CHAPTEK VI. 



AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



(Microptura Americana.} 



THESE woodcocks are undoubtedly migratory, passing 

 the winter in the genial South and the summer in the 

 North; they are also nocturnal, doing all their travel- 

 ling at night. From the peculiar formation of the eye, 

 their sight is much better after the sun has declined. 

 Strong light is their detestation, for, judging from 

 their conduct when flushed in the noonday glare, 

 their optics are then of little use, hence the idea that 

 is so frequently current that this bird is stupid. Such 

 is not the case, but quite the reverse, experience having 

 taught me that they are as capable as any other of 

 availing themselves of artifices and hiding-places that 

 are likely to throw out the dog, or shelter them from 

 molestation. This bird, although undoubtedly of the 

 same family, must not be confounded with the European 

 (Scolopax rusticola), which is coloured differently in 



