American Woodcock 147 



on the ground, in a group of white birches. They put to 

 flight on my appearance, and, on examining the place where 

 they had been, I found a large Milk Snake. This reptile is a 

 noted devourer of birds and, while I discredit the tales of 

 "snake charming" that I have heard, I could not help wonder- 

 ing if His Snakeship had managed somehow to hypnotize the 

 Woodcocks. At any rate the spell was broken when I 

 appeared. In two minutes the snake was dead. I have never 

 found the nest of the Woodcock and I know of no one who 

 has found it in Albany County. Nevertheless, it without 

 doubt breeds here sparingly. Four darkly colored eggs are 

 laid, early in the Spring, in a depression in the dead leaves 

 on the ground. 



