94 



TWEK^TTETir CENTURY CLASSICS 



'^ This is a singular and very celebrated species, univer- 

 sally noted, over the greater part of the United States, 

 for the loud reiterations of its favorite call in spring ; and 

 yet, personally, is hut little known, most people being 

 unable to distinguish this from the preceding species 

 (J^ighthawk), when both are placed before them, and 

 some insist that they are the same. This being the case, 

 it becomes the duty of the historian to give a full and 

 faithful delineation of his character, and peculiarity of 

 manners, that his existence as a distinct and independent 

 species may no longer be doubted, nor his story mingled 

 confusedly with that of another. I trust that those best 

 acquainted witli him will bear witness to the fidelity of 

 the portrait. 



^' On or about the 25th of April, if the season be not un- 

 commonly cold, the Whip-poor-will is first heard in this 

 part of Pennsylvania, in the evening, as the dusk of twi- 

 liglit commences, or in the morning, as soon as dawn has 

 broke. In the State of Kentucky, I first heard this bird 

 on the 14tli of April, near the to^^m of Danville. The 

 notes of this solitary bird, from the ideas which are natur- 

 ally 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 from the roof of the dwell- 

 ing house, long 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 sickness, misfortune or death to some 



