Left foot of Nyctibius jamaicensis.
NUTTALL’S WHIPPOORWILL; POOR-WILL.
Caprimulgus nuttalli, Aud. Birds Am. VII, 1843, pl. ccccxcv, Appendix. Antrostomus nuttalli, Cassin, J. A. N. Sc. Phila. 2d series, II, 1852, 123.—Ib. Ill. I, 1855, 237.—Newberry, Zoöl. Cal. and Oregon Route, 77; Rep. P. R. R. Surv. VI, IV.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 149.—Cooper & Suckley, 166.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 341.
Sp. Char. Rictal bristles without any lateral filaments; wing, about 5.50; the top of the head hoary gray, with narrow and transverse, not longitudinal bands. Tail above, except the central feathers, nearly black on the terminal half, the extreme tip only (in the outer feather of each side) being white for nearly an inch, diminishing on the second and third. Length, 8.00; wing, 5.50. Female without the white tip of tail. Audubon describes the male as follows: “Bill, black; iris, dark hazel; feet, reddish-purple; scales and claws, darker; general color of upper parts dark brownish-gray, lighter on the head and medial tail-feathers, which extend half an inch beyond the others, all which are minutely streaked and sprinkled with brownish-black and ash-gray. Quills and coverts dull cinnamon color, spotted in bars with brownish-black; tips of former mottled with light and dark brown; three lateral tail-feathers barred with dark brown and cinnamon, and tipped with white. Throat brown, annulated with black; a band of white across foreneck; beneath the latter black, mixed with bars of light yellowish-gray and black lines. Under tail-coverts dull yellow. Length, 7.25; wing, 5.75; bill, edge, .19; second and third quills nearly equal. Tail to end of upper feathers, 3.50; tarsus, .63; middle toe, .63; claw, .25; strongly pectinated.”
Hab. High Central Plains to the Pacific coast. San Antonio, Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 471, breeds); W. Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 58); Guanajuata, Mex. (Salvin, p. 1014).
Nuttall’s Whippoorwill is readily distinguished from the other North American species by the transverse, not longitudinal, lines on the top of head, the narrow white tip of tail on both webs, and the inferior size, as well as by numerous other points of difference.
Habits. This species was first described by Mr. Audubon from a specimen obtained near the Rocky Mountains, but with no information in regard to any peculiarities of habit. From Mr. Nuttall we learn that these birds were first observed by him on the 10th of June, amidst the naked granite hills of the sources of the Upper Platte River, called Sweet-Water. It was about twilight, and from the clefts of the rocks they were uttering at intervals a low wailing cry, in the manner of the Whippoorwill, and sounding like the cry of the young of that species, or pē-cū. Afterwards, on the 7th of August, when encamped on the high ravine of the insulated mountains so conspicuous from Lewis River, called the Three Buttes, this bird was again observed, as it flew from under a stone near the summit of the mountain. It flew about hawking for insects near their elevated camp, for two or three hours, but was now silent. On the 16th of June, near the banks of the Sandy River of the Colorado, Mr. Nuttall again heard its nocturnal cry, which he says sounded like pēvai.
Dr. Cooper did not meet with this bird in the Colorado Valley, but he heard their nocturnal call, which he says sounds like poor-will, on the barren mountains west of the valley, in May. He has never seen or heard any west of the Coast Range, nor in the Santa Clara Valley in the spring. They are, however, said to be common in the hot interior valleys, and remain near San Francisco as late as November, usually hiding on the ground, and flying at dusk in short, fitful courses in pursuit of insects. Dr. Cooper adds that they inhabit the almost bare and barren sage-plains east of the Sierra Nevada, where their rather sad whistle is heard all night during the spring, sounding like an echoing answer to the cry of the eastern species.
Dr. Suckley, in the Report on the Zoölogy of Washington Territory, speaks of this species as moderately abundant in the interior of that Territory, as well as of Oregon. East of the Cascade Mountains, at Fort Dalles, they can be heard on almost any fine night in spring or early summer. Their cries closely resemble those of the vociferus, but are more feeble, and not so incessantly kept up. Dr. Cooper, in the same report, also speaks of finding this bird common near the Yakima River, in 1853. Two specimens were killed in the daytime by a whip. Late in the evening he found them flying near the ground. Dr. Woodhouse, in passing down the Little Colorado River, in New Mexico, found this bird quite abundant, as also among the San Francisco Mountains.