344 HISTORY OF THE 



echoes from the mountains, is really surprising. Strangers in 

 parts of the countrj^ where these birds are numerous find it 

 almost impossible for some time to sleep, while to those long 

 acquainted with them the sound often serves as a lullaby to 

 assist their repose. 



"These notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words 

 which have been generally applied to tliera, Whip-poor-will, the 

 first and last syllables being uttered with great emphasis, and 

 the whole is in about a second to each repetition; but, when two 

 or more males meet, their Whip-poor-will altercations become 

 much more rapid and incessant, as if each were straining to 

 overpower or silence the other. When near, you often hear an 

 introductory cluck between tlie notes. At these times, as well 

 as at almost all others, they fly low, not more than a few feet 

 from the surface, skinnning about the house and before the 

 door, alighting on the wood pile or settling on the roof. Towards 

 midnight they generally become silent, unless in clear moon- 

 light, when they are heard with little intermission till morning. 

 If there be a creek near, with high, precipitous, bushy banks, 

 they are sure to be found in such situations. During the day 

 they sit in the most retired, solitary and deep-shaded parts of 

 the woods, generally on high ground, where they repose in 

 silence. When disturbed, they rise within a few feet, sail low 

 and slowly through the w^oods for thirty or forty yards, and gen- 

 erally settle on a low branch or on the ground. Their sight 

 appears deficient during the day, as, like Owls, they seem then 

 to want that vivacity for which they are distinguished in the 

 morning and evening twilight. They are rarely shot or mo- 

 lested; and, from being thus transiently seen in the obscurity 

 of dusk or in the deep umbrage of the woods, no wonder their 

 particular markings of plumage should be so little known, or 

 that they should be confounded with the Nighthawk, whom in 

 general appearance they so much resemble." 



The birds make no nest. Eggs two; laid in a depression on 

 the ground, among the leaves in thickets and heavily-wooded 

 lands. A set collected June 5th, 1871, at Pewaukee, Wisconsin, 

 in the woods, under a thick growth of bushes, measure: l.oOx 



