122 FIELD SHOOTING. 



birds have lost their nests or their young 

 through floods in the breeding-time, they rear a 

 late brood. The woodcock arrives north in 

 March, and generally builds in -April. Much 

 depends, however, upon the earliness or lateness of 

 the spring, which sometimes varies nearly a 

 month. Its nest has been found in March in 

 very early situations, but it is believed that in 

 such cases they were those of old birds which 

 had passed a mild winter in some chosen, 

 sheltered spot, and never gone south at all. It 

 is reasonable that after having made its migra- 

 tion from the far south to the latitude of New 

 York, Illinois, Michigan, and Canada, the birds 

 would require some weeks for restoration before 

 laying their eggs. The nest is made on the 

 ground, in a piece of woods or brushy swamp, 

 and is composed of grass and leaves. The hen 

 lays four, sometimes five eggs, and the young 

 run as soon as hatched ; the little ones are 

 active and rather cunning at hiding, though not 

 to such an extent as the chicks of the ruffed 

 grouse. The woodcock displays the same care 

 and manifests as much devotion to her young as 

 the ruffed grouse, and employs the same expe- 

 dient of simulating lameness to draw off an in- 



