454 WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



Goatsucker,* (Arct. Zool. p. 434. ) given the size, markings of 

 plumage, &c. of the Chuck-will } s-widow; and in the succeeding 

 account of his Long-winged Goatsucker, describes pretty accu- 

 rately the Night-hawk. Both of these birds he considers to be 

 the Whip-poor-will, and as having the same notes and manners. 



After such authorities it was less to be wondered at that many 

 of our own citizens and some of our naturalists and writers 

 should fall into the like mistake; as copies of the works of those 

 English naturalists are to be found in several of our colleges, and 

 in some of our public as well as private libraries. The means 

 which the author of American Ornithology took to satisfy his 

 own mind, and those of his friends, on this subject, were detailed 

 at large, in a paper published about two years ago, in a periodi- 

 cal work of this city, with which extract I shall close my ac- 

 count of the present species. 



" On the question is the Whip-poor-will and the Night-hawk 

 one and the same bird, or are they really two distinct species, 

 there has long been an opposition of sentiment, and many fruit- 

 less disputes. Numbers of sensible and observing people, whose 

 intelligence and long residence in the country entitle their opi- 

 nion to respect, positively assert that the Night-hawk and the 

 Whip-poor-will are very different birds, and do not even asso- 

 ciate together. The naturalists of Europe, however, have gene- 

 rally considered the two names as applicable to one and the same 

 species; and this opinion has also been adopted by two of our 

 most distinguished naturalists, Mr. William Bartram, of King- 

 sessing,t and Professor Barton, of Philadelphia. $ The writer of 

 this, being determined to ascertain the truth by examining for 

 himself, took the following effectual mode of settling this dis- 



* The figure is by mistake called the Long-winged Goatsucker. See Arctic 

 Zoology, vol. n, pi. 18. 



f Caprimulgus rfmtricanus, Night-hawk or Whip-poor-will. Travels, p. 292. 



\ Caprimulgus Virginianus, Whip-poor-will or Night-hawk. Fragments of 

 the Natural History of Pennsylvania, p. 3. See also Amer. Phil. Trans, vol. 

 iv, p. 208, 209, note. 







