136 Mr. G. C. Taylor on Birds observed 



My companion shoots an Opossum which is sitting on the branch 

 of a sapling some twenty feet from the ground. Being a stranger 

 to the woods, he is greatly pleased at his feat, as he is under the 

 impression that he has killed a ^Coon, until I undeceive him. 



Thunderstorm all the afternoon. Every evening while at New 

 Smyrna I go out in the hopes of obtaining a Chuck- Will's- 

 Widow, but always unsuccessfully. They are common, but not 

 plentiful, and a few make a great show in the way of noise. 

 They do not begin to call until the red light has disappeared 

 from the horizon, and twilight here lasts so short a time that, 

 unless one happens to be in the right place at the right moment, 

 the chance of getting a fair shot is small. Moreover they fre- 

 quent such thick places that it is almost impossible to see them 

 when sitting, unless they should happen to be on an old stump 

 or rail-fence with a clear background, which piece of luck never 

 occurred to me. On one occasion I stood within a few yards of 

 a thick brake in which one was calling, and could not see it ; nor 

 would it fly out even when I discharged my gun into the covert. 

 Frequently, in the " gloaming,'^ I used to peer into the dark 

 places where they were calling, and shot at a leaf or a tuft of 

 foliage on the chance of its being a bird. Their plumage is so 

 delicate that it is necessary to be at a fair distance from them ; 

 for if near, the shot would damage them so much as to make 

 them useless for specimens. A thick, warm, foggy evening is 

 the best for them, as they then call earlier and fly about more ; 

 and this is just the sort of evening when mosquitoes and sand- 

 flies are most lively and bite the sharpest, rendering it impossible 

 to stand still, which considerably diminishes the chance of a fair 

 shot. 



The cry of " Chuck-Will's- Widow " is distinctly and rapidly 

 uttered, and in most liquid notes. The last syllable is gene- 

 rally prolonged. Often the bird commences with "will's-widow, 

 wilFs-widow," two or three times uttered; then "chuck, chuck, 

 chuck-will's-widow." I believe they only utter this cry when 

 sitting, never when on the wing. They also make a grunting 

 noise. In habits the Whip-Poor-Will greatly resembles the 

 Chuck-Will's-Widow, and is equally difficult to shoot. Its 

 notes are equally liquid and rapidly uttered, often running the 



