THE AMEBICAN WOODCOCK. 235 



companionable gun. Although this bird resembles, in 

 many respects, the snipe, in point of character it is essen- 

 tially different. For instance, snipe will, in the middle of 

 the day, without any perceptible reason, be seen taking 

 long and erratic flights, ascending so high that the keenest 

 sight fails to trace their course, and again wheeling about 

 in the heavens, as if they were creatures of extraordinary 

 momentary impulses ; one instant, with speed, dashing off 

 to the right, and in the next moment returning with equal 

 velocity. Not so with the woodcock ; they very seldom 

 take flight during the glare of daylight unless disturbed, 

 and then it is short, and only sufficient to avoid, if possi- 

 ble, the intruder a second time disturbing their privacy* 

 When on the wing unalarmed, they rarely elevate them- 

 selves above the tops of the neighbouring trees, and are 

 seldom seen before sunset or after sunrise, unless driven 

 from their bowery, shady retreats. The descriptions of 

 ground which they prefer are moist bottoms, close covered 

 woods of second-growth timber, and evergreen shrubs, or 

 dry ridges of maple, oak, and beech, where they turn over 

 the decaying leaves in search of insects. Although, as I 

 have stated, these birds have a strong dislike to taking 

 flight in the glaring light of day, yet, in searching for 

 them, you will always find more success attend your pur- 

 suit upon those declivities that receive the warm, genial 

 rays of the sun. In spring, when the woodcock are on 

 their migratory journey north from their winter residence, 

 they travel singly, but are followed in rapid succession by 

 others : consequently, where one day not a single specimen 

 could be seen, the day after they will abound. This has 



