'iA ChkNEY, S(77//c Bird Sotig!^- Ilnnuarv 



than is the Whippoorvvill. In the courageous repetition of his 

 name he accents the first and last syllables, the last most ; always 

 measuring his song with the same rhythm, while very consider- 

 ably varying the melody — which latter fact is discovered only by 

 most careful attention. Plain, simple and stereotyped as his song 

 appears, marked variations are introduced in the course of it. 

 The whippoorwill uses nearly all the intervals in the natural scale. 

 even the octave. I have ne^ er detected a chromatic tone. Per- 

 liajDS the favorite song-form is this : 



An eccentric part of the Whippoorwill's musical performance 

 is the introduction of a '•cluck' immediately after each '•zvhip-poor- 

 wiir ; so that the song is a regular, unbroken, rhythmical chain 

 from beginning to end. One must be near tiie singer to hear the 

 '•chick'' ; otherwise he will mark a rest in its place. 



This bird does not stand erect with head up like the Robin 

 when he sings, but stoops slightly, puts out the wings a little and 

 keeps them in a rapid tremor throughout the entire song. Wilson 

 decided that it recjuired a second of time for the delivery of eacii 

 '•xvhip-poor-iviU.' •' When two or more males meet," he adds, 

 " their zvJiip-poor-'ivill altercations become much more rapid and 

 incessant, as if each were straining to overpower or silence the 

 other." These altercations are sometimes very amusing. IMnrce 

 ^Vhippoorwills, two mnles and a female, indulged in them for 

 several evenings one season, in mv garden. They came just at 

 dark, and very soon a spirited contest began. Frequently they 

 flew directly upward, one at a time. Occasionally one flew down 

 into the path near me, put out his wings, opened his big mouth, 

 and hissed like a goose disturbed in the dark. But, the most 

 peculiar, the astonishing feature of the contention was the finale. 

 Toward the close of the trial of speed and power, the unwieldy 

 name was dropped, and thev rattled on freel}' with the same 

 rhythm that the name would have required, alternating in their 

 rushing triplets, going faster and faster, louder and louder, to the 

 end. 



