THE OOLOGIST 



39 



ish, with numberless chocolate brown 

 surface markings and stone-gray shell 

 spots. (Coues). 



During the breeding season, the 

 soaring flight of the male bird is an 

 interesting sight and one that compar- 

 atively few observers have been priv- 

 iledged to witness. Loitering in their 

 favorite haunts at dusk one's atten- 

 tion is first attracted by a rather harsh 

 call note, — a sort of a squawk, uttered 

 by the bird, while on the wing. By 



denly drop.s down in a zigzag course 

 to the s])Ot from which it started. 

 It then struts for a few minutes and is 

 off again on another flight. 



It requires an experienced eye to 

 detect the brooding bird as its plum- 

 age blends so naturally with the sur- 

 roundings. 



Sometimes the weather is very un- 

 favorable for them as in the Spring 

 of 1904, when we found the Woodcock 

 in hard luck. In our locality from 



Woodcock on Nest 



going cautiously in the direction of 

 the call, making advances only when 

 the bird is in the air, it is possible to 

 approach within a few feet of the spot 

 from which it started and to which it 

 will return after each flight. After 

 sweeping along the ground for about 

 forty yards, it ascends spirally into 

 the air, until almost out of sight in the 

 increasing darkness. It continues to 

 soar for a short time and then sud- 



the frst to the thirteenth of April is 

 usually the time to look for full sets 

 of their eggs. That year was no ex- 

 ception to the rule, although at the 

 time referred to, we had been visited 

 by a heavy snow storm which covered 

 the ground to the depth of several 

 inches. The snow had been partially 

 melted by the sun, but froze hard 

 during the ensuing night. Two days 

 later another snow storm occurred. 



