The Wit of the Wild 



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every night close to the house, no such a super- 

 stition can survive, of course. I was more sur- 

 prised, however, at not being able to find that 

 this bird has any part in the folk-lore of 

 weather signs. 



Indian folk-lore is almost equally barren. 

 The Carolina Indians told Catsby that they 

 had never heard whip-poor-wills until after one 

 of the tribe's early battles with Europeans, and 

 hence considered them the souls of their ances- 

 tors killed in that battle; but this has the ear- 

 marks of a " yarn." Dr. Barton, writing in 

 Philadelphia in 1799, remarks: 



" Some of our Indians believe that this bird is 

 a messenger sent to call their attention to the 

 planting of the ground. Accordingly, upon the 

 arrival of the whip-poor-will, they say to one 

 another, ' The wee-co-lis is come : it is planting- 

 time' ; and, while the bird is uttering the sound of 

 whip-poor-will, or wee-co-lis, they will repeat the 

 word hacJcibeck, which is ' plant the ground.' ' 



Modern Iroquois indulge the pretty fancy 

 that the moccasin-flowers (cypripediums) are 

 the whip-poor-will's shoes. 



*$ 184 &* 



