FOUR NOTABLES 209 
mornings, I have seen the Woodcock probing, with their 
long, sensitive, pointed bills, with which they can feel 
like fingers, in the muddy ground back of the river woods 
for the worms, and such like, upon which they feed. It 
was my father, himself, who took me one evening, even 
though it was bedtime, to these same woods to hear the 
Woodcock’s courting dance and song.” 
“T didn’t know any game-birds could sing,” said 
Tommy. 
“They are not classed with song-birds, and yet in court- 
ing time, most birds have some sort of musical speech in 
addition to their call notes; you know that even Crows 
sometimes succeed in singing. But this love-song varies 
with the individual bird more than it does with the birds 
that are real vocalists. 
“The Woodcock feed chiefly at dawn and twilight, 
and it is easy to tell where they have been by the little 
holes in the mud left by the bill. This spring night 
father took me to the wood edge, and drew me to him, to 
keep me still while we waited —for what? I was soon to 
know. 
“Presently a half-musical ery came out of the gather- 
ing darkness, and was repeated and echoed by several 
others. Then a rush, as if a bird had flung himself into 
the air and opened his wings at the same time; next, a 
whirring sound as the bird circled skyward and vanished, 
his notes falling behind him, but before I realized what 
was going on, the bird dropped straight as a Hawk, 
balanced on his toes, gave a low, musical cry, and began 
again; for thus it is that the Woodcock tries to please 
and win his mate. 
ae 
