«o8 OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING 



Thekte Captain Carver mentions a bird, called fhe 

 Wakonrbird, which is held in particular efteem by Ibme 

 of the north-wef]: Indians of our continent. They fay, 



Mr. ClrtYtor, in a letter to Mr. Catefby, fays, " The Indiunt fay thefe 

 Birds were nevtr known till a great ma/l.icie was made if their country 

 fc Iks by the Ergl'ijh, and that tley are the funis or departed fpirits of the maf- 

 I'lcred Indians Abundance of people here (in Virt^inii) look npon them as 

 Birc's of ill omen, and are very melancholy if one of them happens to light 

 upiin their houfe, or near their door, and iet up his cry (as tlity will fcme- 

 tnies upon the very threfiiold ) ; for t! ey vcnly believe one of the family will 

 die very. foon after." The Natural Hjjlory of Garo'ina, &c. Vol. II. p. lJ6i 

 -London : 1 77 1. In this place, I take an oppcrtiii:ity of corrt (fling an error into 

 which I think my fiiend Mr. Pennant has f.illen, on tlie fubjeft cf car Ca- 

 primulgus, Afer giving a good defcripf'on of the Shoi t-winged-Goit- 

 fuckcr, as he calls it (the C;<primu'gus car.linenfis of Gmelin), this excel- 

 lent writer fays, " I received this fpecies Irom Di <Sor Garden oi Charlcf- 

 toiun. South Carolim, where it is called, from one of its notes, Chuik, Chuck 

 Will's 'u/ido'zu ; and in the northern provinces, IVhip-poor IV.H, from the re- 

 femblance which another of its notes bears to thofe words." ArBic Zi.o!ogy. 

 Vol. II. p. 133. London: 1792. But 1 believe, it is certain that the 

 Chuck-Will's widow and the Whip-poor- Will are two diftir.dl fpecies if 

 Caprimulgus. Their notes, or ciies, are very diiferent, as are alio their 

 places of refidence during the feafon of incubation, which is the only time 

 they fmg. The Chuck-Will's widow dwells only ne.r the fea coafl, and I 

 believe not fo far nonh as the Bay of Chefapeak. Mr. William Bartram 

 informs me, that he never heard this bird farther north than Cape-Fear- 

 River, in North-Carolina. It is feldom met with more than fifty miles 

 from the fea coaft in Carolina and Florida, where they are almoll conftant- 

 ly heard from evening to break of d:<y. But the Nit;ht Hawk, or Whip- 

 poor-Will, dwells only in the high, lii'ly, or mountainous countries of 

 Weft-Florida, Georgia, the two Carolinas, and Virginia ; though north 

 of Virginia, it extends even to the fea coatt as far as Canada, and ac- 

 cording to Mr. Pennant even dill farther north. In thefe countries, the 

 note of this bird is Whip-ponr-Will, during the evening, and moon-light 

 nights until d^y-break. " I have (fays Mr. W. Bartram, M. S. penes me) 

 heard this bird for a night or two, in the fpiing, in Carolina, 011 the fea- 

 coaft, when they were on th';ir journey northward ; and they are there in 

 abundance, in tlie autumn, flying and darting about in the air, on their re- 

 turn foutherly to pafs the winter ; and then they are called Night-Hawks, 

 and are fiippofed by moll people to be a diftindl fpecies from the Whip- 

 poor-Will, and the Chuck Will's widow." Mr. Pennant is not alone in the 

 miftake which I have menti ned. A very ingenious frieid of mine obferv- 

 ed to me, that it was curious that climate fhould fo effentially alter the note 

 of a bird, for, he faid, about the latitude of Cape-Fear, the Whip poor- 

 Will uttered quire a diiferent cry from what it does in the northern Hates. 

 I have esplaioed the error. The Reverend Mr. Morfe (American U. iverfal 



Geography, 



