THE OOLOGIST 



Notes on the American Woodcock. 

 Phiolela Minor. 



My recollections of the Woodcock, 

 the pride of every true sportsman date 

 way back. In the '50's and '60's our 

 laws allowed the shooting of the Wood- 

 cock from the 4th of July, and many a 

 good bag was brought to town. It 

 is really a wonder that this game bird 

 has not been entirely exterminated. 

 My first find of those beautiful eggs 

 was accidental. Being out on a tramp 



having been subjected to the rays of 

 the sun, look as bright as if they had 

 been taken last year. 



The Woodcock is a fairly common 

 summer resident near Buffalo, arrives 

 from the south the third or fourth 

 week of March, and is next to the 

 Horned Lark, Great Horned Owl and 

 Migrant Shrike, one of the early 

 breeders. The nesting site is frequent- 

 ly chosen among bushes and second 

 growth in pastures or along the edge 



Woodcock on Nest 



for beetles, I stumbled, I might say, 

 on a deserted nest of Woodcock with 

 three eggs on the edge of a snowbank 

 in the present Forest Lawn Cemetery. 

 The feathers of the Woodcock were 

 strewn along the ground near the nest, 

 suggesting the idea that the pai'ent 

 bird had been the victim of an Owl. 

 This was the 16th of April 1864. I 

 harbor this end blown set in my col- 

 lection as a treasure. The eggs not 



of the woods. It is often placed at 

 the root of a bush or beside a log and 

 is a mere depression in the ground, 

 lined with a few dry leaves and 

 grasses. The compliment of eggs is 

 four. I have in my collection a set 

 of five, found the second week in 

 April. The eggs vary greatly in size 

 and coloring. I have them from 1.47 

 X 1.12 to 1.6.5 X 1.33. The color a 

 brownish clay to buff, or more gray- 



