BIRDS OF KANSAS. 159 



notes, which are continued until a late hour in the evening; and 

 the same are sometimes heard in the early morning. This pe- 

 culiarity is mentioned by several writers, but the song is spoken 

 of by some as a succession of cries, by others as a series of 

 whistling notes. Lewis mentions it as occurring in the morning, 

 and only occasionally at night. The Woodcock rises in the air 

 by a kind of spiral motion to a considerable height, uttering its 

 notes from time to time, until, having gained a certain elevation, 

 it circles around in a wild, irregular manner, at the same time 

 making confused and murmuring sounds; it then descends as 

 rapidly as it rose. When it attempts to utter these notes on the 

 ground, it seems to do so with difficulty, throwing its head 

 toward the earth and erecting its tail. These manoeuvres and 

 this song are only noticed in spring, and unquestionably are the 

 love song of the male to his mate. 



"Its period of incubation is three weeks. The young bird 

 when first hatched is not capable of active movement, and may 

 be very easily caught. This species is said to have frequently 

 two broods in a season. The female exhibits great ingenuity 

 in her endeavors to conceal her young and to draw away intrud- 

 ers, fluttering over the ground, dragging her body heavily along 

 as if wounded and incapable of flight, and then flying to a short 

 distance, repeating these manoeuvres until she has enticed her 

 pursuers sufficiently far, when she suddenly takes wing, and re- 

 ' turns to her offspring by a circuitous route." 



On the 25th of May, 1874:, while slowly moving about in the 

 low bottom timber lands, near Neosho Falls, Kansas, I came 

 across an old bird with several young, at least one-fourth grown; 

 the moment I appeared in sight the mother uttered a sharp alarm 

 note (the little ones hiding like magic), fluttering about as de- 

 scribed above, rapidly uttering her warning note, until I was 

 within ten feet, when she suddenly grasped a little one with her 

 toes, and in a low and laborious manner flew about thirty yards 

 and dropped it in a thicket, then swiftly winged herself away. 



These birds nest on the ground in the timbered lands, along 

 the streams and about the ponds, usually under an old log or at 

 the foot of a stump; a loosely-constructed nest of old leaves and 



