Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 5 [December 1902]: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 5 [December 1902]: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
Chuck-will’s-widow is a bird of the twilight and night hours. Silent
during the daylight hours, its penetrating voice, which is remarkably
strong, may be continuously heard in the regions that it inhabits during
the evening hours and for a time preceding the returning light of day.
It is said that on a still evening its call may be heard for more than
one mile. In its large eyes and head, its loose and somber colored
plumage, its quiet flight and nocturnal habits it resembles the owls.
Its short bill and the shape of the wings, permitting rapid flight, give
it a close relationship to the swifts. Its mouth is peculiarly fitted
for the capture of insects. The gape is enormous, and when the mouth is
fully open, will measure nearly two inches from side to side. It is also
aided in ensnaring insects by the long, bristle-like whiskers at the
base of the mouth. It will catch and swallow the largest of the
night-flying moths, and though it seems almost incredible small birds
not infrequently form a part of its diet. An observer found in the
stomach of one “among an indistinguishable mass of brownish matter, a
small bone, about half an inch long.” In another stomach he found the
remains of a hummingbird only partially digested and well enough
preserved for him to identify the species. Dr. F. W. Langdon states that
he examined the stomach of a female Chuck-will’s-widow that “contained
the partially digested body, entire, of a swamp sparrow, intermingled
with the feathers of which were numerous remains of insects, chiefly
small beetles.”
While hunting for food the Chuck-will’s-widow flies low, often but a few
feet above the surface of the ground. In this habit it differs from the
night-hawk, which, like the swifts, seeks its food high in the air. Now
and then it rests, perching on old logs or fences, from which it will
launch forth in pursuit of prey which its keen eyes have sighted. During
the day it roosts in hollow trees or upon a large limb in some densely
shaded spot.
It does not attempt to build a nest. The two dull white eggs are laid
upon the ground or upon leaves in some secluded place in woods or
thickets. It is said that this bird, when disturbed at its nest, will
remove either its eggs or the young, as the case may be, to a place of
safety by carrying them in its mouth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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