The Wit of the Wild 

 Jf 



ing in a hard t not in a palatal. The last 

 part is a forcible wheyo that sound, as of a 

 switch lashed through the air, which gives us 

 our word whip. The emphasis is very great. 

 All the breath the bird has seems driven into the 

 final syllable tongue-lashing, of the most lit- 

 eral and vindictive sort, which can be heard 

 half a mile. Nuttall, often so felicitous in por- 

 traying bird-music, writes it 'whip-'whip-poor 

 will, 'whip-peri will, noting with truth that the 

 repetitions tend to fall into pairs; and he 

 adds that to the ears of the aboriginal Dela- 

 ware its call was wecowdlis, but thought 

 that " probably some favorite phrase or inter- 

 pretation." Others tell us that the Seminoles of 

 Florida imitate it by wac-co-ldr, and the Chip- 

 pewas of Minnesota by gwen-go-wi-d. In " The 

 Auk " (viii, 35) Mr. S. P. Cheney has given a 

 whole page of musical notation to illustrate 

 variations perceptible to the trained ear. 



Considerable individuality is perceptible in 



their voices, and they are likely to improvise 



unusual endings, or to break off with comical 



abruptness, as though suddenly seized with dis- 



*S 176 



