SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC. 153 



228. Philohela minor (Gmel.). AMERICAN WOODCOCK. Ad. Front 

 of the crown slaty, washed with buff, an indistinct blackish line in its center, 

 and another from the eye to the bill ; back of the head black, with two or 

 three bars of ochraceous-buff; rest of the upper parts black, margined with 

 slaty and barred and mottled with rufous or ochraceous-buff; tip of the tail 

 ashy gray above, silvery beneath ; under parts between ochraceous-buff and 

 rufous ; three outer primaries very narrow and much stiffened. L., 11-00 ; 

 W., 5-40 ; Tar., 1-25 ; B., 2-90. 



Range. Eastern North America north to Labrador and Manitoba, breed- 

 ing nearly throughout its range, but not commonly in the southern part of it ; 

 winters from southern Illinois and Virginia southward. 



Washington, rather common from Feb. to Nov.; a few winter. Long 

 Island, common S. K. ; a few winter. Sing Sing, common S. K., Feb. 19 to 

 Dec. 2. Cambridge, S. K., formerly common, fast becoming rare ; Meh. to Nov. 



Nest, of a few dry leaves, on the ground in the woods. Eygs, four, buffy, 

 distinctly and obscurely spotted witli shades of rufous, 1-60 x 1-23. 



During the spring and early summer this Owl among Snipe haunts 

 low, wooded bottom-lands ; in August, while molting, it resorts to corn- 

 fields near woods, and in the fall migrating birds frequent wooded up- 

 lands. But at all times it requires a soft, moist earth in which it may 

 easily probe with its long bill for its fare of earthworms. The holes 

 it makes are known as ' borings." They are generally found in little 

 groups, and are, of course, certain evidence of the presence of Wood- 

 cock. It has recently been discovered by Mr. Gurdon Trurnbull that 

 the Woodcock can move the tip of its upper mandible independently 

 of the lower one, and this organ is made to act as a finger to assist the 

 bird in drawing its food from the ground. 



The flight of the Woodcock is sometimes accompanied by a high, 

 whistling sound produced by its narrow, stiffened primaries in beating 

 the air. When flushed near its nest or young, the parent bird gen- 

 erally feigns lameness or a broken wing, and leads the intruder some 

 distance from its treasures before taking wing. 



The cloak of night always lends a certain mystery to the doings of 

 nocturnal birds, and more often than not their habits justify our un- 

 usual interest in them. How many evenings have I tempted the ma- 

 laria germs of Jersey lowlands to watch the Woodcock perform his 

 strange sky dance ! He begins on the ground with a formal, periodic 

 peent, peent, an incongruous preparation for the wild rush that follows. 

 It is repeated several times before he springs from the ground and on 

 whistling wings sweeps out on the first loop of a spiral which may 

 take him 300 feet from the ground. Faster and faster he goes, louder 

 and shriller sounds his wing-song ; then, after a moment's pause, with 

 darting, headlong flight, he pitches in zigzags to the earth, uttering as 

 he falls a clear, twittering whistle. He generally returns to near the 



