THE OOLOGIST 



11 



set." There are three distinct types 

 in that set of four. 



"There is another place just over 

 the shore line of Lake Michigan where 

 the Philohela Minor lurks from mid- 

 dle March to early August. We will 

 go out there to-morrow. The place is 

 grown up with pucker bush, roses and 

 alders. An ideal place and harboring 

 at least three pair of Owl Snipe. Old 

 hunters tell me, prior to 1900, no less 

 than fifteen pairs arrived there in ear- 

 ly Spring and on July 4th, when the 

 season opened for Woodcock shooting, 

 some hunters secured fifteen birds in 

 a day. Only two fellows had access 

 to the place, and they kept it "under 

 their hat," realizing the possible de- 

 struction of the entire Woodcock tribe 

 if the place we frequented by indis- 

 creet hunters. These two men were 

 true sportsmen and they never visit- 

 ed the place but once a year." 



Ralph, interested in taking migra- 

 tion notes, did not meet me as agreed, 

 so I hoofed it alone. Making a bee- 

 line for one of the choicest spots in 

 the brush. I stopped to survey the 

 black soil. The two handsome males 

 were sitting side by side under a little 

 popular; one jerked up his tail and 

 strutted over the ridge, the other took 

 flight in the same direction. 



Beating back and forth in the copse, 

 I detected an egg under the leaves at 

 the base of a grape vine. The bird 

 had cunningly covered her product 

 and only a tenth of the shell was vis- 

 ible through the dead leaves. Five 

 days later I returneil with my camera 

 friend, and we made four successful 

 exposures, three of parent on nest, 

 and one of the eggs. Thinking she 

 would lay a second set the place was 

 revisited and two weeks later I found 

 her squatting in the midst cf a few 

 briers near a wooded path fifty yardo 

 from the first nest. She jumped from 

 her domain revealing a most unique 



clutch of three eggs, two normal in 

 size and the third decidedly a runt, not 

 larger than a Tow-hee's egg. 



I went to Poplar Lake on May 1st, 

 1909. It was a typical March day. A 

 heavy, wet snow had been falling and 

 the wind was blowing forty miles an 

 hour. A ridge extends along the shore 

 of the Lake and this is sheltered by 

 elms and hazel sprouts. Peabody 

 Birds and Juncos were dodging in and 

 out among the brush piles and oc- 

 casionally a little Winter Wren dart- 

 ed out almost beneath my feet. Un- 

 der a fallen limb and surrounded by 

 snow flakes, (not Snow Buntings) was 

 a large Woodcock covering a well 

 formed, deeply cupped nest in a soft 

 bed of leaves and grass. She winked 

 occasionally and I was sure this was 

 not in keeping with an incubating bird. 

 Undoubtedly she was covering an in- 

 complete set, only to protect them 

 from the inclement weather. To dis- 

 turb a Woodcock while laying, or cov- 

 ering an incomplete set, often causes 

 her to abandon the nest entirely, so 

 1 withdrew without Intruding further. 



A few days later after a warm thaw, 

 she was visited by myself and camera 

 lr:end. The madam had settled down 

 very complacently and permitted us 

 to make several exposures with the 

 lens only one and one-half feet from 

 her The rest held four very richly 

 marked eggs, evenly spotted with 

 chestnut brcwn, one of the prevailing 

 shades in a Woodcock's plumage. 

 GERALD ALAN ABBOTT. 



Notice No. 259. 



With this issue of The OOLOGIST 

 we drri) all subscribers from our 

 broks whose numbers are below 2.59. 

 This we hate to do but the post office 

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