The Wit of the Wild 



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The whip-poor-will's singular habit of sitting 

 lengthwise, instead of crosswise, as other birds 

 do, upon a log or bough, arises, I believe, from 

 this instinct for concealment rather than from 

 any inability to perch transversely. In the ac- 

 tivity of the night, or when solicitous about a 

 discovered nest, they will often stand athwart 

 a bough or fence-rail like any other bird. That 

 they ordinarily sit lengthwise during their diur- 

 nal siesta I believe is due to a feeling that they 

 are safer that way a matter we can explain 

 by observing that in that position they simu- 

 late a knot or the stub of a broken limb, and 

 thus escape eyes that would at once mark a 

 crosswise attitude. I am surprised that no one 

 has called attention to this before, since some- 

 thing similar is highly characteristic of cer- 

 tain tropical species. Mr. W. Saville Kent, 

 who had a close acquaintance with the Austra- 

 lian night-jar, called " morepork," tells us 

 and shows photographs to prove it that when- 

 ever it is alarmed, as, for instance, by the ap- 

 pearance of a hawk in the sky, " this bird will 

 at once straighten itself up stiffly, and, with its 



$ 168 



