62 
LETTEES FEOM ALABAMA. 
daylight, though the sun sends nearly horizontal 
rays across the fields. Notice those birds, resem- 
bling swallows, which are mounting on the wing 
higher and higher and higher, screaming as they 
ascend, till, having gained a great elevation, down 
each plunges with closed wings like a stone, so 
that you think he will be killed by the fall, but 
just before he reaches the earth, he suddenly wheels 
round, and again mounts on the wing. The most 
singular part of the procedure is, that at the mo- 
ment the bird arrests its precipitate descent, a 
hollow boom is heard, something like a heavy gun 
at a great distance, or the hoarse bellowing of a 
bull. The mouths of all this genus, for it is the 
Night-hawk [Caprimulgus Americanus)^ are very 
wide and capacious, though their beaks are ex- 
tremely small, and it is doubtless to this fact that 
the sound is owing ; the swift descent causing the 
air to rush into the open mouth, as into the bung- 
hole of an empty cask. They do not, however, 
always perform these manoeuvres in regularly con- 
tinued succession: often, when high in air, they 
will rove about, or several will play together on the 
wing for some time before they precipitate them- 
selves. The common people here generally call 
these birds by the name of bull-bats. 
I see your surprise at the long whoops which 
begin to be heard from every quarter ; be not 
alarmed ; it is not the war-whoop of the wild 
Seminole, but a much more peaceful sound. The 
sun has set, and the negroes on the plantations 
have begun to call home the hogs. Some negroes 
from long practice have acquired great power of 
voice ; they will utter a continued unbroken shout, 
lasting nearly a minute, which may be heard at 
