Birds of Indiana. 699 



bery. Then, at silent intervals, a single strange and rather startling 

 note, a loud, sharp and somewhat nasal speed or spneat, which sounded 

 as if delivered with a spiteful directness at some offensive object." 



Audubon says they ascend in these spiral girations fifty or more 

 yards in height, and he thought the sounds made after reaching the 

 ground were calls to the female, who, hearing them, flies to the male. 

 After pairing comes nestiug. The nests are generally but depressions 

 in some higher, dry spot in a swamp or wet woods or underbrush. I 

 have, however, found the nest among the bushes on a sandy knoll over 

 a hundred yards from water or swampy ground. There is much that 

 is generally known regarding its habits in summer and fall, but few 

 comparatively are they who have seen its eggs- or observed its 

 breeding habits or heard its song. I have foimd its nest and eggs 

 March 34 (1884) and as late as April 16 (1881). Mr. G. G. William- 

 son found them at Muncie March 29, 1889, and I have records from 

 other localities, different years, as early as March 38 and 23. 



Mr. V. H. Barnett, Spearsville, observed an old Woodcock, "with 

 four 3^oung, as large as chickens, just hatched, April 13, 1894," and 

 Mr. Oliver Davie records young seen near Cleveland, 0., as early as 

 April 9. It is a fact, attested by careful observers, that the Wood- 

 cock will carry its young away from danger between its feet. By July 1 

 the young are quite well grown; in most cases are as strong of Aving as 

 the parents. Then shooting begins. They still frequent.the same choice 

 cover until the dry, late summer hardens the ground and absorbs the 

 water and they are driven by necessity from much of their feeding 

 ground to seek more desirable places. The summer of 1894 was 

 very dry. Through August of that year, the late Mr. C. F. Goodwin, of 

 Brookville, observed a Woodcock in his yard night after night for at 

 least two weeks. His home was on the principal street of the town; the 

 ground was heavily sprinkled and was soft and the grass green and 

 well trimmed. The bird came close to his window and was quite tame. 

 The yard was lighted by an electric street light, so its actions could 

 easily be noted with a glass. The bird would busy itself by the hour 

 prodding the ground with its bill, and every little while would pull 

 out a worm. They have the power of moving the tip of the upper 

 mandible, so they can use the bill as a forceps to withdraw their food. 

 In the American Field, Vol. XLIV, December 38, 1895, my friend, 

 Mr. L. H. Haymond (a son of the pioneer in Indiana ornithology), 

 has contributed an excellent article on this bird from the standpoint 

 of a sportsman. Its habits are so changeable, and so frequently it is 

 the unexpected that happens, that this writer says he is almost com- 

 pelled to deduce the maxim "never to be surprised at an3d;hing a 



