WHIPPOORWILL 



133 



long sensitive hairs with which it is set appear 

 to serve the same purpose as the whiskers of a 

 cat. 



But stopping now and then to sit lengthwise 

 of a limb, a fence-rail by a clearing, or even the 

 ridgepole of some lonely cabin, it sends forth the 

 quiver and lash, quiver and lash, quiver and lash 

 of its thong-like note — a silvery-sweet if melan- 

 choly nocturne that ac- 

 cords well with the 

 beauty and mystery of 

 the summer night. Be- 

 fore dawn, when the 

 leaves and flowers are 

 still asleep in the dew, 

 he sings again. 



The Whippoorwill 

 makes no nes,t, but in 

 May lays two eggs on 

 the bare ground in 

 woods or thickets. They are beautiful as jewels, 

 pearly white with a few delicate markings of 

 lilac and brown. 



There is a larger bird called Chuckwill's 

 Widow, whose cry, being slowly uttered at inter- 

 vals of several seconds, has an even more lonely 

 and weird effect than the more familiar hurrying 

 Whippoorwill call. A little boy once gave me 

 as the wording of this variation, "Chip out o ? 



WHIPPOORWILL 



Length 9% inches 



