BIRDS OF KANSAS. 



343 



notes of the Wood Thrush — one of the latest of the day song- 

 sters — are hushed. Wilson says: 



"This is a singular and very celebrated species, universally 

 noted, over the greater part of the United States, for the loud 

 reiterations of its favorite call in spring; and yet, personally, 

 is but little known, most people being unable to distinguish 

 this from the preceding species (Nighthawk), when both are 

 placed before them, and some insist that they are the same. 

 This being the case, it becomes the duty of his historian to give 

 a full and faithful delineation of his character, and peculiarity of 

 manners, that his existence as a distinct and independent species 

 may no longer be doubted, nor his story mingled confusedly 

 with that of another. I trust that those best acquainted with 

 him will bear witness to the fidelity of the portrait. 



"On or about the 25th of April, if the season be not uncom- 

 monly cold, the Whip-poor-will is first heard in this part of 

 Pennsylvania, in tlie evening, as the dusk of twilight commences, 

 or in the morning, as soon as dawn has broke. In the State of 

 Kentucky, I first heard this bird on the 14th of April, near the 

 town of Danville. The notes of this solitary bird, from the 

 ideas which are naturally associated with them, seem like the 

 voice of an old fj-iend, and are listened to by almost all with 

 great interest. At first they issue from some retired part of tne 

 woods, the glen or mountain; in a few evenings, perhaps, we 

 hear them from the adjoining coppice, the garden fence, the 

 road before the door, and even from the roof of the dwellino- 

 house, long after the family have retired to rest. Some of the 

 more ignorant and superstitious consider this near approach as 

 foreboding no good to the family — nothing less than sickness, 

 misfortune or death to some of its members. These visits, how- 

 ever, so often occur without any bad consequences, that this 

 superstitious dread seems to be on the decline. 



"He is now a regular acquaintance. Every mornino- and 

 evening his shrill and rapid repetitions are heard from the ad- 

 joining woods; and when two or more are calling out at the 

 same time, as is often the case in the pairing season, and at no 

 great distance from each other, the noise, mingling with the 



