sensitive bill to penetrate. Then he slips 

 away southward to the next open spring or 

 alder run. Not far away, on Shippan Point, 

 is a little spring that rarely freezes and whose 

 waters overflow and make a green spot even 

 in midwinter. The point is well covered 

 with houses now, but formerly it was good 

 woodcock ground, and the little spring always 

 welcomed a few of the birds with the wel- 

 come that only a spring can give. Last 

 year, at Christmas time, I found a woodcock 

 there quite at home, within a stone's throw 

 of two or three houses and with snow lying 

 deep all around him. He had lingered there 

 weeks after all other birds had gone, either 

 held by old associations and memories of 

 a time when only the woodcock knew the 

 place ; or else, wounded and unable to fly, 

 he had sought out the one spot in all the 

 region where he might live and be fed until 

 his wing should heal. Nature, whom men 

 call cruel, had cared for him tenderly, heal- 

 ing his wounds that man had given, and giv- 

 ing him food and a safe refuge at a time 

 when all other feeding-grounds were held 



