<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Groove-billed Ani.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="plate02a" style="max-width: 51.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate02a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Tela, Honduras, July 21, 1930.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 11 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp64" id="plate02b" style="max-width: 61.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate02b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Tela, Honduras, August 15, 1930.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young about 6 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate3"></a>PLATE 3<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Roadrunner.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate03a" style="max-width: 80.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate03a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Fairbank, Ariz., May 18, 1922.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. C. Bent.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Nest in a willow.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp96" id="plate03b" style="max-width: 81.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate03b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">San Diego County, Calif., April 9, 1929.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. C. Bent.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Nest in a pricklypear.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate4"></a>PLATE 4<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Roadrunners.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp92" id="plate04a" style="max-width: 80.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate04a.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    Adult taking lizard to feed young.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate04b" style="max-width: 81.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate04b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Arizona.</div>
+<div class="attr">W. L. and Irene Finley.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Small young in nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate5"></a>PLATE 5<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Roadrunners.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate05a" style="max-width: 81.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate05a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Mojave Desert, Calif., May 28, 1916.</div>
+<div class="attr">W. M. Pierce.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young nearly grown.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp99" id="plate05b" style="max-width: 81.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate05b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Arizona.</div>
+<div class="attr">W. L. and Irene Finley.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Adult on nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate6"></a>PLATE 6
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp93" id="plate06a" style="max-width: 80.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate06a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Logan County, Ill., June 21, 1913.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. D. DuBois.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    <span class="smcap sansserif">Nest of Yellow-billed Cuckoo</span>.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate06b" style="max-width: 81.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate06b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Arizona.</div>
+<div class="attr">F. C. Willard.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    <span class="smcap sansserif">Nest of California Cuckoo.</span>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate7"></a>PLATE 7<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Young</span>.
+</p>
+</div>
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate07a" style="max-width: 76.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate07a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Battle Creek, Mich., August 30, 1936.</div>
+<div class="attr">L. H. Walkinshaw.</div>
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp90" id="plate07b" style="max-width: 76.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate07b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Ithaca N. Y.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. A. Allen.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate8"></a>PLATE 8<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Nest of Black-billed Cuckoo.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+<figure class="figcenter illowp98" id="plate08a" style="max-width: 81.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate08a.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption></figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate08b" style="max-width: 81.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate08b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Sioux City, Iowa.</div>
+<div class="attr">T. C. Stephens.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate9"></a>PLATE 9<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Black-billed Cuckoo.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate09a" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate09a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Omaha, <abbr title="Nebraska">Nebr.</abbr>, July 1, 1901.</div>
+<div class="attr">F. H. Shoemaker.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young in juvenal plumage.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate09b" style="max-width: 81.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate09b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Hennepin County, Minn., June 11, 1935.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. D. DuBois.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    A well-made nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate10"></a>PLATE 10<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Young Black-billed Cuckoos.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate10a" style="max-width: 81.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate10a.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    Showing the sucking pads.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate10b" style="max-width: 81.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate10b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Ithaca, N. Y. </div>
+<div class="attr">A. A. Allen.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Showing the unopened feather sheaths.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate11"></a>PLATE 11<br>
+  <span class="smcap">Adult Black-billed Cuckoo on Nest.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate11" style="max-width: 120.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate11.jpg" alt="">
+ <div class="attr">Allen Frost.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate12"></a>PLATE 12<br>
+  Eastern Belted Kingfishers.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp93" id="plate12a" style="max-width: 78.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate12a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Carver County, Minn., June 29, 1936.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. D. DuBois.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Feeding young at entrance.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp96" id="plate12b" style="max-width: 79.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate12b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Ithaca, N. Y.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. A. Allen.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Brooding newly hatched young.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate13"></a>PLATE 13<br>
+  Eastern Belted Kingfishers.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate13a" style="max-width: 82.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate13a.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    Young just hatched.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate13b" style="max-width: 82.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate13b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Ithaca, N. Y. </div>
+<div class="attr">A. A. Allen.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Older young.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate14"></a>PLATE 14<br>
+  Eastern Belted Kingfisher.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp47" id="plate14" style="max-width: 82.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate14.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Ann Arbor, Mich.</div>
+<div class="attr">F. N. Wilson.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate15"></a>PLATE 15<br>
+  Nesting of Western Belted Kingfisher.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="plate15a" style="max-width: 52.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate15a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Jackson County, <abbr title="Oregon">Oreg.</abbr>, May 24, 1931.</div>
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp49" id="plate15b" style="max-width: 53.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate15b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attr">J. E. Patterson.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate16"></a>PLATE 16<br>
+  Texas Kingfishers.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate16a" style="max-width: 81.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate16a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Copana Bay, Tex.</div>
+<div class="attr">G. F. Simmons.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Nesting site.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp97" id="plate16b" style="max-width: 80.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate16b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Near Los Amates, Guatemala, May 5, 1932.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young ready to leave nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate17"></a>PLATE 17<br>
+  Young Ringed Kingfishers.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate17a" style="max-width: 81.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate17a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">April 10, 1932.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Nestling 2 weeks old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate17b" style="max-width: 80.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate17b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Near Los Amates, Guatemala, April 26, 1932.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Juvenal 29 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+    <p class="center smcap sansserif">
+    <a id="Plate18"></a>PLATE 18<br>
+    Nesting of Chuck-will’s-widow.
