Also wiston-. [Imitative, from the cry of the animal.] Native name for the PRAIRIE-DOG of N. America.
Used by Fenimore Cooper for whip-poor-will.
1806. Pike, Sources Mississ. (1811), 207. Some prairie squirrels, or wish-ton-wishes.
1826. J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xxii. ‘’Tis a pleasing bird,… and has a soft and melancholy note.’… ‘He speaks of the wish-ton-wish,’ said the scout.
1829. J. Richardson, Fauna Bor.-Amer., I. 154. The Wistonwish.
