WHIP-POOR-WILL. 251 



him Mr. Edwards, in his sixty-third plate, has in like manner figured 

 the Night-hawk, also adding the bristles, and calling his figure the 

 Whip-poor-will, accompanying it with particulars of the notes, &c., of 

 that bird, chiefly copied from Catesby. The next writer of eminence 

 who has spoken of the Whip-poor-will is Mr. Pennant, justly considered 

 as one of the most judicious and discriminating of English naturalists ; 

 but, deceived by " the lights he had," he has in his account of the Short- 

 winged Goatsucker* (Arct. Zool. p. 434), given the size, markings of 

 pliimige, &c., of the Chuck-wilVs-widow ; and in the succeeding account 

 of his Long-winged Goatsucker, describes pretty accurately the Night- 

 hawk. Both of these birds he considers to be the Whip-poor-will, and 

 as having the same notes and manners. 



After such authorities it was less to be wondered at that many of our 

 own citizens and some of our naturalists and writers should fall into the 

 like mistake ; as copies of the works of those English naturalists are to 

 be found in several of our colleges, and in some of our public as well as 

 private libraries. The means which the author of American Ornithology 

 took to satisfy his own mind, and those of his friends, on this subject, 

 were detailed at large, in a paper published about two years ago, in a 

 periodical work of this city, with which extract I shall close my account 

 of the present species. 



" On the question is the Whip-poor-will and the Night-hawk one and 

 the same bird, or are they really two distinct species, there has long 

 been an opposition of sentiment, and many fruitless disputes. Numbers 

 of sensible and observing people, whose intelligence and long residence 

 in the country entitle their opinion to respect, positively assert that the 

 Night-hawk and the Whip-poor-will are very different birds, and do not 

 even associate together. The naturalists of Europe, however, have 

 generally considered the two names as applicable to one and the same 

 species ; and this opinion has also been adopted by two of our most dis- 

 tinguished naturalists, Mr. William Bartram, of Kingsessing,f and Pro- 

 fessor Barton, of Philadelphia.J The writer of this, being determined 

 to ascertain the truth by examining for himself, took the following 

 effectual mode of settling this disputed point, the particulars of which 

 he now submits to those interested in the question. 



" Thirteen of those birds usually called Night-hawks, which, dart 

 about in the air like Swallows, and sometimes descend with rapidity 

 from a great height, making a hollow sounding noise like that produced 



* The figure is by mistake called the Long-winged Goatsucker. See Arctic 

 Zoology, vol. II., pi. 18. 



t Caprimulgus Americanus, Night-hawk or Whip-poor-will. Travels, p. 292. 



% Caprimulgus Virginianus, Whip-poor-will or Night-hawk. Fragments of the 

 Natural History of Pennsylvania, p. 3. See also Amer. Phil. Trans, vol. iv., p. 

 208, 209, note 



