118 NOTES ON THE 



who are interested in the natural history survey of Minnesota 

 are not sportsmen. It is essentially a nocturnal bird, beginning 

 its movements in search of food at the early twilight and ter- 

 minating them only at the opening day. As the food consists 

 of animalcules, insects and worms chiefly, and the bill is long, 

 slim and slender, it must find pools of stagnant water, and soft, 

 muddy soil in which to secure it. When visiting such localities, 

 the borings of their bills in soft mucky places, will often attract 

 the experienced eye, and result in the early capture of a brace 

 of these birds. Often times during the spring and summer, I 

 have determined their presence in some favored locality by 

 hearing their notes in the night. These consist of several 

 forms or variations, the principal ones of which are more 

 nearly expressed by diip-ah, cMp-ah, chip, and another some- 

 what resembling tweet, tioeet, tweet-ah, tweet-ah, &c. 



If not already mated when they reach this latitude, they are 

 soon after, for by the fifth to the tenth of April the nests are 

 constructed, and the eggs laid. These are from three to four 

 in number, of a creamy-drab, with a little shade of olivaceous, 

 more or less spotted with reddish-brown and lilac. Both sexes 

 participate in the sacrifices of incubation, and vie with each 

 other in faithfulness to the eggs and young, the latter being 

 fed by them until about full grown I think the new family re- 

 mains unbroken till their southern migration has taken place, 

 unless broken by their destruction. 



I have found them as late as the fifteenth of October, yet I 

 am satisfied that this is exceptionally late for the larger part 

 of them. In every respect the Woodcock is unique. In struct- 

 ure, it certainly is so remarkable that the commonest observer 

 would at once recognize it. No other bird has its eyes so near 

 the top of its head, a characteristic so marked as to lead 

 to the identity by anyone who ever saw a plate of it, or even 

 had read a popular description of it. Its nocturnal habits are 

 such that it may be comparatively abundant in a given locality 

 without the slightest suspicion of its presence, until familiar 

 with its "borings" which may be numerous in the immediate 

 vicinity of the residence. For years this was the case with 

 a family residing near the banks of the Mississippi, within the 

 limits of this city. The borings had yearly been noticed near 

 the stable and attributed to worms, while the bird tracks, asso- 

 ciated with them were credited to snipe that came to feed upon 

 them. As soon as an intimation of their real origin came to 

 the gentleman residing there, he began a series of careful 



