AMERICAN WOODCOCK 111 



in search of safe hiding places they looked not 

 nnlike ''chipmunks," as we call our ground 

 squirrels. If disturbed with her brood the 

 mother bird has been known to take up a little 

 one, holding it closely pressed between her legs 

 and body, and fly away to safer quarters, re- 

 turning and making separate trips until in this 

 manner the whole brood has been placed in a 

 less dangerous neighborhood. 



This gentleman is not a hardy bird but a lover 

 of ease, comfort and plenty. So he chooses his 

 homes mainly in mild climates, and while in our 

 Middle States he is to some extent resident, 

 with us here in the north he is only a visitor 

 during our warmer seasons, our New England 

 winters leaving him small chance for a living. 

 They regularly breed from the central United 

 States (and rarely even further south — I be- 

 lieve there are records of this occurrence in the 

 State of Florida) almost if not quite to the Arc- 

 tic Circle. In their fall flights they go even to 

 South America, though it is doubtful if many 

 venture so far. Their migratory flights take 

 place at night, so that a cover which to-day is 

 barren and profitless, to-morrow may be full of 

 scurrying brown birds busily engaged in boring 



