Description
These medium-sized nightjars measure 22–27 cm (8.7–11 in) in length, span 45–50 cm (18–20 in) across the wings and weigh 42–69 g (1.5–2.4 oz). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 14.7 to 16.9 cm (5.8 to 6.7 in), the tail is 10.5 to 12.8 cm (4.1 to 5.0 in), the bill is 1 to 1.4 cm (0.39 to 0.55 in) and the tarsus is 1.5 to 1.8 cm (0.59 to 0.71 in). Adults have mottled plumage: the upperparts are grey, black and brown; the lower parts are grey and black. They have a very short bill and a black throat. Males have a white patch below the throat and white tips on the outer tail feathers; in the female, these parts are light brown.
This bird is sometimes confused with the related Chuck-will's-widow (Antrostomus carolinensis) which has a similar but lower-pitched and slower call.
Read more about this topic: Eastern Whip-poor-will
Famous quotes containing the word description:
“The great object in life is Sensation—to feel that we exist, even though in pain; it is this “craving void” which drives us to gaming, to battle, to travel, to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“Whose are the truly labored sentences? From the weak and flimsy periods of the politician and literary man, we are glad to turn even to the description of work, the simple record of the month’s labor in the farmer’s almanac, to restore our tone and spirits.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)