WHIP-POOR-WILL. 157 
form an idea of the pleasure which every lover of nature must feel 
during the time when this chorus is continued. 
Description is incapable of conveying to your mind any accurate idea 
of the notes of this bird, much less o'f the feelings which they excite. Were 
I to tell you that they are, in fact, not strictly musical, you might be 
disappointed. The cry consists- of three distinct notes, the first and last 
of which are emphatical and Sonorous, the intermediate one less so. These 
three -notes are preceded by a low cluck, which seems preparatory to the 
'others, and which is only heard when one is near the bird. A fancied 
resemblance which its notes have to the syllables whip-poor-will, has given 
rise to the common name of the bird. 
This species is easily shot, when the moon is shining, and the night clear, 
as you may then approach it without much caution. It is, however, diffi- 
cult to hit it on wing, on account of the zig-zag lines in which it flies, as 
well as the late hour at which it leaves its resting-place. It is seldom 
killed, however, being too small to be sought as an article of food, although 
its flesh is savoury, and it is too harmless to excite dislike. 
It deposits its eggs about the middle of May, on the bare ground, or on 
dry leaves, in the most retired parts of the thickets which it frequents. 
They are always two in number, of a shout elliptical form, much rounded, 
and nearly equal at both ends, of a greenish-white colour, spotted and 
blotched with bluish-grey and light brown. The young burst the shell in* 
fourteen days after the commencement of incubation, and look at first like 
a mouldy and almost shapeless mass, of a yellowish colour. When first 
able to fly they are of a brown colour, interspersed with patches of buff, the 
brown being already beautifully sprinkled with darker dots and zig-zag 
lines. They attain their full plumage before they depart, with their parents, 
for the south. I think their southward migration, which is performed by 
night, must be vei*y rapid, as I have never found any of these birds in 
Louisiana at that season, whereas they proceed slowly on their return in 
spring. Both birds sit on the eggs, and feed the young for a long time after 
they are able to fly, either. on wing, in the manner of the Common House 
Swallow, or while perched on the fences, wood-piles, or houses. The food 
of the young at first consists of ants, and partially digested beetles and large 
moths, which the parents disgorge ; but at the end of a fortnight the parents 
present the food whole to the young, which then swallow it with ease, 
Much has been said respecting the difference existing between the Whip- 
poor-will and the Night Hawk, for the purpose of shewing them to be 
distinct species. On this subject I shall only say, that I have known both 
birds from my early youth, and I have seldom seen a farmer or even a 
boy in the United States, who did not know the difference between them. 
