The Collaborative International Dictionary
Caprimulgus \Caprimulgus\ n. the type genus of the Caprimulgidae, including the whip-poor-will ( Caprimulgus vociferus) and the chuck-will's-widow ( Caprimulgus carolinensis).
Syn: genus Caprimulgus.
Caprimulgidae \Caprimulgidae\ n. [L. capris goat + mulgere to milk.] a widely distributed natural family of nocturnally active birds including the whip-poor-will ( Caprimulgus vociferus), the chuck-will's-widow ( Caprimulgus carolinensis), and the common nighthawk ( Chordeiles minor); -- called popularly the goatsuckers or nightjars. The nighthawks are sometimes active during the day.
Syn: goatsuckers, nightjars, family Caprimulgidae.
The family . . . is alternately known as the
nightjars (derived from the "churring" sounds of
several species -- "jarring" the night air), or
goatsuckers, a nonsense name that should be
discontinued as it has its origin in the
preposterous myth that the birds sucked the milk
of nanny goats until they were dry.
--Terence
Michael Short
(Wild Birds of
the Americas)
Usage examples of "whip-poor-will".
On the third or fourth of May I saw a loon in the pond, and during the first week of the month I heard the whip-poor-will, the brown thrasher, the veery, the wood pewee, the chewink, and other birds.
I was not only nearer to some of those which commonly frequent the garden and the orchard, but to those wilder and more thrilling songsters of the forest which never, or rarely, serenade a villager-the wood thrush, the veery, the scarlet tanager, the field sparrow, the whip-poor-will, and many others.
At length, however, the mournful notes of a whip-poor-will became blended with the moanings of an owl.