THE OOLOCIST. 



10? 



vated position, I ventured into a por- 

 tion of the swamp where progress is 

 laborious, unless equipt with garments 

 that are impregnable against briars 

 and fallen branches. A few minutes 

 elapsed, before my companion was 

 summoned to a thicket where the sob- 

 eiiy outlined figure of aPhilohela iirin- 

 or was visible under the shelter of a 

 projecting shrut)., The nest was on a 

 slight knoll of leaves and contained 

 four slightly incubated eggs. 



Six days later, I was lured to an- 

 other "cover," consisting mostly of 

 hazel and willow brush. I disturbed a 

 male woodcock and within a radius of 

 one hundred yards, the mate was 

 "squatting" 'neath a sheltered bunch 

 of twigs midst a tall growth of pop- 

 lar. The bird vacated her nest under 

 protest, revealing four long pointed 

 eggs with markings of subdued brown, 

 chiefly about the larger end. 



Many of the plaoes selected by the 

 Woodcock for breeding purposes are 

 apt to be burned over, cut down, or 

 pastured. 



The next day was spent in a lo- 

 cality frequented by cattle. In a 

 portion of this timber where dead 

 branches and stalks were conspicuous, 

 I discovered four very dark eggs of 

 the Woodcock lying under a fallen 

 branch, with a space not to exceed one 

 inch between the eggs and limb, 

 which was lying horizontally over the 

 nest. It is my impression that some 

 domestic animal in wedging its way 

 through this tangle had broken off the 

 limb which had fallen upon the sit- 

 ting bird. The Woodcock in the strug- 

 gle to extricate herself from this pre- 

 dicament undoubtedly kicked the eggs 

 rather vigorously, as they were slight- 

 ly imperfect, from claw marks. After 

 blowing them, I managed to prepare 

 three good specimens out of the set. 



'Tis a frequent occurance for incu- 

 bating Woodcocks while springing 

 from their nests, to disturb the eggs, 



so that they roll about quite con- 

 si:icuously for a few seconds after the 

 bird has been flushed. 



During the middle of April, several 

 old Woodcocks were encountered with 

 young, showing they had been un- 

 daunted by the severe dampness, 

 which caused some formation of ice 

 and snow. 



It was well into the month of May 

 and ordinarily far too late to expect 

 anything in the way ofWoodcocks less 

 advanced, than partially fledged young 

 ijut I had an intuition that one pair 

 were lingering about a little tract of 

 timber. I investigated this section on 

 May 11th, and after a prolonged hunt, 

 about concluded I had entertained a 

 wrong conception regarding the situa- 

 tion. I had caught a glim.pse of a male 

 that was dozing on the mellow soil 

 among some little bushes and could 

 not content myself with the feelings 

 that he was a bachelor. In exploring 

 every little dumb of grass and pile 

 of brush I finally noticed two freshly 

 laid eggs slightly buried among the 

 fallen leaves after the manner of a 

 wild duck, who eovers her eggs until 

 she is ready to "sit." With some dif- 

 ficulty this copse was marked and up- 

 on making a second trip a few days 

 later, I found the parent at home. 

 This nest was situated in an ideal 

 spot and the eggs were more beautiful 

 than any I had previously found dur- 

 ing the season. The back ground is 

 a dark rusty brown and the markings 

 are innumerable spots of deep red. 

 Gerard Alan Abbott, 

 Chicago, Illinois. 



The author begs leave to announce 

 that his "Catalogue of the Erycinidse 

 of the World," with the synonomy 

 brought down to Oct. 1904, is now 

 running through press and will be 

 ready for distribution some time dur- 

 ing May. 



As the edition will be limited, gentle- 

 men and librarians who are interested 



