36 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
on his arrival in these parts. The most common one sits 
down close by your door, and flies, and alights three or four 
yards before you as you walk along the road, crying, ^ Who- 
are-you ? who-who-who-are-you ?^ Another bids you ^ Work- 
away, work-work-work-away ."^ A third cries mournfully, 
/ Willy-come-go, wil]y-willy-willy-come-go ;^ and high up 
the country, a fourth tells you to ^ Whip-poor- Will, whip- 
whip-whip-poor- Will'^.^ The Ulama or Demon bird of 
Ceylon seems to be a bird of this group. Dr. Davy f refers 
to his hearing the loud and hideous screams of this species, 
which conveyed the idea of extreme distress. Its notes are 
deemed in the island to be ominous and a prelude to death 
or misfortune. 
The goatsuckers are reckoned ominous birds in other 
parts of the world. Waterton J says that inDemerara no Negro 
will destroy them, and it is impossible to persuade an Indian 
to let fly his arrow at one of the tribe. The African thinks 
that Jumbo, the demon, or evil spirit of his country, has 
them ready at his beck ; and the Indian of Demerara believes 
that the goatsuckers equally obey the orders of Yabahou, 
their evil spirit. They are the receptacles for departed souls, 
* Waterton : Wanderings, second journey, p. 141. 
t Ceylon, p. 424. i Wanderings, p. 142. 
