From the gloomy woods of this valley issues the northern branch of the Bronx.* On the east side of the Dark Valley rises Whippoor-will Hill, an appellation given to it on account of its being a haunt of that wellknown bird.6 "The notes of this solitary bird, (observes Wilson, the ornithologist,) from the ideas which are naturally associated with them, seem like the voice of an old friend, and are listened to by almost all with great interest. At first they issue from some retired part of the woods, the glen or the mountain ; in a few evenings, perhaps, we hear them from the adjoining coppice, the garden fence, the road before the door, and even from the roof of the dwelling house, long after the family have retired to rest. Some of the more ignorant and superstitious consider this near approach as forebodings of no good to the family -- nothing less than sickness, misfortune, or death, to some of its members. These visits, however, so often occur without any bad consequences, that this superstitious dread seems on the decline. He is now a regular acquaintance. Every morning and evening his shrill and rapid repititions are heard from the adjoining woods ; and when two or more are calling out at the same time, as is often the case in the pairing season, and at no great distance from each other, the noise, mingling with the echoes from the mountains, is really surprising." " These notes seem pretty plainly to articulate the words which have been generally applied to them -- Whip-poor-will -- the first and last syllable being uttered with great emphasis, and the whole in about a second to each repetition ; but when two or more males meet, their Whip-poor-will altercations become much more rapid and incessant, as if each were straining to overpower or silence the other." " Towards midnight they generally become silent ; unless in clear moonlight, when they are heard, with little intermission, till morning.