until they are satisfied, when she leaves them 

 in hiding again and feeds for herself during 

 the rest of the night. Like most other young 

 birds and animals when left thus by their 

 mothers, they never leave the spot where 

 they have been told to stay, and can hardly 

 be driven away from it until the mother 

 returns. And generally, when you find a 

 brood of young woodcock without the mother, 

 they will let you pick them up and will lie as 

 if dead in your hand, playing possum, until 

 you put them down again. 



When there is a good feeding-ground near 

 at hand, yet too far for the little chicks to 

 travel, the mother will take them there, one 

 by one, and hide them in a secret spot until 

 she has brought the whole family. Two or 

 three times I have seen woodcock fly away 

 with their young; and once I saw a mother 

 return to the spot from which, a few moments 

 before, she had flown away with a chick and 

 take another from under a leaf where I had 

 not seen him. This curious method is used 

 by the mothers not only to take the young 

 to favorable feeding-grounds, but also to get 



