The Bird that Whips Poor Will 



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gust at the performance. The sharply whistled 

 whit-to-wheyo is rarely given singly, though one 

 sometimes hears whit, whit, whit, repeated soft 

 and low, or a sharp chirk, or liquid gurglings 

 that seem outpourings of a heart full of happi- 

 ness. 



But this is chatter and woman-talk, for when 

 the head of the family really sings he makes 

 the woods ring with a surprising clamor. 

 Launching his voice at full strength, he strikes 

 at once into a gait of about sixty repetitions to 

 the minute, and keeps at it as regularly as a 

 machine for several minutes. It is an ordinary 

 feat for him to " whip poor Will " with two or 

 three hundred strokes in unbroken succession, 

 and sometimes the flagellation goes further, my 

 wife noting in one instance, when one summer 

 we made a business of counting the beats, no 

 less than 831 unbroken repetitions, lasting 

 nearly fifteen minutes and then stopping sud- 

 denly in full voice. Such a performance seems 

 objectless, except as a show of endurance, but 

 as such it is truly wonderful. 



Another very queer thing about this song is 

 <*? 177 ^ 



