WHIP-POOR-WILL. 
173 
considered by the Indians as being, by habit and repute, little 
better than one of them. All these people, however, are not 
so credulous : I have conversed with Indians who treated these 
silly notions with contempt. 
The Whip-poor-will is never seen during the day, unless 
in circumstances such as have been described. Their food 
appears to be large moths, grasshoppers, pismires, and such 
insects as frequent the bark of old rotten and decaying timber. 
They are also expert in darting after winged insects. They 
will sometimes skim in the dusk, within a few feet of a person, 
uttering a kind of low chatter as they pass. In their migra- 
tions north, and on their return, they probably stop a day or 
two at some of their former stages, and do not advance in one 
continued flight. The Whip-poor-will was first heard this 
season [1811] on the 2d day of May, in a corner of Mr 
Bartram’s woods, not far from the house, and for two or three 
mornings after in the same place, where I also saw it. From 
this time until the beginning of September, there were none 
of these birds to be found within at least one mile of the place ; 
though I frequently made search for them. On the 4th of 
September, the Whip-poor-will was again heard for two 
evenings, successively, in the same part of the woods. I also 
heard several of them passing, within the same week, between 
dusk and nine o’clock at night, it being then clear moonlight. 
These repeated their notes three or four times, and were 
heard no more. It is highly probable that they migrate during 
the evening and night. 
The Whip-poor-will is nine inches and a half long, and 
nineteen inches in extent ; the bill is blackish, a full quarter 
of an inch long, much stronger than that of the Night Hawk, 
and bent a little at the point, the under mandible arched a 
little upwards, following the curvature of the upper ; the 
nostrils are prominent and tubular, their openings directed 
forward ; the mouth is extravagantly large, of a pale flesh 
colour within, and beset along the sides with a number of 
long, thick, elastic bristles, the longest of which extends more 
