Their weird cries are reflected in the common names for many of the species, e.g., whippoorwill, chuck-will's-widow, poorwill, poor-me-one, potoo, and pauraque.    From Wordnik.com.  [languagehat.com: ORNITHONOMY.] Reference

Now they heard the distant baying of house-dogs, now the doleful call of the chuck-will's-widow, and once Mary's blood turned, for an instant, almost to ice at the unearthly shriek of the hoot owl just above her head.    From Wordnik.com.  [Standard Selections A Collection and Adaptation of Superior Productions From Best Authors For Use in Class Room and on the Platform] Reference

The sough of the tidal surf breaking upon the beach, the occasional cry of a soaring sea-bird, or the more continuous and melancholy note of the chuck-will's-widow, do not attract their attention.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Flag of Distress A Story of the South Sea] Reference

There were many whippoorwills, or rather Brazilian birds related to them; they uttered at intervals through the night a succession of notes suggesting both those of our whippoorwill and those of our big chuck-will's-widow of the Gulf.    From Wordnik.com.  [Through the Brazilian Wilderness] Reference