"This mysterious bird is also a dweller in lonely places, feeding at night in the woods, having no nest, and laying the eggs in a hollow in the ground or on a stump or log. He is so nearly of the color of wood, earth, and rock, that you may pass near him a hundred times and never see him. Then too, when he perches in the day-time, he does not sit across a branch like other birds, but lengthwise, so that House People and cats cannot see him from below or cannibal birds from above. He is an insect-eater and so goes southward before hard frosts." "Does this bird make any noise, and why is he called the Whip-poor-will?" asked Nat; "that is such a funny name." Rap was about to answer when the Doctor signed to him and he stopped. "Whip-poor-wills call their own name after dark, and I think you will hear them when we pass the miller's woods in a few minutes; for some reason they seldom come about the Farm." "I believe I--am--growing--sleepy," murmured Dodo, trying to be polite and swallow a little yawn, but not wholly succeeding. "I am very sure that _I_ am," said Olive. "I don't think any of us will sit up much later than the birds to-night!" "I hear a Veery," said Rap, "and a Phoebe too." "Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will! Church!" cried a loud voice close by, and something like a long-winged Owl almost struck Olive with its wing as it flitted past. "Oh, my!" cried Dodo, waking suddenly, "that must be a Whip-poor-will, for he called his own name as plain as the Chickadee does; and listen! there are more of them all up the hill." Soon they passed Rap's house and left him at the gate. When the good old white horses trotted in the gate at Orchard Farm, Quick ran out, barking joyfully to tell them all that had happened during the day, and how he had guarded everything safely; but Dodo was fast asleep with her head on her uncle's arm. [Illustration: Whip-Poor-Will.] "De death lamb," said Mammy Bun, who came out to help them unload; "don' you go to wake her up, Massa Nat--ole amyl tote her up to bed. Dese am powerful healthy days for you chillness! And Massa Doctor and Miss Olive--if they ain' mare's half gone, too! 'Scorpions am terrible sleepy things--least when dere all over!" The Whip-poor-will Length nearly ten inches. A very large mouth, fringed with long bristles, useful as an insect trap. Plumage all mottled with gray, buff, and black, but the end half of three outside tail-feathers white, and a white breast-band. A Summer Citizen of the United States and Canada east of the plains; in winter from Florida southward. A member of the guilds of Sky Sweepers and Ground Gleaners. CHAPTER XXIII A LAUGHING FAMILY When the children had their uncle with them, and could listen to his stories, it seemed very easy to name the birds. But when they were alone it was quite a different matter. The birds had a way of moving on, at exactly the wrong moment. Of course they made some very funny mistakes, and at times grew quite discouraged.