I 



WHIP-POOR-WILL. 



79 



bristles, and calling his figure the Whip-poor-ivill, accompanying it 

 with particulars of the notes, &c. of that bird, chiefly copied from 

 Catesby. The next writer of eminence who has spoken of the 

 Whip-poor-will is Mr. Pennant, justly considered as one of the most 

 judicious and discriminating of English naturalists ; but, deceived 

 by " the lights he had," he has in his account of the Short-winged 

 Goatsucker,^ (Arct. Zool. p. 434.) given the size, markings of 

 plumage, &c. of the Chuch-wiW s-widow ; and in the succeeding ac- 

 count of his Long-winged Goatsucker, describes pretty accurately 

 the Night-hawk. Both of these birds he considers to be the Whip- 

 poor-will, and as having the same notes and manners. 



After such authorities it was less to be wondered at that many 

 of our own citizens and some of our naturalists and writers should 

 fall into the like mistake ; as copies of the works of those English 

 naturalists are to be found in several of our colleges, and in some 

 of our public as well as private libraries. The means which the 

 author of American Ornithology took to satisfy his own mind, and 

 those of his friends, on this subject, were detailed at large, in a 

 paper published about two years ago, in a periodical work of this 

 city, with which extract I shall close my account of the present 

 species. 



"On the question is the Whip-poor-will and the Night-hawk 

 one and the same bird, or are they really two distinct species, there 

 has long been an opposition of sentiment, and many fruitless dis- 

 putes. Numbers of sensible and observing people, whose intelli- 

 gence and long residence in the country entitle their opinion to 

 respect, positively assert that the Night-hawk and the Whip-poor- 

 will are very different birds, and do not even associate together. 

 The naturalists of Europe, however, have generally considered the 

 two names as applicable to one and the same species; and this 



* The figure is by mistake called the Long-winged Goatsucker. See Arctic Zoology, 

 vol. II, pi. 18. 



