206 CHUCK-WILL'S WIDOW. 



Chuck-will's Widow is certainly peculiar, being, by far, the most noticeable of all the bird 

 notes heard in the South, excepting, perhaps, those of the Great Horned and Barred Owls. 

 As I have said, the cadence does not especially resemble the syllables of the name and in 

 order to illustrate the song, I shall once more call my friends, the Seminoles, upon the stage 

 for the birds appear to them to articulate chic-co-bil-lar, and this certainly is a very good 

 rendering of the notes. The cry is given with startling energy when heard quite near at 

 hand; the first syllable is pronounced very distinctly, with emphasis, then follows the sec- 

 ond somewhat prolonged and less forcibly uttered, while the remaining two are very quickly 

 given with a decided accent upon the last. The whole is poured forth in the hurried man- 

 ner so characteristic of the Whippoorwill and in about the same tone. 



When the short twilight of the South is fading into night, the Chuckwill's Widows 

 emerge from the secluded retreat, afforded by some thick hummock, in which they have 

 passed the day and, alighting upon some favorite perch, will begin to sing. As before re- 

 marked, this lay is given with an abruptness which is even startling, especially when the 

 bird is but a few yards away. No preliminary sound gives notice of his presence, for he 

 flits to his perch in utter silence; then, from out of the gloom, comes the cadence, so sud- 

 denly and so loud that, although one may have been perfectly familiar with the song for 

 years, he will always, for a moment, be taken completely by surprise. When an ornithol- 

 ogist hears this peculiar lay for the first time, in such close proximity, he is very apt to 

 grasp his gun and start in pursuit, certain of adding a Chuckwill's Widow to his collection. 

 He approaches the spot where the bird appears to be located, carefully avoiding all the in- 

 tervening obstacles which is no easy task in a Florida hummock, even in broad daylight. 

 Guided by the song, he reaches a point where the increased volume of sound informs him 

 that he is near enough for a shot if he could only discern the bird, when a sudden silence 

 ensues the bird has flown and the spirits of the would-be captor fall to zero; but instant- 

 ly rise again, for the song breaks out anew a few yards away. The hunter follows only to 

 be foiled again, for once more the wary bird has perceived him and has flitted onward, 

 but, as before, only a short distance, so that the excited pursuer once more plunges on in- 

 to the thickets now being rapidly enshrouded in darkness, but all in vain, for the Chuck- 

 will's Widow is a perfect will-o'-the-wisp of a bird alluring the incautious follower deeper 

 and deeper into the gloomy hummock and causing him to take so many turns that unless 

 he be well skilled in wood-craft, he will become utterly lost and may be forced to spend 

 the night in the forest with the wild cats for company. 



My first experience with these birds was similar to that which I have described, ex- 

 cepting that I did manage to extricate myself from the labyrinth into which they led me, 

 but I afterward learned that there were two ways in which to procure these wary birds. 

 The most simple is to search a hummock in which one is certain they are concealing them- 

 selves. I have found that they rest either on the ground or near it and when aroused, will 

 generally give one an opportunity to shoot, or if the branches prove too thick, one has only 

 to note the direction in which they fly when, by following, they may be started again. 

 The other method which I have employed was to listen carefully to the song from two or 

 throe points, thus getting the appi'oximate position of the bird. Then by examining the 



