174 



WHIP-POOR- WILL. 



considered by the Indians as being, by habit and repute, little 

 better than one of them. All these people, however, are not 

 so credulous ; I have conversed with Indians who treated these 

 silly notions with contempt. 



The whip-poor-will is never seen during the day, unless in 

 circumstances such as have been described. Their food appears 

 to be large moths, grasshoppers, pismires, and such insects as 

 frequent the bark of old rotten and decaying timber. They 

 are also expert in darting after winged insects. They will 

 sometimes skim in the dusk within a few feet of a person, 

 uttering a kind of low chatter as they pass. In their migra- 

 tions north, and on their return, they probably stop a day or 

 two at some of their former stages, and do not advance in one 

 continued flight. The whip-poor-will was first heard this 

 season (1811) on the 2d day of May, in a corner of Mr 

 Bartram's woods, not far from the house, and for two or three 

 mornings after in the same place, where I also saw it. From 

 this time until the beginning of September, there were none 

 of these birds to be found within at least one mile of the place, 

 though I frequently made search for them. On the 4th of 

 September, the whip-poor-will was again heard for two even- 

 ings successively in the same part of the woods. I also heard 

 several of them passing, within the same week, between dusk 

 and nine o'clock at night, it being then clear moonlight. 

 These repeated their notes three or four times, and were 

 heard no more. It is highly probable that they migrate 

 during the evening and night. 



The whip-poor-will is nine inches and a half long, and 

 nineteen inches in extent ; the bill is blackish, a full quarter 

 of an inch long, much stronger than that of the night hawk, 

 and bent a little at the point, the under mandible arched a 

 little upwards, following the curvature of the upper; the 

 nostrils are prominent and tubular, their openings directed 

 forward ; the mouth is extravagantly large, of a pale flesh 

 colour within, and beset along the sides with a number of 

 long, thick, elastic bristles, the longest of which extends more 



