THE AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



(^TPSN'T this American Woodcock, 

 or indeed any member of the 

 family, a comical bird? His 

 (i j I head is almost square, and 

 what a remarkable eye he has ! 

 It is a seeing eye, too, for he does not 

 require light to enable him to detect 

 the food he seeks in the bogs. He 

 has many names to characterize 

 him, such as Bog-sucker, Mud Snipe, 

 Blind Snipe. His greatest enemies 

 are the pot hunters, who nevertheless 

 have nothing but praise to bestow 

 upon him, his flesh is so exquisitely 

 palatable. Even those who deplore 

 and deprecate the destruction of birds 

 are not unappreciative of his good 

 qualities in this respect. 



The Woodcock inhabits eastern 

 North America, the north British 

 provinces, the Dakotas, Nebraska and 

 Kansas, and breeds throughout the 

 range. 



Ni^rht is the time when the Wood- 

 cock enjoys life. He never flies vol- 

 untarily by day, but remains secluded 

 in close and sheltered thickets till twi- 

 light, when he seeks his favorite feed- 

 ing places. His sight is imper- 

 fect by day, but at night he readily 

 secures his food, assisted doubtless by 

 an extraordinary sense of smell. His 

 remarkably large and handsome eye is 

 too sensative for the glare of the sun, 

 and during the greater part of the day 

 he remains closely concealed in marshy 

 thickets or in rank grass. In the 

 morning and evening twilight and on 

 moonlight nights, he seeks his food in 

 open places. The early riser may find 

 him with ease, but the first glow from 

 the rays of the morning sun will cause 

 his disappearance from the landscape. 

 He must be looked for in swamps. 



and in meadows with soft bottoms. 

 During very wet seasons he seeks 

 higher land — usually cornfields — and 

 searches for food in the mellow 

 plowed ground, where his presence is 

 indicated by holes made by his bill. 

 In seasons of excessive drought the 

 Woodcock resorts in large numbers to 

 tide water creeks and the banks of 

 fresh water rivers. So averse is he to 

 an excess of water, that after continued 

 or very heavy rains he has been known 

 suddenly to disappear from widely 

 extended tracts of country. 



A curious habit of the Woodcock, 

 and one that is comparatively little 

 known, is that of carrying its young 

 in order to remove them from danger. 

 So many trustworthy naturalists main- 

 tain this to be true that it must be 

 accepted as characteristic of this inter- 

 esting bird. She takes her young from 

 place to place in her toe grasps as 

 scarcity of food or safety may require. 



As in the case of many birds whose 

 colors adapt them to certain localities 

 or conditions of existence, the patterns 

 of the beautiful chestnut parts of the 

 Woodcock mimic well the dead leaves 

 and serve to protect the female and 

 her young. The whistle made by 

 their wings when flying is a manifest- 

 ation of one of the intelligences of 

 nature. 



The male Woodcock, it is believed, 

 when he gets his " intended " off" en- 

 tirely to himself, exhibits in peculiar 

 dances and jigs that he is hers and 

 hers only, or rises high on the wing 

 cutting the most peculiar capers and 

 gyrations in the air, protesting to her 

 in the grass beneath the most earnest 

 devotion, or advertising to her his 

 whereabouts. 



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