Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-02-29
Hunting the whippoorwiIl.

One OF the pleaSanteSt IactS ABOUT
the study of bird life is that there is al-
most never time when something of
interest is not going on. If 1t rains so
violently that one does not care to vent
IRE out of doors, he may yet look from
his window and see the birds busy in
The trees or upon the grass. Even at
night have gone out to discover what
t was that set the black billed cuckoo
accomplishing TO the darkness, and
caused the homely hair-bird or chip
ping-sparrow to utter his plain, yet
musical, trill under the silent stars. On
The sides of the mountains hereaboQts,
On warm, moonlight summer nights,
one who will take the trouble 10 tramp
through some very uncomfortable ter
ritory, encountered by rocks and over
grown with young, but vigorous, bushes,
may find himself in the midst of very
lively community. Here those weird
and ghostly birds, the whippoorwills,
swarm in great numbers, hugging all
day the leaf-strewn ground, which their
plumage so closely initiates that they
seem part of the earth itself, and at
night waking into nervous activity
for which their sluggish apathy during
the hours of sunshine hardly prepares
the mind of the student of their habits.
In shooting by day over the mountains,
| have often come upon the drowsy con-
gregations of these night birds, almost
stepping upon them before they would
fly, and then seeing them rise at my
feet and flutter away as noiselessly as
owls, or as if they were dry leaves
urged onward by the wind
Rut for. Aho silnnoa Of tba;,. n;rbt +ba,,
might be mistaken for woodcocks. ant
are quite as fleet; yet they are reluc-
tant to fly far, and soon alight upon
some branch, which they always strike
upon at right angles, like other birds,
but immediately turn and rest upon it
lengthwise. This popularity they share
with their cousins. the night-hawks
The two varieties are often considered
Identical by rustic observers hereabouts,
although differing from each other in
appearance and habits. the cause of
their manner of resting on tree branches
evidently being the weakness of their
feet, which are almost rudimentary, and
an inheritance from many generations
OF earth-squatting ancestors. The
proper place of the whippoorwill and
night-hawk is upon the ground, rock,
or some other broad, fat surface. They
are not fond of trees, and seldom rest 10
them, and when they do so, they are
partly dependent for support upon the
resting of their breasts upon the branch.
A whippoorwill's eye is quite express
sionless. 1t shows no noticeable distinc-
ton between pupil and iris, and, like
that of all purely nocturnal birds. it is
constructed for the adm.ss of all the
light that can possibly be obtained.
There is something very impressive
in this stolid and unvarying stare Of
the night birds. 1 have seen nearly
every emotion in the eyes of my feath-
cred friends of the day, but those of the
night invariably hold a mask before
any feelings they may experience. But
to return to the whippoorwills. At
night the dusky thickets in which they
swarm become singularly animated
The strange song re=ounds on every
side, and those who have heard it only
at distance can have no idea of the
tremendous volume of it when it is ut
tered close ut hand. 1t seems impossi-
BILE that one bird could make such a
racket, and when twenty are at it at
once the resultant uproar strangely af-
fects the nerves with its eerie and al
most d.abolical quality. During the ut
terance of the song the birds are at rest.
either upon some rock or low bush, and
at its conclusion they dart rap 'dly about.
Selling upon the insects, chiefly the
night-flying coleopter.e and lepidoptere,
which form their food.
They are astonishingly swift in their
movements, and their flight, half seen
in the moonlight as it Sits through the
trees. is exceedingly graceful, pictur-
esquesness being lent 10 it by RAPID
openings and shuttngs of the fan-like
tails, the broad white patches on each
side OF which become at such times very
conspicuous objects. l have sometimes
shot these birds simply upon the disclos-
ure of their whereabouts that was made
by this quick display of white feathers.
but should not like 10 mention the
quantity of ammunition that was wasted
before this result was accomplished.
The night-hawk is not so purely a noe
turnal bird as the whippoorwill, al
though all night long may be heard
above the town his monotonous squeak
and the dull sound of his swoop "a he
falls through the air 10 capture an in
sect far below him. 1t i like the noise
produced by blowing into the bunghole
of a barrel. On cloudy days, however,
he hawks about from sunrise until dark.
and 1t has been my observation that
when he does so he rests during the
night do not remember ever to have
heard one hunting on cloudy nights,
and conclude that they require more
light for their quest than the whippoor-
will does.
Occasionally the night-hawk comes
out in broad sunlight, and thus further
cohfuses the searcher into his habits. |
remember on one occasion, when hunt
ing In the meadows late in the summer
with friend, seeing cloud of these
birds rise from the side of Mount Hol-
yoke, as If at prearranged signal, and
cross the river toward us. We had
never seen night-hawks in flock before,
and stood and watched them with great
interest There must have been
couple of thousand in the company. and
on reaching the meadows they spread
out and CHARTERED over the ground at a
height of about ten feet, catching up
the insects that rose from the clover.
The van was led by the older birds a.
we discovered by observing on their
tails the white band which marks the
adult of the species, and the younger
members, which were evid ntly birds
of the year, came behind. They mani
tested complete Indifference to our pres
ence, and we, perceiving an unexample
opportunity to secure some fine speci-
mems of this not very easily-obiaiued
variety for our cabinets, began picking
off the best of them. We shot none ex-
cept those in whose tails we could see
the white band, yet we secured more
than twenty before the van of the flock
passed by and the immature members
came up, and as they were passing very
rapidly, this fact may indicate tie size
of the swarm. Such an incident | am
inclined to regard as unusual had
before, and have since, observed dozen
or twenty birds quartering about the
meadows at the same time, but neither
my experience nor that of other col
lectors in the town includes any other