4^8 GOATSUCKERS. 



familiar aiDproaches are sometimes dreaded as an omen of 

 misfortune. 



In the lower part of the State of Delaware, I have found 

 these birds troublesomely abundant in the breeding season, so 

 that the reiterated echoes of 'whip- whip-poor-will, 'whipperi- 

 will, issuing from several birds at the same time, occasioned 

 such a confused vociferation as at first to banish sleep. This 

 call, except in moonlight nights, is continued usually till mid- 

 night, when they cease until again aroused, for a while, at the 

 commencement of twilight. The first and last syllables of 

 this brief ditty receive the strongest emphasis, and now and 

 then a sort of guttural cliuk is heard between the repetitions ; 

 but the whole phrase is uttered in litde more than a second 

 of time. 



Although our Whip-poor-will seems to speak out in such 

 plain English, to the ears of the aboriginal Delaware its call was 

 wecodlis, though this was probably some favorite phrase or 

 interpretation, which served it for a name. The Whip-poor- 

 will, when engaged in these nocturnal rambles, is seen to fly 

 within a few feet of the surface in quest of moths and other 

 insects, frequently, where abundant, alighting around the house. 

 During the day the birds retire into the darkest woods, usually 

 on high ground, where they pass the time in silence and 

 repose, the weakness of their sight by day compelling them 

 to avoid the glare of the light. 



The female commences laying about the second week in 

 May in the Middle States, considerably later in Massachusetts ; 

 she is at no pains to form a nest, though she selects for her 

 deposit some unfrequented part of the forest near a pile of 

 brush, a heap of leaves, or the low shelving of a hollow rock, 

 and always in a dry situation ; here she lays two eggs, without 

 any appearance of an artificial bed. This deficiency of nest is 

 amply made up by the provision of nature, for, like Partridges, 

 the young are soon able to run about after their parents ; and 

 until the growth ' of their feathers they seem such shapeless 

 lumps of clay-colored down that it becomes nearly impossible 

 to distinguish them from the ground on which they repose. 



