170 
WHIP-POOR-WILL. 
These notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words 
which have been generally applied to them, whip-poor-will, 
the first and last syllables being uttered with great emphasis, 
and the whole in about a second to each repetition ; but when 
two or more males meet, their whip-poor-will altercations 
become much more rapid and incessant, as if each were 
straining to overpower or silence the other. When near, you 
often hear an introductory cluck between the notes. At these 
times, as well as at almost all others, they fly low, not more 
than a few feet from the surface, skimming about the house 
and before the door, alighting on the wood pile, or settling on 
the roof. Towards midnight they generally become silent, 
unless in clear moonlight, when they are heard with little 
intermission till morning. If there be a creek near, with high 
precipitous bushy banks, they are sure to be found in such 
situations. During 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. When disturbed, 
they rise within a few feet, sail low and slowly through the 
woods for thirty or forty yards, and generally settle on a low 
branch or on the ground. Their sight appears deficient during 
the day, as, like Owls, they seem then to want that vivacity 
for which they are distinguished in the morning and evening 
twilight. They are rarely shot at or molested; and from 
being thus transiently seen in the obscurity of dusk, or in the 
deep umbrage of the woods, no wonder their particular mark- 
ings of plumage should be so little known, or that they should 
be confounded with the Night Hawk, whom in general appear- 
ance they so much resemble. The female begins to lay about 
the second week in May, selecting for this purpose the most 
unfrequented part of the wood, often where some brush, old 
logs, heaps of leaves, &c. had been lying, and always on a dry 
situation. The eggs are deposited on the ground, or on the 
leaves, not the slightest appearance of a nest being visible. 
These are usually two in number, in shape much resembling 
those of the Night Hawk, but having the ground colour much 
