418 GAME-BIRDS. 



of New England, on the other hand, a good bag of Quail is 

 the best test of a sportsman's skill. A successful pursuit of 

 them requires the utmost vigilance and activity, a sure hand, 

 strong nerves, and great quickness together with nice obser- 

 vation. Their flight, late in the season, is much more rapid 

 than that of the Woodcock or Snipe. They are, moreover, 

 exceedingly tenacious of life. Their habits of capricious 

 wandering, of rapid running, of dropping suddenly like 

 stones, of resorting to trees, and of seeking covers which are 

 thick or rendered impenetrable by briers, necessitate vigor, 

 a certain aim, and a familiarity with their habits. 



d. The principal notes of the Quail, which we have al- 

 ready spoken of, are both whistles. One (which is somewhat 

 like the whistle of the Great Crested Flycatcher) is a single 

 call-note, uttered as if the breath were drawn in at the latter 

 part, and is employed at all times of the year. The other is 

 heard in spring and summer, and consists of two or three 

 loud notes, of which each is higher than the preceding. 

 This latter is very well known, and is familiar to nearly all 

 persons who live in the country. The Quail have also a few 

 low twitterings, not audible at any great distance, and a 

 chuck, 



§ 32. SCOLOPACID^. Snipe, etc. 

 I. PHILOHELA. 



A. MINOR. ^^^ (^American') Woodcock. In New Eng- 

 land, most abundant as a migrant, but locally common as a 

 summer resident.* 



129 The larger European Woodcock Its occurrence as an occasional strag- 



{Scolopax rusticola) is said to have oc- gler is highly probable, however, for 



curred in New England as a straggler. « it has been killed in Newfoundland, on 



In this species, only the outer wing- Long Island, in New Jersey, and in 



feather (or first primary) is attenuate, Virginia. — W. B. 



i. e., extremely narrow.'' In the Amer- ^ This is an error, for in the Euro- 



ican species tliree of the primaries pean Woodcock the first primary is not 



present this appearance. attenuate, but is broad like the rest. — 



" The grounds on which this state- W. B. 

 ment was made are not obvious, for, so * The Woodcock breeds throughout 

 far as I am aware, no fully identified most of New England, and very corn- 

 specimen of the European Woodcock monly still in many of the more remote 

 has ever been taken in New England, parts of Maine, New Hampshire, and 



