116 
RURAL HOURS. 
musical, most melancholy ” of night-sounds known in our region. 
From some houses on the hank of the lake and near the river, 
they are heard every night ; prohahly the sound comes over the 
water from the wooded hills heyond, for they are said to prefer 
high and dry situations. Once in a while, but not very frequent- 
ly, they come into the village, and we have heard them when 
they must have been in our own grounds. It is only natural, 
perhaps, that some lingering shade of superstition should be con- 
nected with this singular bird — so often heard, so seldom seen ; 
thousands of men and women in this part of the world have lis- 
tened to -the soft wailing whistle, from childhood to‘ old age, 
through every summer of a long hfe, without haring once laid 
their eyes on the bird. Until quite lately, almost every one be- 
lieved the night-hawk and the whip-poor-will to be the same, 
merely because the first is often seen by daylight, while the last, 
which much resembles it, is wholly nocturnal, and only known to 
those who search for him in the shady woods by day, or meet 
him by moonliglit at night. These birds will soon cease their sere- 
nading ; after the third week in June, they are rarely heard, in 
which respect they resemble the nightingale, who sings only for 
# 
a few weeks in May and June ; early in September, they go to 
the southward. Forty years since, they are said to have been 
much more numerous here than they are to-day. 
Friday, \bth . — Very warm; various sorts of weather in the 
course of the da)u Cloudy morning, brilliant mid-day, and in the 
afternoon a sudden shower. It rained heavily, with thunder and 
lightning, for an hour, then cleared again, and we had a charming 
evening. 
Saw a mmiber of humming-birds — they are particularly partial 
