242 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



than a small proportion of the birds in a cover. So long as 

 there is no bag limit the sportsman is inclined to shoot every 

 bird he starts if possible. If he does not or cannot, the next 

 man will if he can, and so the birds are wiped out. 



So much has been written on the habits of this bird and its 

 pursuit that there remains little to be added here. I have 

 given some notes on its habits in Useful Birds and their Protec- 

 tion, but a few remarks that may be new to the general reader 

 are appended. 



The mother Woodcock's habit of flying off, when disturbed, 

 with her young held in her feet, or between her thighs, has 

 been noticed and recorded more than once; but Mr. William 

 H. Leonard of East Foxborough informs me that Mr. George 

 Hawes, when fishing in Trap Hole Brook, saw a Woodcock 

 carry her three young across the brook, one at a time, by 

 means of her toes and claws. 



My experience in rearing young Woodcock on bread and 

 milk, with a few worms and insects, which was finally ended 

 by an accident, leads me to believe that these birds might be 

 reared artificially, and experiments to this end should be made. 

 The Woodcock, however, lays so few eggs that only the most 

 rigid protection can prevent its decimation, and the hope of 

 increasing its numbers artificially is not great. 



A few notes about the migration of the Woodcock will be 

 necessary to a proper understanding of the considerations 

 which should govern legislation for its protection in Massa- 

 chusetts. We do not know precisely when the native-breeding 

 birds start on their southern migration, but gunners from 

 some of the hill towns west of the Connecticut River claim that 

 in the present open season (October 15 to November 15) they 

 get no Woodcock shooting whatever, for the native birds all 

 leave their localities in the Berkshire hills and go south or to 

 the lower land by early October, and that the later flight 

 birds (probably finding these hills cold and uninviting) do 

 not stop there; but there are some towns favorably situated 

 among the hills which are visited by the later flights, which 

 come down the Connecticut valley. At the opposite end of 

 the State the coast-line, always a highway of migration, offers 



