* whip-poor-will/ 
617 
quaintance vociferates “ whip-poor-will, ’ whip- whip- whip- 
poor-will ! ” It is therefore not surprising, that such un- 
earthly sounds should be considered in the light of super- 
natural forebodings issuing from spectres in the guise 
of birds. 
Although our Whip-Poor-Will seems to speak out in 
such plain English, to the ears of the aboriginal Delaware 
its call was weco 'lis , thoughthis was probably some favor- 
ite phrase or interpretation, which served it for a name. 
The Whip-Poor-Will, when engaged in these nocturnal 
rambles, is seen to fly within a few feet of the surface in 
quest of moths and other insects, frequently, where abun- 
dant, alighting around the house. During the day they 
retire into the darkest woods, usually on high ground, 
where they pass the time in silence and repose, the weak- 
ness of their sight by day compelling them to avoid the 
glare of the light. 
The female commences laying about the second week in 
May in the Middle States, considerably later in Massa- 
chusetts; she is at no pains to form a nest, though she se- 
lects for her deposit some unfrequented part of the forest, 
near a pile of brush, a heap of leaves, or the low shelving 
of a hollow rock, and always in a dry situation ; here 
she lays 2 eggs, without any appearance of an artificial 
bed. They are of a dusky bluish-white, thickly blotched 
with dark olive. This deficiency of nest is amply made 
up by the provision of nature, for, like Partridges, the 
young are soon able to run about after their parents ; 
and, until the growth of their feathers, they seem such 
shapeless lumps of clay-colored down, that it becomes 
nearly impossible to distinguish them from the ground on 
which they repose. Were a nest present in the expos- 
ed places where we find the young, none would escape 
detection. The mother, also, faithful to her charge, de- 
52 * 
