WHIP-POOR - WILL. 
177 
many of our own citizens, and some of our naturalists and 
writers, should fall into the like mistake ; as copies of the 
works of those English naturalists are to be found in several 
of our colleges, and in some of our public as well as private 
libraries. The means which the author of American Ornitho- 
logy took to satisfy his own mind, and those of his friends, on 
this subject, were detailed at large, in a paper published about 
two years ago, in a periodical work of this city,* with which 
extract I shall close my account of the present species : — 
“ On the question, Is the Whip-poor-will and the Night 
Hawk one and the same bird, or are they really two distinct 
species ? there has long been an opposition of sentiment, and 
many fruitless disputes. Numbers of sensible and observing 
people, whose intelligence and long residence in the country 
entitle their opinion to respect, positively assert, that the Night 
Hawk and the Whip-poor-will are very different birds, and 
do not even associate together. The naturalists of Europe, 
however, have generally considered the two names as applica- 
ble to one and the same species ; and this opinion has also 
been adopted by two of our most distinguished naturalists, 
Mr William Bartram, of Kingsessing,f and Professor Barton, 
of Philadelphia.! The writer of this, being determined to 
ascertain the truth by examining for himself, took the following 
effectual mode of settling this disputed point, the particulars of 
which he now submits to those interested in the question : — 
66 Thirteen of those birds usually called Night Hawks, 
which dart about in the air like Swallows, and sometimes 
descend with rapidity from a great height, making a hollow 
sounding noise like that produced by blowing into the bung- 
hole of an empty hogshead, were shot at different times, and 
in different places, and accurately examined, both outwardly 
* The Portfolio. 
f Caprimulgus Americanus, Night Hawk, or Whip-poor-will. Travels , 
p. 292. 
t Caprimulgus Virginianus, Whip-poor-will, or Nighjt Hawk. Fragments of 
the Natural History of Pennsylvania , p. 3. See also American Phil. Trans. 
vol. iv. p. 208, 209, note. 
VOL. II. 
M 