+    </p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp98" id="plate18a" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate18a.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp93" id="plate18b" style="max-width: 80.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate18b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Near Dania, Fla., April 14, 1927.</div>
+<div class="attr">D. J. Nicholson.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate19"></a>PLATE 19<br>
+  Chuck-will’s-widow.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate19a" style="max-width: 80.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate19a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Plant City, Fla., May 1934. </div>
+<div class="attr">A. M. Bailey.<br>
+    Courtesy of Chicago Academy of Sciences.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Female and young.  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate19b" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate19b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Miami County, Kans., May 24, 1929.</div>
+<div class="attr">Walter Colvin.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+Eggs in nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate20"></a>PLATE 20<br>
+ Young Chuck-will’s-widows.]
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate20a" style="max-width: 81.125em;">
+<img class="w100" src="images/plate20a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Duval County, Fla., May 22, 1932.</div>
+<div class="attr">S. A. Grimes.</div>
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate20b" style="max-width: 81.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate20b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Dade County, Fla.</div>
+<div class="attr">F. N. Irving.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate21"></a>PLATE 21<br>
+  Nesting of Eastern Whippoorwill.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate21a" style="max-width: 81.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate21a.jpg" alt="">
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate21b" style="max-width: 81.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate21b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Raynham, Mass., June 5, 1903.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. C. Bent.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate22"></a>PLATE 22<br>
+  Eastern Whippoorwills.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp94" id="plate22a" style="max-width: 81.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate22a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Sangamon County, Ill., May 17, 1908.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. D. DuBois.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Downy young.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate22b" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate22b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">St. Lambert, Quebec.</div>
+<div class="attr">L. M. Terrill.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 16 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate23"></a>PLATE 23<br>
+ Eastern Whippoorwill.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp48" id="plate23" style="max-width: 82.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate23.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">St. Lambert, Quebec, June 11, 1933.</div>
+<div class="attr">L. M. Terrill.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Female brooding young.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate24"></a>PLATE 24<br>
+  Nests of Stephens’s Whippoorwill.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate24a" style="max-width: 81.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate24a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Huachuca Mountains, Ariz.</div>
+<div class="attr">F. C. Willard.</div>
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate24b" style="max-width: 81.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate24b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Santa Rita Mountains, Ariz., June 27, 1932.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. J. van Rossem.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate25"></a>PLATE 25<br>
+  Nests of Dusky Poorwills.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp62" id="plate25a" style="max-width: 64.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate25a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Mariposa County, Calif., June 21, 1933.</div>
+<div class="attr">J. E. Patterson.</div>
+<figcaption>
+</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp61" id="plate25b" style="max-width: 63.125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate25b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Stanislaus County, Calif., June 23, 1934.</div>
+<div class="attr">J. E. Patterson.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate26"></a>PLATE 26<br>
+  Dusky Poorwill on Nest.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp49" id="plate26" style="max-width: 83.4375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate26.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Stanislaus County, Calif., June 23, 1934.</div>
+<div class="attr">J. E. Patterson.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate27"></a>PLATE 27<br>
+  Eggs and Young of Dusky Poorwill.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp66" id="plate27a" style="max-width: 69.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate27a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">San Bernardino County, Calif.</div>
+<div class="attr">W. M. Pierce.</div>
+ <figcaption>
+ </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate27b" style="max-width: 81.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate27b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Longbard, Calif.</div>
+<div class="attr">E. C. Aldrich.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate28"></a>PLATE 28<br>
+  Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis albicollis).
