THE OOLOGIST 



41 



on the eggs; or possibly the large 

 amount of falling snow made the bird 

 shift her position until by the con- 

 stant moving the eggs were covered 

 with snow; then the next day the 

 other egg was deposited as before 

 mentioned. Then the second snow 

 fall occurred which the bird could 

 not withstand and so finally desert- 

 ed the nest and eggs. 



We found several more nests in the 

 same way on that day, and in each 



roundings. Plate No. 3. Then my son 

 Ed. cititt u)) towards the nest and by 

 cutting away some twigs, dry grass 

 and herbage showed the bird more 

 clearly. Plate No. 1. 



He now crept nearer and with a 

 slender twig three feet long raised the 

 bill up and down as shown on Plate 

 2, finally getting closer he took ahold 

 of the bill with his fingers when the 

 Woodcock flushed from the nest, ex- 

 posing a fine set of four eggs. Plate 

 No. 4. 



Woodcock, Nest 



case the eggs \\ere found as describ- 

 ed. 



In the Spring of 190S we were for- 

 tuate in securing good photographs 

 of the Woodcock, for in its breeding 

 time this wary bird loses much of its 

 shyness, as will be shown by the illus- 

 trations. 



Having located a bird on the nest, 

 we first took the picture, which shows 

 how its colors blend with the sur- 



and Eggs 



During all this time, the Male bird 

 was close at hand, sometimes within 

 five or six feet. 



Close by we found to our astonish- 

 ment a pair of Woodcock strutting 

 around us, not more than five or six 

 feet away. They reminded us of a 

 turkey ccck as they went along with 

 heads erect and bills pointing down- 

 ward close to their breasts. We used 

 every effort to find their nest without 



