APPENDIX. 167 
Limit oF VERBAL Description. — Contin. 
songs, each in its way remarkable. Nuttall describes its song as ‘a simple, 
long, reiterated note, rising from low to high, and shrill;’ Richardson 
speaks of it as ‘a loud, clear, and remarkably pleasing ditty;’ and Mr. 
Allen calls it ‘a loud, echoing song, heard everywhere in the deep 
woods.’-— Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway: North American Birds. Land- 
Birds, vol. i. p. 282, 
Night-Hawk. (See p. 66.) 
“ At early evening, and in cloudy weather throughout the greater part 
of the day, he ascends into the air; and when he has attained a consider- 
able height, partially closing his wings, he drops with great velocity 
through the distance of seventy-five or one hundred feet, sometimes 
nearly to the earth. The sound made by the air passing through the 
wing quills is so loud that I have often heard it at certainly the distance 
of half a mile; it resembles, as Nuttall truly says, the sound produced 
by blowing into the bung-hole of an empty hogshead. This act is often 
repeated, the bird darting about at the same time in every direction, and 
uttering his sharp squeak. Wilson was of the opinion that this habit of 
the Night-Hawk was confined to the period of incubation; the male acting 
in this manner, as he thought, to intimidate any person from approaching 
the nest. I have had abundant opportunities for observing the bird in all 
times of the summer, and during its stay with us; and I should unhesi- 
tatingly affirm that from the time of early courtship until the young 
are hatched, if not after, the male acts in this manner.” — Samuels, E. A. : 
Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. 123. 
“The male Night ‘Hawk’ produces an equally extraordinary sound, 
which is heard chiefly during the season of courtship. Mounting to some 
height, he falls, head foremost, until near the ground, when he checks his 
downward course; and then the ‘booming’ is heard, a sound ‘resembling 
that produced by blowing strongly into the bung-hole of an empty hogs- 
head.’ I am uncertain as to what causes this noise, having found it 
impossible to make any close observations. Wilson thought it produced 
by the mouth, Audubon, by the concussion caused by a change of position 
in the wings.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 299. 
Whippoorwill. (See p. 68.) 
“The whippoorwill interested me very much. He sings 
in thirds, no other intervals,— just the same always. I had 
