OF NEW ENGLAND. 391 
fore the first of June, and mature in about eighteen days. The 
young leave the nest immediately, and find the greater part of 
their own food, though the hen sometimes offers them a few 
morsels. At this time, the latter part of June, and indeed 
through the rest of the summer, the young broods commonly 
frequent low, moist grounds in thick coverts, where food is 
abundant and water at hand, and there they are sure to be met 
with in a search for summer Woodcock. Should a brood be 
disturbed, while still with the hen, the latter feigns lameness, 
and decoys the intruder away, suffering him to put his hand 
almost upon her, uttering a clucking of anxiety, until she 
thinks him at a safe distance from her young, when she darts 
off on the wing, her chicks having meantime hidden, and leaves 
the deluded victim of this pretty ruse to wonder alone. Some- 
times, she even bristles up and attacks the offender, as well 
as she can, and much like a brooding hen. 
If the first nest be destroyed, a second hatching is often en- 
tered upon. The young increase rapidly in size, and by the 
first of September are two-thirds grown. Until then they re- 
main more or less together in a covey, and, if undisturbed, 
even do so until the following spring. While young, they 
suffer severely from exposure to unusual weather, especially to 
cold and heavy rains, which are very destructive. Moreover, a 
species of wood-tick attacks them in summer, inserting its tri- 
angular head beneath the skin. It is said to be especially dan- 
gerous, when it attaches itself to the bird’s head or neck, but, 
at all events, many birds suffer from it. They are also often 
infested with lice, and are occasionally troubled by a kind of 
bott-worm, which resembles a large maggot, and which must 
be fatal, since it reaches the flesh. 
In the first part of the shooting-season, whether it be Sep- 
tember or October, tolerable sport may be had with the birds 
over a gun, if they have not been disturbed previously, and 
if they are abundant and in passable woods, though in the 
wilderness or rough forest they can only be shot while sta- 
tionary, as the woods are usually too thick and encumbered to 
allow of shooting at them on the wing. In such places, or 
