434 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



of two shades of brown, and obscure spots of lilac. They 

 are less pyriform than the eggs of any other birds in this 

 group, being often almost exactly ovoidal. They exhibit 

 great variations in size, some specimens from Bristol County, 

 Massachusetts, averaging 1.80 by 1.25; and others, from 

 the south and west, averaging only 1.45 by 1.15 ; others 

 from Western ^Massachusetts average about 1.50 by 1.20, 

 being nearly rounded; and one from J. P. Norris, found 

 in Chester County, Pennsylvania, is abruptly pyriform, being 

 in dimensions 1.45 by 1.20 inch. 



Both birds assist in incubation ; and they are so unwilling 

 to leave the nest at this time, that I have known of an ox- 

 team being driven within a foot of a bird, without starting 

 her from the nest. The food of the Woodcock consists of 

 worms and animalculse, which it secures by thrusting its bill 

 into the soft earth, and beneath the dead leaves and grass 

 in swamps and other wet places. 



The tongue of the bird is coated with a thick saliva ; and 

 the worms sticking to it are drawn out and devoured. The 

 holes where the bill is thus thrust in the earth are called, 

 by gunners, " borings ; " and the presence of the bird is 

 detected by them, as none of our wood-birds make any simi- 

 lar. The old bird, if shot in the summer, when she has 

 young, often has her mouth full of small worms ; and this' 

 proves that she feeds her chicks until they are nearly full 

 grown. The flight of the Woodcock is rapid, and always is 

 accompanied by a sharp twitter. When the bird is flushed, 

 it ascends quickly to the height of the trees ; and, after 

 hovering a few seconds, it alights on the ground, within a 

 few rods of the point from which it first flew. 



In the latter part of July, and during the month of 

 August, while the birds are moulting, they retire to the 

 most secluded localities ; and it is difficult to find them 

 at that season. In September, during the continuance of 

 dry weather, they frequent cornfields and ditches ; and I 

 have seen them searching for worms in the mud in a sink 



