WHIP-POOR- WILL. i j 3 



marshes, and are much more numerous there than in the 

 interior and higher parts of the country. But nowhere in 

 the United States have I found the whip-poor-will in such 

 numbers as in that tract of country in the State of Kentucky 

 called the Barrens. This appears to be their most congenial 

 climate and place of residence. There, from the middle of 

 April to the 1st of June, as soon as the evening twilight 

 draws on, the shrill and confused clamours of these birds are 

 incessant, and very surprising to a stranger. They soon, how- 

 ever, become extremely agreeable ; the inhabitants lie down 

 at night lulled by their whistlings, and the first approach of 

 dawn is announced by a general and lively chorus of the same 

 music ; while the full-toned tooting, as it is called, of the 

 pinnated grouse forms a very pleasing bass to the whole. 



I shall not, in the manner of some, attempt to amuse the 

 reader with a repetition of the unintelligible names given to 

 this bird by the Indians, or the superstitious notions generally 

 entertained of it by the same people. These seem as various 

 as the tribes, or even families, with which you converse; 

 scarcely two of them will tell you the same story. It is easy, 

 however, to observe, that this, like the owl, and other nocturnal 

 birds, is held by them in a kind of suspicious awe, as a bird 

 with which they wish to have as little to do as possible. The 

 superstition of the Indian differs very little from that of an 

 illiterate German or Scots Highlander, or the less informed of 

 any other nation. It suggests ten thousand fantastic notions 

 to each, and these, instead of being recorded with all the 

 punctilio of the most important truths, seem only fit to be 

 forgotten. Whatever, among either of these people, is strange 

 and not comprehended, is usually attributed to supernatural 

 agency ; and an unexpected sight or uncommon incident is 

 often ominous of good, but more generally of bad, fortune to 

 the parties. Night, to minds of this complexion, brings with 

 it its kindred horrors, its apparitions, strange sounds, and 

 awful sights ; and this solitary and inoffensive bird, being a 

 frequent wanderer in these hours of ghosts and hobgoblins, is 



