‘chuck-will’s-widow . 5 
613 
America, it arrives in Georgia and Louisiana about the 
middle of March, and in Virginia early in April. Like 
the following species, it commences its singular serenade 
of ’chuck-’ will’ s-widoiv, in the evening soon after sunset, 
and continues it with short interruptions for several hours. 
Towards morning, the note is also renewed, until the open- 
ing dawn. In the day, like some wandering spirit, it re- 
tires to secrecy and silence, as if the whole had only been 
a disturbed dream. In a still evening this singular call 
may be heard for half a mile, its tones being slower, 
louder, and more full than those of the Whip-Poor-Will. 
The species is particularly numerous in the vast forests of 
the Mississippi, where throughout the evening its echoing 
notes are heard in the solitary glens, and from the sur- 
rounding and silent hills, becoming almost incessant dur- 
ing the shining of the moon ; and at the boding sound of 
its elfin voice, when familiar and strongly reiterated, the 
thoughtful, superstitious savage becomes sad and pen- 
sive. Its flight is low, and it skims only a few feet 
above the surface of the ground, frequently settling on 
logs and fences, from whence it often sweeps around in 
pursuit of the flying moths and insects which constitute 
its food. Sometimes they are seen sailing near the 
ground, and occasionally descend to pick up a beetle, or 
flutter lightly round the trunk of a tree in quest of some 
insect crawling upon the bark. In rainy and gloomy 
weather, they remain silent in the hollow log which affords 
them and the bats a common roost and refuge by day. 
When discovered in this critical situation, and without 
the means of escape, they ruffle up their feathers, spread 
open their enormous mouths, and utter a murmur almost 
like the hissing of a snake, thus endeavouring, appparent- 
ly, to intimidate their enemy when cut off from the 
means of escape. 
52 
