230 BIRDS IN THEIR RELATIONS TO MAN. 



the corn-fields, where it finds an abundance of worms, grass- 

 hoppers, and otheir insects, the shade of the tall corn being 

 quite as agreeable to these birds as the tangles of the swamp. 

 Later they return to the runs, but after the leaves have begun 

 to fall they may often be found on high ground, in hard-wood 

 forests, or among the high shrubbery of neglected pastures. 

 Here they turn over leaves, looking for hidden insects and 

 lame that lie underneath. This is in October when the 

 woodcock is at its best. A curious feature of a woodcock's 

 bill, recently discovered, is that it is able to bend its upper 

 mandible upward towards the point, which must aid it in the 

 process of feeling about for worms deep in the soft earth. 



"The growing scarcity of woodcock," writes Dr. A. K. Fisher, 

 "is a matter of serious alarm, and one demanding prompt 

 action. It must be remembered that there is far more diffi- 

 culty in saving it from extinction than in preserving gallina- 

 ceous birds, such as quail and grouse. In the case of these 

 birds, with their extraordinary fecundity, it is not difficult to 

 restore a depleted covert ; for with the addition of a few im- 

 ported birds, aided by a short term of protection, they should 

 soon reach their former abundance. With the woodcock,- 

 however, the situation is different ; for the impracticability of 

 restocking, the nature of the food, the migratory habits, and 

 the small number of young are serious obstacles to successful 

 restoration. Quick and effective measures are needed. In 

 many localities in the North where twenty-five years ago a 

 fair shot with a good dog could secure forty or fifty birds in a 

 day's hunt, it is doubtful if ten per cent, of the former bag 

 could now be obtained. During the past autumn (1901) the 

 writer visited hundreds of acres of good woodcock ground in 

 northern New York without flushing a bird or seeing any 

 considerable signs. Reports as to the scarcity of birds come 

 from numerous points, and even in the most favored localities 

 the decrease within the past twenty years has been fifty to 

 sixty per cent." 



