File:The birds of America - from drawings made in the United States and their territories (1840) (14562253668).jpg

Identifier: birdsofamericafr01audu (find matches)
Title: The birds of America : from drawings made in the United States and their territories
Year: 1840 (1840s)
Authors: Audubon, John James, 1785-1851 Bowen, John T., ca. 1801-1856?, lithographer
Subjects: Birds Birds
Publisher: New York : Published by J.J. Audubon Philadelphia : J.B. Chevalier
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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ur, and where no discordant din interrupted the repose of all around.Only think, kind reader, how grateful to me must have been the cheeringvoice of this my only companion, when, fatigued and hungry, after a day ofunremitted toil, I have planted my camp in the wilderness, as the darknessof night put a stop to my labours! I have often listened to the Nightingale,but never under such circumstances, and therefore its sweetest notes havenever awakened the same feeling;. The Whip-poor-will continues its lively song for several hours after sunset,and then remains silent until the first dawn of day, when its notes echothrough every vale, and along the declivities of the mountains, until thebeams of the rising sun scatter the darkness that overhung the face of nature.Hundreds are often heard at the same time in different parts of the woods,each trying to out-do the others; and when you are told that the notes ofthis bird may be heard at the distance of several hundred yards, you may \ 9 P1.43
Text Appearing After Image:
.^^JcCa/^^Lu^^w/^l^M-^j /ifu^MMy .. Dffriboi F.KS,F.L. S l4flh* Printed & Col* by I.T Boweti.Thilad* WHIP-POOR-WILL. 157 form an idea of the pleasure which every lover of nature must feel duringthe time when this chorus is continued. Description is incapable of conveying to your mind any accurate idea ofthe notes of this bird, much less of the feelings which they excite. Were Ito tell you that they are, in fact, not strictly musical, you might be disap-pointed. The cry consists of three distinct notes, the first and last of whichare emphatical and sonorous, the intermediate one less so. These threenotes are preceded by a low cluck, which seems preparatory to the others,and which is only heard when one is near the bird. A fancied resemblancewhich its notes have to the syllables whip-poor-will, has given rise to thecommon name of the bird. This species is easily shot, when the moon is shining, and the night clear,as you may then approach it without much caution. It is, however, diff

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