'whip-poor-will.' 617 



quaintance vociferates '' wliip-poor-will^ 'whip- whip- whip- 

 poor-icill ! " It is therefore not surprising, that such un- 

 earthly sounds should be considered in the light of super- 

 natural forebodings issuing from spectres in the guise 

 of birds. 



Although our Whip-Poor-Will seems to speak out in 

 such plain English, to the ears of the aboriginal Delaware 

 its call was wecoulis, thoughthis was probably some favor- 

 ite phrase or interpretation, which served it for a name. 

 The Whip-Poor-Will, when engaged in these nocturnal 

 rambles, is seen to fly within a few feet of the surface in 

 quest of moths and other insects, frequently, where abun- 

 dant, alighting around the house. During the day they 

 retire into the darkest woods, usually on high ground, 

 where they pass the time in silence and repose, the weak- 

 ness of their sight by day compelling them to avoid the 

 glare of the light. 



The female commences laying about the second week in 

 May in the Middle States, considerably later in Massa- 

 chusetts ; she is at no pains to form a nest, though she se- 

 lects for her deposit some unfrequented part of the forest, 

 near a pile of brush, a heap of leaves, or the low shelving 

 of a hollow rock, and always in a dry situation ; here 

 she lays 2 eggs, without any appearance of an artificial 

 bed. They are of a dusky bluish-white, thickly blotched 

 with dark olive. This deficiency of nest is amply made 

 up by the provision of nature, for, like Partridges, the 

 young are soon able to run about after their parents ; 

 and, until the growth of their feathers, they seem such 

 shapeless lumps of clay-colored down, that it becomes 

 nearly impossible to distinguish them from the ground on 

 which they repose. Were a nest present in the expos- 

 ed places where we find the young, none would escape 

 detection. The mother, also, faithful to her charo-e, de- 

 52* 



