CHAPTER XIII. 

 THE WOODCOCK. 



Its various names — Nests and ej^gs — Grotesque wooers — Mode of carry- 

 ing the young— Dutiful raotliers — Method of transporting the 

 young — Gourmands — Haunts— The lazy season — Cocker spaniels — 

 Charges for a gun — Fire-hunting in the Southern States — Best 

 month for shooting woodcock — The moulting period — Frequent 

 cornfields in September — How to cook woodcock. 



The woodcock [Philohela minor), which is also known 

 as the woodsnijic and the bog-sucker, is smaller than its 

 European congener, the adult males seldom averaging 

 over eight ounces in weight. The upjjer portions of the 

 woodcock are gray, brown, black, and russet, and the 

 lower reddish-brown. The mating season opens in April, 

 soon after the birds return from the south, and reaches 

 its climax in two or three weeks. The males are ardent 

 and grotesque wooers, for they strut before the females 

 with their tails spread out, and their rigid wings sweep- 

 ing the ground, like so many miniature turkey cocks. 

 After strutting for awhile, they rise spirally into the air 

 to a height of two or three hundred feet, then drop like 

 a rocket beside the hens, and JDlayfully dart at them with 

 their bills extended. They are very active with voice and 

 wing on moonlit nights, for they serenade the females 

 most persistently, though their song is anything but 

 melodious, it being a hollow, ringing sound of zisb zisb. 

 When the hen is ready to lay, she builds a nest of grass 

 and leaves on the ground beside a shrub, log, or tussock, 

 and often conceals it with sedges or " brush " to protect 

 it against enemies. She then deposits her eggs, which 

 are generally confined to four in number, though she oc- 

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