of his
daytime nap. But he had to admit to himself at last that his efforts
were in vain. It was plain that Willie was too sleepy to understand
what was said to him. And as for his learning a new song when he was
in that condition, that was entirely out of the question.

"I'll have to wait till sunset," Jolly Robin sighed at last. "That's
the time that Willie always wakes up and begins to sing.... I'll come
back here late this afternoon."

So he left the woods; and he was busy every moment all the rest of
the day.

Shortly before sunset Jolly Robin went back to the place in the woods
where he had left Willie Whip-poor-will sleeping. But Willie was no
longer there. He had left only a few minutes before Jolly's arrival.
And as Jolly sat on a low branch of a tree and looked all around, just
as the sun dropped behind the mountain, a voice began singing from
some point deeper in the woods. "_Whip-poor-will! Whip-poor-will!_"
That was the way the song went.

"There's Willie now!" Jolly Robin exclaimed. And he flew off at once
to find his night-prowling friend. He knew that Willie Whip-poor-will
was some distance away, because he couldn't hear the low "_chuck!_"
with which Willie always began his song, as a sort of warning that he
was going to sing, and that nobody could stop him.

Jolly had a good deal of trouble finding the singer, because Willie
Whip-poor-will didn't stay in one place. Between his bursts of song he
coursed about hunting for insects, which he caught as he flew. So it
was not surprising that Jolly did not come upon him until it had grown
almost dark in the woods.

"Hullo!" said Willie as soon as he saw Jolly Robin. "I haven't seen
you for a long time."

Jolly Robin laughed merrily.

"Don't you remember my calling on you about noon to-day?" he asked.

"You must be mistaken," Willie Whip-poor-will replied. "I've been
asleep since sunrise--until a little while ago. And nobody came to see
me."

"You've forgotten," said Jolly. "But it's no matter. I can talk to you
now just as well. I want to speak to you about your singing." Jolly
paused then; and he yawned widely, for it was his bed-time that very
moment.

"Talk fast, please!" said Willie Whip-poor-will. "I haven't finished
my breakfast yet. And I'm pretty hungry."

It seemed queer, to Jolly Robin, that anyone should be eating his
breakfast right after sunset. And he was about to say something about
the matter. But just as he opened his mouth to