246 WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



superstitious consider this near approach as foreboding no good to the 

 family, nothing less than sickness, misfortune or death to some of its 

 members ; these visits, however, so often occur without any bad conse- 

 quences, that this superstitious dread seems on the decline. 



He is now a regular acquaintance. . Every morning and evening his 

 shrill and rapid repetitions are heard from the adjoining woods, and 

 when two or more are calling out 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 mountains, 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. 



These notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words which have 

 been generally applied to them, Wltip-poor-tviU, the first and last sylla- 

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

 to each repetition ; but when two or more males meet, their whip-poor- 

 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 at 

 almost 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 the roof. Towards midnight they generally become 

 silent, unless in clear moonlight, when they are heard with little inter- 

 mission till morning. If there be a creek near, with high precipitous 

 bushy banks, they are sure to be found in such situations. During the 

 day they sit in the most retired, solitary and deep shaded parts of the 

 woods, generally on high ground, where they repose in silence. "When 

 disturbed they rise within a few feet, sail low and slowly through the 

 woods for thirty or forty yards, and generally settle on a low branch or 

 on the ground. Their sight appears deficient during the day, as, like Owls, 

 they seem then to want that vivacity for which they are distinguished 

 in the morning and evening twilight. They are rarely shot at, or mo- 

 lested ; and from being thus transiently seen in the obscurity of dusk, 

 or in the deep umbrage of the woods, no wonder their particular mark- 

 ings of plumage should be so little known, or that they should be con- 

 founded with the Night-hawk, whom in general appearance they so much 

 resemble. The female begins to lay about the second week in May, 

 selecting for this purpose the most unfrequented part of the wood, often 

 where some brush, old logs, heaps of leaves, &c., had been lying, and 

 always on a dry situation. The eggs are deposited on the ground, 

 or on the leaves, not the slightest appearance of a nest being visible. 

 These are usually two in number, in shape much resembling those of the 

 Night-hawk, but having the ground color much darker, and more thickly 



