74 



WHIP.POOR-WILL 



a pencil behind, I returned and found my pencil, but the young bird 

 was gone. 



Early in June, as soon as the young appear, the notes of the 

 male usually cease, or are heard but rarely. Towards the latter 

 part of summer, a short time before these birds leave us, they are 

 again occasionally heard ; but their call is then not so loud — much 

 less emphatical, and more interrupted than in spring. Early in 

 September they move off towards the south. 



The favorite places of resort for these birds are on high dry 

 situations; in low marshy tracts of country they are seldom heard. 

 It is probably on this account that they are scarce on the sea coast 

 and its immediate neighbourhood; while towards the mountains 

 they are very numerous. The Night-Hawks, on the contrary, de- 

 light in these extensive sea marshes; and are much more numerous 

 there than in the interior and higher parts of the country. But no- 

 where 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 first of 

 June, as soon as the evening twilight draws on, the shrill and con- 

 fused clamours of these birds are incessant, and very surprising to 

 a stranger. They soon, however, become extremely agreeable, the 

 inhabitants lie down at night lulled by their whistlings; and the 

 first approaches of dawn is announced by a general and lively 

 chorus of the same music; while the full-toned tooting as it is call- 

 ed of the Pinnated Grous, forms a very pleasing bass to the whole. 



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

 der 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 



