Dr. Newberry met with this species in all the parts of California and Oregon visited by him. Near the shores of Rhett Lake he met with its nest containing two young nearly ready to fly. The old bird fluttered off as if disabled, and by her cries and strange movements induced one of the party to pursue her. The young resembled those of the eastern species, were of a gray-brown color, marbled with black, and had large, dark, and soft eyes. They were quite passive when caught.
This species was observed by Mr. J. H. Clark near Rio Mimbres, in New Mexico. From the manner in which it flew, it seemed so similar to the Woodcock that until a specimen was obtained it was supposed to belong to that family. He saw none east of the Rio Grande, but met with it as far west as Santa Cruz. It was nowhere abundant, and was generally solitary. It was found usually among the tall grass of the valleys, and occasionally on the plains. It was only once observed to alight upon a bush, but almost invariably, when started up, it flew down again among the grass at a short distance.
A single specimen of this bird was taken by Dr. Kennerly on the Great Colorado River. Dr. Heermann met with two specimens among the mountains bordering the Tejon Valley, and he was informed by Dr. Milhau that a small species of Whippoorwill was abundant round that fort in the spring and summer.
Dr. Heermann killed one of these birds on the Medina, in Texas; and during the summer, passing along Devil’s River, he heard their notes every evening, and judged that the birds were abundant. Mr. Dresser obtained a
single specimen, shot near the town of San Antonio, where it was of uncommon occurrence. He received also another specimen from Fort Stockton. During his stay at Matamoras he did not notice this bird, but was informed that a kind resembling this species was very common at a rancho about twenty-five miles distant, on the Monterey road. Dr. Coues found this species particularly abundant throughout Arizona. At Fort Whipple it was a summer resident, arriving there late in April and remaining until October. So numerous was it in some localities, that around the campfires of the traveller a perfect chorus of their plaintive two-syllabled notes was continued incessantly through the night, some of the performers being so near that the sharp click of their mandibles was distinctly audible.
Mr. J. A. Allen found this species abundant on the lower parts of the mountains in Colorado, and heard the notes of scores of them near the mouth of Ogden Cañon on several occasions after nightfall. Though so numerous, all efforts to procure specimens were futile, as it did not usually manifest its presence till after it became too dark for it to be clearly distinguished. He saw it last, October 7, during a severe snow-storm on the mountains north of Ogden. It had been quite common during the greater part of September. He also met with this bird at an elevation of 7,000 feet. He had previously ascertained its presence throughout Kansas from Leavenworth to Fort Hays.
From these varied observations the range of this species may be given as from the valley of the Rio Grande and the more northern States of Mexico, throughout New Mexico, Arizona, and the Great Plains nearly to the Pacific, in California, Oregon, and Washington Territory.
The egg of this species (13,587) was obtained among the East Humboldt Mountains, by Mr. Robert Ridgway, July 20, 1868. Its measurement is 1.06 inches in length by .81 of an inch in breadth. It is of a regularly elliptical form, being equally rounded at either end. Its color is a clear dead-white, entirely unspotted. The egg was found deposited on the bare ground beneath a sage-bush, on a foot-slope of the mountains. The nest was nothing more than a bare spot, apparently worn by the body of the bird. When found, the male bird was sitting on the egg, and was shot as it flew from the spot.
Mr. Salvin (Ibis, III, p. 64) mentions taking, April 20, 1860, on the mountains of Santa Barbara, Central America, a species of Antrostomus, a female, with two eggs. This is spoken of as nearly allied to, perhaps identical with, A. vociferus. Its eggs are, however, spoken of as white, measuring 1.05 inches by .80 of an inch, almost exactly the size of the eggs of this species. Mr. Salvin adds: “I do not quite understand these eggs being white, except by supposing them to be accidentally so. In other respects, i. e. in form and texture, they agree with the eggs of other species of Caprimulgidæ. These eggs, two in number, were on the ground at the foot of a large pine-tree. There was no nest.”
In regard to the parentage of the eggs thus discovered, the coloration and size of which correspond so closely with those of the Poor-will, Mr. Salvin writes, in a letter dated March 10, 1872: “In respect to the Antrostomus which lays white eggs in Guatemala, I have carefully examined the skin of the female sent to me with the eggs in question, and represented as their parent. It certainly is not A. nuttalli, but appears to belong to the species described by Wagler as A. macromystax. This species is very closely allied to A. vociferus, but appears to be sufficiently distinct, inasmuch as the rictal bristles are very long, the throat is almost without white feathers, and the white on the tail is more limited in extent than in A. vociferus. The true A. vociferus is frequently found in winter in Guatemala, but is probably only a migrant. The other species would certainly appear to be a resident in South Mexico and Guatemala. With respect to A. nuttalli, I may add that I have recently acquired a skin from Guanajuata, in Mexico. This is the first instance of the occurrence of the species in Mexico at all, that I am aware of.”