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp98" id="plate28a" style="max-width: 82.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate28a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">May 20, 1930.</div>
+<div class="attr"></div>
+  <figcaption>
+ Nest and eggs.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp96" id="plate28b" style="max-width: 80.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate28b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Lancetilla Valley, Honduras, May 22, 1930.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. F. Skutch.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 1 and 2 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate29"></a>PLATE 29<br>
+  Eastern Nighthawk.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp98" id="plate29a" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate29a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Michigan, June 18, 1924.</div>
+<div class="attr">K. Christofferson.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Roof nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate29b" style="max-width: 81.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate29b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Near Church Creek, <abbr title="Maryland">Md.</abbr> </div>
+<div class="attr">F. R. Smith.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Ground nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate30"></a>PLATE 30<br>
+  Eastern Nighthawk.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp82" id="plate30a" style="max-width: 66.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate30a.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>
+    Roosting poses.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate30b" style="max-width: 77.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate30b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Charlevoix, Mich., June 20, 1925.</div>
+<div class="attr">W. E. Hastings.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    A well-made ground nest.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate31"></a>PLATE 31<br>
+  Eastern Nighthawks.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate31a" style="max-width: 81.875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate31a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Brunswick, Maine, June 25, 1921.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. O. Gross.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 1 day old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate31b" style="max-width: 81.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate31b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Brunswick, Maine, June 27, 1922.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. O. Gross.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 12 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate32"></a>PLATE 32<br>
+  Eastern Nighthawks.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp94" id="plate32a" style="max-width: 81.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate32a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Brunswick, Maine, July 11, 1921.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. O. Gross.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 17 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate32b" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate32b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Brunswick, Maine, July 18, 1921.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. O. Gross.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Young 24 days old.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate33"></a>PLATE 33<br>
+ Eastern Nighthawks.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate33a" style="max-width: 81.375em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate33a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Brunswick, Maine, June 16, 1922.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. O. Gross.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Adult male roosting.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp99" id="plate33b" style="max-width: 80.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate33b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Brunswick, Maine, June 16, 1921.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. O. Gross.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+    Adult female incubating.
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate34"></a>PLATE 34<br>
+  Nesting Sites of Pacific Nighthawks.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp63" id="plate34a" style="max-width: 64.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate34a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Jackson County, Oreg., June 22, 1924.</div>
+<div class="attr">J. E. Patterson.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp59" id="plate34b" style="max-width: 61.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate34b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Flathead County, Mont., June 30, 1914.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. D. DuBois.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+
+<div class="chapter"><p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate35"></a>PLATE 35<br>
+  Pacific Nighthawk.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate35" style="max-width: 133.3125em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate35.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">Flathead County, Mont., July 12, 1914.</div>
+<div class="attr">A. D. DuBois.</div>
+</figure>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center smcap sansserif">
+  <a id="Plate36"></a>PLATE 36<br>
+  Nesting of Howell’s Nighthawk.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="plate36a" style="max-width: 82.0em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate36a.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">July 4, 1911.</div>
+  <figcaption>
+
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp96" id="plate36b" style="max-width: 81.625em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/plate36b.jpg" alt="">
+<div class="attl">North Park, Colo., June 28, 1911.</div>
+<div class="attr">E. R. Warren.</div>
+</figure>
+</section><!--end plates-->
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" aria-hidden="true">
+
+<section class="chapter transnote" role="doc-chapter">
+<h3>Transcriber’s Note:</h3>
+
+<p>Words may have inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been
+left unchanged. Three asterisks separated by spaces
+indicates text was omitted by the author or publisher.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the plates contain two photographs. The plate number and
+title were combined as a header. Details specific to each photograph
+are presented as captions below the image.</p>
+
+<p>Obvious printing errors, such as backwards,
+upside down, reversed order, missing or partially printed letters and punctuation, were
+corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences, abbreviations and plate identifications were added. Duplicate letters at line endings or page
+breaks were removed. Twelve misspelled words were corrected.</p>
+
+<p>Changes:</p>
+
+<ul>
+ <li class="isub1">Page numbers in the Table of Contents
+were adjusted to match related text.</li>
+  <li class="isub1">Added ‘Plates’ to the Table of Contents</li>
+  <li class="isub1">Added missing word ‘by’ to <a href="#chg5">protected from invasion by the wasps</a>.</li>
+  <li class="isub1">Changed ‘South’ to <a href="#chg11">‘East’</a> in description of breeding range of chuck-will’s-widow.</li>
+</ul>
+</section>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 79396 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
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+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+[Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for eBook [#79396](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79396)