BIRDS OF KANSAS. 157 



sivelj during the night, as its sight is very imperfect by day. 

 Its eye is remarkably large and handsome, but unfit to bear the 

 glare of the sun, its full and almost amaurotic appearance plainly 

 suggesting the crepuscular habits of the bird. During the 

 greater portion of the day the Woodcock remains closely con- 

 cealed in marshy thickets or in rank grass; in the early morn- 

 ing or evening, and also on moonlight nights, it seeks its food 

 in open places, but during the daytime in dark and dense 

 coverts. 



' ' The favorite places of resort of this species are low marshy 

 grounds, swamps, and meadows with soft bottoms. During very 

 wet seasons it seeks higher land most generally corn fields 

 and searches for food in the soft ploughed ground, where its 

 presence is indicated by the holes made by its bill. In seasons 

 of excessive drought, the Woodcock resorts in large numbers to 

 tide-water creeks and the banks of fresh water rivers; but so 

 averse is it to an excess of water, that after continued or very 

 heavy rains it has been known to suddenly disappear over widely 

 extended tracts of country. 



"In October and November this bird forsakes its usual feeding 

 grounds, and resorts to tall, swampy woods, small streams over- 

 grown with bushes, and newly-cleared lands. Its favorite food 

 consists of larvae, insects and (more especially) worms. As the 

 approach of cold weather drives the latter deeper into the ground, 

 the Woodcock resorts to woods and brush lands, where it gleans 

 a subsistence on insects concealed under the leaves. That is 

 considered by sportsmen as the most favorable season in which 

 to shoot this bird, as it is then larger, fatter and more free from 

 vermin than at any other time. The best sportsmen contend 

 that the Woodcock should not be shot until the last of Septem- 

 ber or the first of October, and regard its destruction, when of 

 imperfect flight, as both barbarous in itself and certain to render 

 the race extinct, at least over portions of the country. 



"The food of this species consists chiefly of worms, and also 

 of several kinds of larvae, which it finds under leaves and the 

 debris of swampy woods and open bogs. The extreme portion 

 of its bill is well supplied with nerves, and is so extremely sen- 



