03/04/2025
John James Audubon is best known for his exceptional imagery of North American bird life but his prose describing encounters with these species in the American wilderness are just as moving.
He wrote of the Whippoorwill: “No sooner has the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, than this bird bestirs itself, and sets out in pursuit of insects… it balances itself in the air, in front of the trunks of trees, or against the sides of banks, to discover ants, and other small insects… their notes are heard in the dusk and through the evening, in every part of the thickets, and along the skirts of the woods. They are clear and loud, and to me are more interesting than those of the Nightingale. This taste I have probably acquired, by listening to the Whip-poor-will in parts where Nature exhibited all her lone grandeur, and where no discordant din interrupted the repose of all around. Only think, kind reader, how grateful to me must have been the cheering voice of this my only companion, when, fatigued and hungry, after a day of unremitted toil, I have planted my camp in the wilderness, as the darkness of night put a stop to my labours! … Description is incapable of conveying to your mind any accurate idea of the notes of this bird, much less of the feelings which they excite. Were I to tell you that they are, in fact, not strictly musical, you might be disappointed. The cry consists of three distinct notes, the first and last of which are emphatical and sonorous, the intermediate one less so. These three notes are preceded by a low cluck, which seems preparatory to the others, and which is only heard when one is near the bird.”
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