616 SWALLOW TRIBE. 



son, so that the reiterated echoes of 'ivhip-'iohip-poor-ioiU, 

 'whip-peri-ivill, isstiing from several birds at the same 

 time, occasioned such a confused vociferation, as at first 

 to banish sleep. This call, except in moonlight nights, 

 is continued usually till midnight, when they cease until 

 again aroused, for a while, at the commencement of twi- 

 light. The first and last syllables of this brief ditty receive 

 the strongest emphasis, and, now and then, a sort of guttu- 

 ral cluck is heard between the repetitions, but the whole 

 phrase is uttered in little more than a second of time. 



But if superstition takes alarm at our familiar and simple 

 species, what would be thought by the ignorant of a South 

 American kind, large as the Wood Owl, which, in the lone- 

 ly forests of Demerara, about midnight breaks out, la- 

 menting like one in deep distress, and in a tone more 

 dismal even than the painful hexachord of the slothful Ai". 

 The sounds, like the expiring sighs of some agonizing 

 victim, begin with a high loud note, " ha, ha, ha ha ha ! 

 ha! ha! " each tone falling lower and lower, till the last 

 syllable is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two be- 

 tween this reiterated tale of seeming sadness. 



Four other species of the Goatsucker, according to 

 Waterton, also inhabit this tropical wilderness, among 

 which also is included our present subject. Figure to 

 yourself the surprise and wonder of the stranger who 

 takes up his solitary abode for the first night amidst these 

 awful and interminable forests, when, at twilight, he be- 

 gins to be assailed familiarly with a spectral equivocal 

 bird, approaching within a few yards, and then accosting 

 him with " who-are-you, ^who-ivho^-icho-arc-you " ? An- 

 other approaches, and bids him, as if a slave under 

 the lash, '' work-aivay , work-worh'Worh'away " ,• a third 

 mournfully cries, " willy-comc-go ! \willy -willy ^icilly-come- 

 go ! " and as you get among the high lands, our old ac- 



