DIRECTORY TO BIRDS OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 65 



a. Narrow -quilled "Woodcocks. Philohela. 



Very short-necked stout-bodied birds that live in swamps 

 and are protectively clad in dull reds and wood browns ; wings, 

 very short, folding at the base of tail, and with three prima- 

 Fig. 84. 



G, C, a, 1. 



ries, somewhat shorter than the fourth and much narrower 

 than the others, fig. 84; tibia, feathered to the tarsal joint. 

 Solitary in habit, or occasionally found in scattered flocks. 



1. AMERICAN WOODCOCK, P. MINOR. 11.00; dark 

 brown above, with three distinct bands of reddish-buff cross- 

 ing occiput, and otherwise finely banded with reddish-buff 

 and mottled with ashy brown ; forehead to eye, sides of head, 

 and tip of tail, ashy brown ; a dusky line from bill to eye ; be- 

 neath, reddish buff brightest on sides and flanks, ashy on 

 neck beneath ; downy young, rusty buff throughout, mottled 

 and spotted above with brown; iris, bill, and feet, brown. 

 Flight, direct and swift, with rapid wing-beats, sometimes 

 accompanied by a whistling sound, commonly supposed to be 

 vocal ; from early March to July gives what is known as the 

 sky song; the bird selects an open spot near its breeding 

 ground, to which it resorts at twilight; the performance be- 

 gins with the utterance cf a number of bleating notes not un- 

 like the cry of the nighthawk, but rather more tremulous and 

 not as sharp; this sound is repeated at regular intervals from 

 a few to many times, then the bird rises, and giving the whist- 

 ling flight-sound, describes a wide circle, two or three hun- 

 dred yards in diameter, but constantly ascending and circling 

 spiraliy, each successive circle being smaller than the last, 

 until he has reached a point at the apex directly above the 

 spot from which he had started, then he drops downward 



