UPLAND SHOOTING. 89 



leaves and stalks of grass, laid with very little art. The female 

 lays four, someliiues five eggs, about an inch and a half long, 

 and an inch, or rather more, in diameter, tapering suddenly to 

 the snuiU end. These are of a dull clay color, marked with 

 spots of brown, particularly at the great end, and interspersed 

 W'ith others of a very pale purple. The nest of the Woodcock 

 has, in several instances that have come to my knowledge, been 

 found with eggs in February, but its usual time of beginning to 

 lay is in April. In July, August and September, they are con- 

 sidered in good order for shooting. The Woodcock is properly 

 a nocturnal bird, feeding chiefly at night, and seldom stirring 

 about till after sunset. At such times, as well as in the early 

 part of the morning, particularly in the spring, he rises by a kind 

 of spiral course, to a considerable height in the air, uttering at 

 times a sudden quack, till having gained his utmost height, he 

 hovers around in a wild and irregular manner, making a sort of 

 murmuring sound, then descends with rapidity, as he rose. When 

 uttering his common note on the ground, he seems to do it with 

 difliculty, throwing his head toward the earth, and frequently jet- 

 ting up his tail. These notes and manoeuvres are most usual in 

 the spring, and are the call of the male to his favorite female. 

 Their food consists of various larvae and other aquatic worms, for 

 which, during the evening, they are almost continually turning 

 over the leaves with their bills, or searching in the bogs. Their 

 flesh is reckoned delicious, and prized highly. They remain 

 with us till late in the autumn, and, on the falling of the first 

 snows, descend from the ranges of the Alleghany to the lower 

 parts of the country, in great numbers — soon after which, viz., 

 in November, they move off^ to the South. This bird, in its gene- 

 ral figure and manners, very greatly resemble the Woodcock of 

 Europe ; but is considerably less, and differently marked below, 

 being an entirely distinct species. A few traits will clearly point 

 out these differences. The lower parts of the European Wood- 

 cock are thickly barred with dusky-waved lines on a yellowish- 

 white ground. The present species has those parts of a bright 

 ferruginous. The male, of the American species, weighs fiom 



