Between the Tracks 



By GERALD ALAN ABBOTT 



With a photograph by the author 



DURING the spring migration, Waders patrol the beach along Muskrat 

 Creek. Twittering and waltzing, the American Dunlins, Solitary and 

 Spotted Sandpipers, track nervously over the mud-bars in search of 

 animal life. Four hundred yards to the south, the slough grass affords ample 

 protection for those peculiarly retiring birds, the Rails. Occasionally they 

 expose themselves while passing from one clump of vegetation to another. Their 

 broad footholds, caused by the spread of three lengthy toes, enable them to tread 

 over treacherous places too shaky for man. 



Between the tracks is a growth of sumach, willow, alder, hazel and briar. 

 This is a rendezvous for that "Owl among Snipe," the Woodcock. Dozens 

 of these 'Bog-suckers' are in this undergrowth every March and October. Many 

 are transients, making their summer home in more northerly latitudes. 



The residents begin to nest shortly after their arrival, and, on cloudy days, 

 or before and after sunrise, the atmosphere resounds with whistling wings and a 

 peculiar twitter of the cocks. Spiral ascensions, accompanied with a tremor of 

 wings, take the bird to a height of over one hundred feet. During this paroxysm, 

 the vocal cords are exerted to the full extent. The descent is a series of zig-zag 

 swoops, and the male alights within a few feet from where he arose. The object 

 of his affection is apt to be within close proximity, and is modestly pruning her 

 feathers or complacently squatting on her four yellowish brown eggs. 



The Woodcock does not hesitate to venture close to the habitation of man. 

 In one of our suburban towns, a Woodcock chose a clump of bushes in the rear 

 yard of a private residence. Suburbanites living in the timbered sections about 

 Chicago are well-to-do people, and their lawns and grounds are well irrigated 

 or w'atered. The Woodcock likes this, and he sallies forth after the shadows 

 of night have fallen, and feeds in the mellow soil under the sprinkler or by the 

 hydrant. 



Last spring, I invited a friend to tramp along Muskrat Creek and, leaving 

 him to doze on a bed of buttercups, I took up the trail of a Woodcock. Under a 

 clump of poplars the leaves were disturbed, and close inspection disclosed several 

 signs of my favorite wader. Close to a cow-path I found the male sitting on the 

 nest, beside a weather-beaten stumj) and with a south exposure. The shadow 

 fell evenly across the bird's back, and the effect of the color scheme, or "pro- 

 tective coloration" was splendid. I could determine the sex of the bird, because 

 the females are slightly larger. Next time I visited the nest the other bird was 

 incubating, and she looked to be fully an inch longer than her mate. 



The domestic life of the Woodcock is very impressive, despite the fact that 

 the birds themselves are comical-looking. Even the mother bird, while leading 

 her }-oung through the Inrush, presents a laughable appearance. The eyes are 



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