BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 119 



observations resulting in the discovery of several nests within 

 a hundred yards of his barn. For as much as five years after 

 the observation of the borings, part of which passed before 

 his knowledge of their real cause, these birds returned to the 

 same place, but new nests were constructed each season. He 

 was able to secure me all the eggs of Woodcock that I desired, 

 and allowed me full opportunity to share all his observations 

 during the last year of their return. The extension of the 

 streets of the city demanding the removal of the barn, thicket, 

 and the soft, mucky springhole, put an everlasting end to 

 their return. One of the nests alluded to seemed to have been 

 constructed entirely of leaves, while another had a large mix- 

 ture of dried grasses. Still, in the larger number of instances 

 it consists only of leaves, with very little attempt at architec- 

 ture. The choice of the place for the nest is perhaps more 

 commonly a meadow rather than a thicket, and in a clump of 

 small willows, alders or birches, wherein are accumulated 

 many leaves of the previous year out of which to construct 

 them. The period of incubation is fourteen days. That time 

 is made equal to a much longer one, by the circumstances of 

 the male occupying the nest in the absence of the female to pro- 

 cure herself food. It was remarkable to me to see how tena- 

 ciously the sitting bird would cling to the nest in the immediate 

 presence of danger, allowing me to almost reach it with my 

 hand before slipping off and flying away. At other than the 

 time of incubation, they shift their feeding grounds in what 

 appears a most capricious manner, but really under the indica- 

 tions of the weather, a circumstance familiar to expert Wood- 

 cock hunters. Their flight is spirited and rapid, and attended 

 with a twittering note that is very characteristic. They have 

 a remarkable habit of poising a moment on their wings when 

 they have been flushed, in which position they are pretty sure 

 of death from the sportsman's shot, if he is accustomed to 

 shooting Woodcock, and it is the only position in which any 

 one except an expert will be likely to harm them, for they 

 drop out of sight as if killed when they disappear again. 

 They are rapid runners and hard to flush the second time, but 

 will stand for a dog to point as long as almost any other bird 

 in the sportsman's calendar. During the latter part of the 

 summer, they disappear until early in September, or even a 

 little later, it being their moulting season, when it is nearly 

 impossible to find them, indeed I must say that I have never 

 quite satisfied myself where they go. 



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