690 The American IVoodcock. 



beginning of the southward migration. It is, however, nothing more 

 than a collecting in favorite food localities of the " home birds " — 

 those which have spent the summer, or been reared, in the neighbor- 

 hood. 



The first true migratory movement of the woodcock usually fol- 

 lows a sharp frost early in October. The birds are not gregarious, 

 and for the most part move singly ; though two, three, and even four 

 have been seen flying together, and sometimes six or eight may be 

 started in succession from a single small piece of cover. The migra- 

 tion is performed during the night; though in dull, cloudy weather 

 there is some movement in the day-time. Their flight is low over 

 the fields, and sometimes half a dozen will pass by in an hour. This 

 low flight is swift and the birds are often killed by flying against 

 telegraph wires, and sometimes dash themselves against buildings. 



In New York and New Jersey, the woodcock may almost be con- 

 sidered as resident, for in mild winters a few birds are to be found 

 late in December and early in February. The bird does not seem 

 especially to dread the cold, but the freezing up of the ground cuts 

 off the supply of food, and so obliges it to move southward. Often, 

 however, in the coldest weather, an old fat bird may be found about 

 some warm spring hole, where the ground never freezes ; and here, 

 if undisturbed, it may remain all through the winter. 



The principal food of woodcock is the earth-worm, though they 

 also devour many insects which are to be found in the damp situa- 

 tions which they affect, and have been seen to catch butterflies. 

 The "angle-worm," however, is the main reliance of this species, and 

 the number of those which a single bird will devour in a given time 

 is astonishing. Audubon says that a woodcock will devour in a 

 single night more than its own weight in worms, and some experi- 

 ments on this point, recently made on a captive bird, entirely confirm 

 the' observations of the great naturalist. This specimen was appar- 

 ently a male, and weighed, at the time of its capture, five ounces. 

 His cage was two feet long and one deep, and had been fitted 

 up for him by covering the bottom with long, dry moss, except in one 

 end, where there was a box of wet earth, eight inches square and 

 three deep. The bird was fed altogether on earth-worms, and these 

 were buried, a few at a time, in the mud. From the first, this wood- 

 cock manifested very little fear of man ; and it was but a short time 



