THE GENUS CHORDEILES SWAINSON" OBERHOLSEB. 41 



ad ortum soUs usque saepissime altissima voce wiperi-wip clammis, ova 2 

 viridia, maculis et striis atris varia in campo aperto in nuda terra pariens. 

 Caro sapida. 



Genae ex cinereo fuscae; remiges atrae, 5 primae circa medium, rectrices 

 extimae prope apiceni m,acula alba notatae; pedes incarnati. 



From this it is readily discernible that his description of the bird 

 is applicable to only the nighthawk, but that the particulars con- 

 cerning its habits relate nearly or quite all to the whip-poor-will 

 {Setochalcis vocifera). The source of this confusion lies in the 

 accounts of the species given by the eight previous authors whose 

 works Gmelin cites, which citations we have given in full above in 

 the synonymy of the present race.^ Of these the Gaprimulgus minor 

 mnericanus of Linnaeus^ is based exclusively on the descriptions in 

 the works of Catesby, Kalm, and Edwards. Catesby's account^ of 

 his " Whip-poor-will," or " Capninulgus minor Americanus,''^ from 

 Virginia, which is apparently the earliest extended notice of the 

 species, relates certainly, so far as the plate and description of the 

 bird are concerned, though neither is entirely accurate, to Chordeiles 

 virginianus mrginjianvs ; but the habits that he describes are just 

 as certainly those of Setochalcis vocifera. What Catesby says about 

 habits is practically all in a letter from a Mr. Clayton, of Virginia, 

 which he quotes, as follows : 



The Whippoortvill is not so large as the Bird called here the East-India Bat, 

 i. e., CaprimuJgus, but in shape, and colour of the feathers, it very much resem- 

 bles it, having also at each side of its mouth three or four stiif black hairs like 

 those of a horse's main, two or three inches long. These birds visit us about 

 the middle of April, from which time, till the end of June, they are heard every 

 night, beginning about dusk, and continuing till break of day ; but it is chiefly 

 in the upper or western parts that they are so very frequent. I never heard but 

 one in the maritime parts, although my abode has been always there ; but near 

 the mountains, within a few minutes after sun-set, they begin, and make so very 

 loud and shrill a noise all night, which the echoes from the rocks and sides of 

 the mountains increase to such a degree, that the first time I lodged there I 

 could hardly get any sleep. The shooting them in the night is very difficult, 

 they never appearing in the daytime. Their cry is pretty much like the sound 

 of the pronunciation of the words Whip-poor-will, with a kind of chucking noise 

 between every other or every two or three cries, and they lay the accent very 

 strong upon the last word Will, and least of all upon the middle one. 



The Indians say these Birds were never known 'till a great massacre was 

 made of their countryfolks by the English, and that they are the Souls or 

 departed Spirits of the massacred Indians. Abundance of people here look upon 

 them as Birds of ill omen, and are very melancholy if one of them happens to 

 light upon their house, or near their door, and set up his cry (as they will 

 sometimes upon the very threshold) for they verily believe one of the family 



iSee p. 35. 



2 Syst. Nat., ed. 12, vol. 1, 1766, p. 346. 



8 Nat. Hist. Carolina, Florida, and Bahama Islands, vol. 2, Appendix, 1743, p. 16, pi. 16. 



13732°— Bull. 8&— 14 4 



