THE WOODCOCK. 35 



When first the bluebirds twitter in the orchards and the 

 robins sing their morning songs, then may we look for the 

 coming of the woodcock; for the deep snows of our 

 northern clime have nearly gone, and the warm rains 

 have swelled the rills to rivers and moistened the loam 

 along their banks. 



Although it may freeze somewhat at night in the more 

 open glades, there are many streams flowing among the 

 hills and winding through the sheltered lowlands where 

 Jack Frost has performed his last work for the winter 

 gone. 



Here upon these banks, softened by the sun's warm 

 rays, woodcock feed, and here, later on, amid the alder- 

 covered environs and down in the bottom-lands, they nest 

 and rear their broods. 



Although they are well-known lovers of fens and 

 alder-glades, and generally nest in such places doubtless 

 from the fact of its being much easier to feed their young 

 still an occasional pair, wiser, perhaps, than their gen- 

 eration, or more willing to work for the support of their 

 family, will select some spot high and dry, even though 

 quite distant from their feeding-grounds; and whatever 

 the labor, they are well repaid, since there is not the 

 danger from heavy rains that continually threatens the 

 lower breeding-grounds. 



The woodcock, unlike the ruffed grouse, is satisfied 

 with a single mate, the choice being made in the course 

 of their flight, or just before setting out on their north- 

 ward journey; for soon after their arrival, the weather 

 being propitious, they commence a skilled and careful 

 inspection of the breeding-grounds, to find a suitable 

 nesting-place. This skill consists not in building for a 

 woodcock' s nest is rather a poor specimen of bird archi- 

 tecture but in selecting some spot where little effort is 

 required to construct a nest, and where the immediate 



