616 
SWALLOW TRIBE. 
son, so that the reiterated echoes of 'whip- whip-poor-will, 
3 whip-peri-will , issuing from several birds at the same 
time, occasioned such a confused vociferation, as at first 
to banish sleep. This call, except in moonlight nights, 
is continued usually till midnight, when they cease until 
again aroused, for a while, at the commencement of twi- 
light. The first and last syllables of this brief ditty receive 
the strongest emphasis, and, now and then, a sort of guttu- 
ral cluck is heard between the repetitions, but the whole 
phrase is uttered in little more than a second of time. 
But if superstition takes alarm at our familiar and simple 
species, what wpuld be thought by the ignorant of a South 
American kind, large as the Wood Owl, which, in the lone- 
ly forests of Demerara, about midnight breaks out, la- 
menting like one in deep distress, and in a tone more 
dismal even than the painful hexachord of the slothful Ai. 
The sounds, like the expiring sighs of some agonizing 
victim, begin with a high loud note, “ ha, ha, ha ha ha ! 
ha! ha! ” each tone falling lower and lower, till the last 
syllable is scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two be- 
tween this reiterated tale of seeming sadness. 
Four other species of the Goatsucker, according to 
Waterton, also inhabit this tropical wilderness, among 
which also is included our present subject. Figure to 
yourself the surprise and wonder of the stranger who 
takes up his solitary abode for the first night amidst these 
awful and interminable forests, when, at twilight, he be- 
gins to be assailed familiarly with a spectral equivocal 
bird, approaching within a few yards, and then accosting 
him with “ who -are-2/ ou, 3 ivho-who’-who-are-you ” ? An- 
other approaches, and bids him, as if a slave under 
the lash, “ work-away , work-ivork-work-away ” ; a third 
mournfully cries, “ willy -come-go ! ’willy -willy -ivilly-come- 
go ! ” and as you get among the high lands, our old ac- 
