274 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



In March and April the males execute their interesting 

 flight-song. From the low ground near some rocky pasture, 

 as dusk approaches, a harsh peent is heard, like a Night- 

 hawk's cry. This is repeated a number of times, and then 

 from the sky overhead there issues a series of whistling 

 sounds, interspersed with liquid notes like the syllables 

 whit, whit, whit. Then the peents begin again from the 

 ground. If an observer conceals himself near the open space 

 where the harsh peent is now heard, he will see the bird 

 come shooting down at the end of the flight and will see it 

 on the ground, facing now in one direction, and now in an- 

 other, as it utters the peents. If near enough, he will also 

 hear a curious p' tul, sometimes repeated several times in the 

 intervals between the harsh cries. The bird rises a number 

 of times, repeating the performance till it grows quite dark ; 

 then all is silent. If the same spot is visited before dawn, 

 the performance may be witnessed to still greater advantage, 

 as it will grow steadily lighter instead of darker. 



When a woodcock is flushed in the daytime, the long bill 

 and the short black tail are excellent field-marks. The snipe 

 is the only bird likely to be mistaken for it, but the wood- 

 cock is nearly always found in the cover of tree or bushes, 

 while the snipe lies in open marshy ground or meadows. 



PHALAROPES : FAMILY PHALAROPODID-5! 



Two Phalaropes occur off the coast of New York and 

 New England. Sometimes they are blown inland in large 

 flocks, but they are generally found many miles from land, 

 feeding on floating sea-weed or swimming lightly on the 

 ocean, but rising and flying off like sandpipers, when dis- 

 turbed by the approach of a vessel. The female Phalarope 

 is larger and more brightly colored than the male ; she is 

 said to do the courting, and to leave the task of incubation 

 to the male. 



