100 THE WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



ha, ha, ha, ha,"" each note lower and lower, till 

 the last is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or 

 two betwixt every note; and you will have some 

 idea of the moaning of the largest goat-sucker 

 in Demerara. Four other species articulate 

 some words so distinctly, that they have re- 

 ceived their names from the sentences they 

 utter ; and absolutely bewilder the stranger on 

 his arrival in these parts. The most common 

 one sits close by your door, and flies, and alights 

 three or four yards before you, as you walk 

 along the road, crying " who-are-you? who-who- 

 who-are-you ?" Another bids you " work-away, 

 work-work-work-away." A third cries mourn- 

 fully, " willy-come-go, willy-willy-willy-come- 

 go." And high up in the country a fourth, 

 tells you to " whip-poor-will, whip-whip-whip- 

 poor-will." You will never persuade the negro 

 to destroy these birds, or get the Indian to let 

 fly his arrow at them ; they are considered birds 

 of omen and reverential dread. Jumbo, the demon 

 of Africa, has them under his command, and they 

 are equally supposed to obey the Yabahou, or 

 Demerara Indian devil. They are the receptacles 

 of departed souls, who come back to earth again, 

 unable to rest for crimes done in their days of 

 nature ; or they are expressly sent by Jumbo 

 or Yabahou, to haunt cruel and hard-hearted 



