OUR HOME BIRDS. 
199 
it to be a young whip-poor-will seemingly asleep, as 
its eyelids were nearly closed, or perhaps this might 
only be to protect its tender eyes from the glare of 
day. I sat down by it on the leaves, and drew it as 
it then appeared. It was probably not a week old. 
All the while I was thus engaged it neither moved 
its body nor opened its eyes more than half, and I 
left it as I found it. After I had walked about a 
quarter of a mile from the spot, recollecting that I 
had left a pencil behind, I returned and found my 
pencil, but the young bird was gone.’ 
“ The whip-poor-will is often mistaken for the night- 
hawk, but they are said to be very different birds, and 
do not even associate together. The strange notes of 
the former become more rapid and incessant when 
several males meet, as though each were striving to 
outdo the other. They generally fly low, not more 
than a few feet from the ground, skimming about the 
house and before the door, alighting on the wood-pile 
or settling on the roof. Toward midnight they gen- 
erally become silent, unless in clear moonlight, when 
they are heard with little internlission till morning. 
If there is a creek near, with high, steep, bushy banks, 
the whip-poor-wills are sure to be found there. Dur- 
ing the day they sit in the most retired, solitary, and 
deep-shaded parts of the woods, generally on high 
ground, where they repose in silence.” 
