WOOD NOTES WILD. 69 
This bird does not stand erect with head up, like the 
robin, when he sings, but stoops slightly, puts out the 
wings a little and keeps them in a rapid tremor through- 
out the song. Wilson decided that it requires a sec- 
ond of time for the delivery of each “whippoorwill.” 
“When two or more males meet,” he adds, “their whip- 
poorwill altercations become much more rapid and inces- 
sant, as if each were straining to overpower or silence the 
other.” These altercations are sometimes very amusing. 
Three whippoorwills, two males and a female, indulged in 
them for several evenings, one season, in my garden. 
They came just at dark, and very soon a spirited contest 
began. Frequently they flew directly upward, one at a 
time. Occasionally one flew down into the path near me, 
put out his wings, opened his big mouth and hissed like a 
goose disturbed in the dark. But the most peculiar, the 
astonishing, feature of the contention was the /inale. 
Toward the close of the trial of speed and power, the un- 
wieldy name was dropped, and they rattled on freely 
with the same rhythm that the name would have re- 
quired, alternating in their rushing triplets, going faster 
and faster, louder and louder to the end. 
Crescendo ét accelerando. a er ae ee see ee aA) ots 
8va. 1st Voice. 2d Voice. 
Whip - poor - will, Whip - poor - will. 
