A SEARCH FOR A WHIPrOORWILL's NEST. 197 



face — the whippoor wills, in the woods, and the night 

 hawks, usually on city buildings. They both make a 

 guttural noise while on the wing, although the night 

 hawk never sings. They are both nocturnal in their 

 habits, and generally fly noiselessly like the owls. The 

 whippoorwills are more solitary in their habits, and pre- 

 fer the deeper woods, though occasionally they will ven- 

 ture near a farm house after dark, when they will sing 

 their monotonous and plaintive song during half the 

 night. The night haAvk is oftener heard in the city than 

 elsewhere, during summer evenings, as he circles and 

 dives through the air in search of insects, which he 

 takes on the wing. 



After leaving the whippoorwill's nest, our guide, who 

 had fulfilled his mission and become quite communica- 

 tive, said he '' might as well leave us and follow the 

 creek down through the" woods and meadows, ' sucker- 

 ing,' and if the suckers were shy, he knew wdiere there 

 were lots of big fool frogs waiting to be catched." 



It was in this woods, years ago, that I first heard the 

 winter wren. Since then I have heard the song so fre- 

 quently here that I am always on the tip- toe of expecta- 

 tion when in this swamp, so on this occasion my friend 

 and I went in different directions, he in search of his 

 favorite flower, the showy lady's slipper, and I to find 

 the little musical king of the woods. Soon I heard my 

 friend's enthusiastic shout, " Come ! I've found ?ni/ win- 

 ter wren ! I've found fny winter wren !" I met him with 

 hands full of the most showy flower of the woods. It 

 was a find, so early in the season, but the wren, not to 



