May, 1S93.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



79 



American 'Woodcock. 



The American Woodcock is very seldom 

 found in the vicinity of Detroit now, but 

 there are still a few swamps where they can 

 be found. In one of these swamps about 

 three miles from the city I first made my 

 acquaintance with their nest. The swamp 

 was a dense mass of brush and tall weeds 

 on the northern side of Voight's woods. On 

 May 24, 1 89 1, I started out here, hoping to 

 collect a few sets of eggs, with my chum, Harry 

 Allis. We had fair luck and were returning 

 homeward when I started a female 'Wood- 

 cock from nearly under my feet, and there 

 was a nest containing two nearly full-fledged 

 young. The nest was only a slight hollow, 

 lined with fine grass. I hid a short distance 

 off, and soon I heard the old bird chuckle 

 and call to the young, much like the com- 

 mon domestic hen does. The young crept 

 out of the nest, and crept slowly away, hid- 

 ing under the plants as they went. The 

 next day. May 25, I went out alone to the 

 swamp, and found two other nests contain- 

 ing young ; the first had three young who 

 could fly a little, and the second two half- 

 fledged young. I was feeling rather dis- 

 couraged over the result, although I knew it 

 was very late for them. Going on farther to 

 a denser part of the swamp, I had seated 

 myself on a hillock when I espied a nest 

 containing four eggs in a clump of bushes 

 under a small tree. The nest was composed 

 of dried grass and leaves, and was quite a 

 large structure. The eggs were very hand- 

 some, being a creamy buff, dotted with red- 

 dish brown, and were a trifle incubated. I 

 felt so elated o\er my find that I just stood 

 and looked at them for several minutes until 

 my senses came back, and then I packed 

 them carefully in my collecting box. On 

 June 8th I went out again with J. Claire 

 Wood, and we flushed several and Mr. Wood 

 shot two. Since then the swamp has been 

 burnt down and ploughed up. This was 

 my first and only set of eggs. On June i, 

 1889, H. .'\llis and I went collecting in a 



dense swamp east of Highland Park. We 

 had a good success, getting a set of four 

 Myrtle Warblers, two Black-billed Cuckoos, 

 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, etc. I started a 

 Woodcock from a clump of bushes, and she 

 circled around and around the place, and 

 seemed very disinclined to leave. I searched 

 carefully for the nest, but without success, 

 although I am certain one was there. The 

 Woodcock is a very wary bird, and you can 

 seldom surprise them. In fact they usually 

 surprise you by their sudden uprising and 

 the peculiar noise made by their wings. 

 The Woodcock is a summer resident here, 

 arriving the latter part of March and staying 

 till October. They are nocturnal and re- 

 main in dense underbrush unless flushed. 



B. H. Sxva/cs. 



Detroit, Michigan. 



Breeding Habits of the Ruby-throat 

 at Ballston, New York. 



This little gem in feathers arrives from its 

 winter home in Guatemala and Mexico 

 about the loth of May, the males usually in 

 advance of the females. After devoting 

 about two weeks to rollicking and courtship 

 they proceed to find a suitable location for 

 their nest. In this different members dif- 

 fer very much, some choosing high, open 

 woodlands, others dense thickets, but by far 

 the greater number resort to the orchard 

 near the abode of man, and there, on a hori- 

 zontal limb at no great distance from the 

 ground, they commence the construction of 

 one of the handsomest of nests, composed 

 of vegetable down and covered with lichens 

 which are held in place by numerous cob- 

 webs. This piece of bird architecture is 

 built by both birds and takes from five to six 

 days to complete. The female then deposits 

 her complement of eggs and incubation be- 

 gins at once and is the work of the female, 

 the male standing guard, or securing food 

 for his mate. .\t the end of 8 or 9 days 

 the young are hatched, and then for the 

 next two weeks the parent birds are kept 

 busy from daylight until dark finding food 

 for these hungry mites. At the end of this 

 time they are large enough to leave the nest, 

 and in a few days more are left to shift for 

 themselves. About the first of September 

 they are off for the south, the old ones a few 

 days in advance of the young. 



/i. 5'. Ingersoll. 



