WOOD NOTES WILD. 69 



This bird does not stand erect with head up, like the 

 robin, when he sings, but stoops slightly, puts out the 

 wings a little and keeps them in a rapid tremor through- 

 out the song. Wilson decided that it requires a sec- 

 ond of time for the delivery of each " whippoorwill." 

 " When two or more males meet," he adds, " their whip- 

 poorwill altercations become much more rapid and inces- 

 sant, as if each were straining to overpower or silence the 

 other." These altercations are sometimes very amusing. 

 Three whippoorwills, two males and a female, indulged in 

 them for several evenings, one season, in my garden. 

 They came just at dark, and very soon a spirited contest 

 began. Frequently they flew directly upward, one at a 

 time. Occasionally one flew down into the path near me, 

 put out his wings, opened his big mouth and hissed like a 

 goose disturbed in the dark. But the most peculiar, the 

 astonishing, feature of the contention was the finale. 

 Toward the close of the trial of speed and power, the un- 

 wieldy name was dropped, and they rattled on freely 

 with the same rhythm that the name would have re- 

 quired, alternating in their rushing triplets, going faster 

 and faster, louder and louder to the end. 



Crescendo H accelerando 



Bva. 1st Voice. 2d Voice. 



Whip-poor-will, Whip-poor-will. 



