too far away for me to be absolutely sure of 

 what all his motions meant. 



At first he took soft clay in his bill from the ~S? Woodcock 



J , Ir'^Jl 



edge of the water and seemed to be smear- 

 ing it on one leg near the knee. Then he 

 fluttered away on one foot for a short dis- 

 tance and seemed to be pulling tiny roots 

 and fibers of grass, which he worked into 

 the clay that he had already smeared on his 

 leg. Again he took more clay and plas- 

 tered it over the fibers, putting on more and 

 more till I could plainly see the enlargement, 

 working away with strange, silent intentness 

 for fully fifteen minutes, while I watched and 

 wondered, scarce believing my eyes. Then 

 he stood perfectly still for a full hour under 

 an overhanging sod, where the eye could 

 with difficulty find him, his only motion 

 meanwhile being an occasional rubbing and 

 smoothing of the clay bandage with his bill, 

 until it hardened enough to suit him, where- 

 upon he fluttered away from the brook and 

 disappeared in the thick woods. 



I had my own explanation of the incred- 

 ible action, namely, that the woodcock had a 



