84 THE GOAT-SUCKER. 



tinned his note for many minutes ; and we were all struck 

 with wonder to find that the organs of that little animal, 

 when put in motion, gave a sensible vibration to the whole 

 building ! This bird also sometimes makes a small squeak, 

 repeated four or five times ; and I have observed that to 

 happen when the cock has been pursuing the hen in a toying 

 manner through the boughs of a tree.* 



* Mr. White's excellent description of this curious species, in the present and 

 subsequent letters, is only equalled by those of a most accurate American 

 ornithologist, whose delineations of the manners of the different species that 

 occurred to him, ought to be examined as models by every describing naturalist. 

 Mr. Wilson thus beautifully describes the calling .^f the Whip-poor-will of the 

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

 monly cold, the Whip-poor-will is heard in Pennsylvania, in the evening, as 

 the dusk of twilight commences, or in the morning, as soon as dawn has 

 broke. The notes of this solitary bird, from the ideas which are naturally 

 associated with them, seem like the voice of an old friend, and are listened to 

 by almost all with great interest. At first they issue from some retired part of the 

 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 the 

 roof of the dwelling-house, hours 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 the sickness, misfortune, or death of 

 some of its members. Every morning and evening his shrill and rapid repeti- 

 tions are heard from the adjoining woods ; and when two or more are calling 

 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 echoes from the moun- 

 tains, is really surprising. Strangers, in parts of the country 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. The notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words which have 

 been generally applied to them, * Whip-poor-will^ the first and last syllables 

 being uttered with great emphasis, and the whole in about a second to each 

 repetition; but when two or more males meet, their w1iip-2>oor-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 the notes. At these times, as well as almost at all others, they fly 

 low, not more than a few feet from the surface, skimming about the house 

 and before the door, alighting on the wood-pile, or settling on tlie roof. To- 

 Tards midnight they generally become silent, unless in clear moonlight, •when 

 ihey are heard, with little intermission, till morning." — W.J. 



The night-jar appears to have been a very favourite bird with Mr. 

 K'hite, who has described its habits with great accuracy. It is by no meana 

 as common a bird as wWen Mr. White wrote, owing to the numerous enclosurea 

 which have since taken place, of the favourite haunts of this bird, and of the 

 anxiety of collectors to possess specimens of it. Keepers also, either mis- 

 taking it for a bird of prey, or from mere wantonness, kill it when they can 



