172 • WHIP-POOR-WILL. 
interior and higher parts of the country. But no where in 
the United States have I found the Whip-poor-will in such 
numbers as in that tract of country in the state of Kentucky 
called the Barrens. This appears to be their most congenial 
climate and place of residence. There, from the middle of 
April to the 1st of June, as soon as the evening twilight 
draws on, the shrill and confused clamours of these birds are 
incessant, and very surprising to a stranger. They soon, 
however, become extremely agreeable ; the inhabitants lie 
down at night lulled by their whistlings ; and the first 
approach of dawn is announced by a general and lively chorus 
of the same music ; while the full-toned tooting , as it is called, 
of the Pinnated Grouse, forms a very pleasing bass to the 
whole. 
I shall not, in the manner of some, attempt to amuse the 
reader with a repetition of the unintelligible names given to 
this bird by the Indians, or the superstitious notions generally 
entertained of it by the same people. These seem as various 
as the tribes, or even families, with which you converse ; 
scarcely two of them will tell you the same story. It is easy, 
however, to observe, that this, like the Owl, and other noctur- 
nal birds, is held by them in a kind of suspicious awe, as a 
bird with which they wish to have as little to do as possible. 
The superstition of the Indian differs very little from that of 
an illiterate German, or Scots Highlander, or the less informed 
of any other nation. It suggests ten thousand fantastic notions 
to each, and these, instead of being recorded with all the 
punctilio of the most important truths, seem only fit to be 
forgotten. Whatever, among either of these people, is strange 
and not comprehended, is usually attributed to supernatural 
agency ; and an unexpected sight, or uncommon incident, is 
often ominous of good, but more generally of bad, fortune to 
the parties. Night, to minds of this complexion, brings with 
it its kindred horrors, its apparitions, strange sounds, and 
awful sights ; and this solitary and inoffensive bird, being a 
frequent wanderer in these hours of ghosts and hobgoblins, is 
