American Woodcock. 211 



Small companies, from four to six in number, start together 

 upon the migratory tour. Low, swampy thickets invite 

 their presence upon reaching their destination. Here they 

 conceal themselves during the day, but when night has 

 gathered dark they come out of their grassy retreats and 

 wander about in quest of food. From the setting of the sun 

 behind the western hills to the appearance of the first streaks 

 of dawn in the east, they pursue their nocturnal rambles. 

 Few persons have visited these birds in their accustomed 

 haunts while foraging. Let me take the reader to some 

 neighboring swamp, or by the side of some lonely woodland, 

 which these birds delight to frequent. The utmost silence 

 must be maintained, or they will be frightened away. While 

 it will be difficult to see the creatures that have called us 

 hither, yet we know they are not far away by the rustle they 

 produce among the dry leaves, and by the peculiar notes 

 they emit. Chipper, chip-per, chip may be heard from the 

 right, and almost at the next instant it is varied to bleat or 

 bleat ta bleat ta, produced in the contrary direction, or off in 

 the distance, showing that the authors of these sounds have 

 changed their positions. While these birds have a habitual 

 fondness for humid thickets, they not infrequently betake 

 themselves to corn-fields and other cultivated tracts in close 

 proximity, and even to elevated woods. 



For more than a fortnight after their arrival the sexes, 

 though feeding in company, do not apparently manifest a 

 disposition to assume conjugal relationship. The desire for 

 food seems to outweigh every other consideration. The 

 inclemency of the weather, and the coldness of the earth, 

 may have much to do with holding the amatory forces in 

 check. But when the opportune period arrives, which it 

 does in the course of events, the sexes desist in a measure 

 from their riotous living and give the nobler instincts of 

 their being a chance to assert their power. The males are 

 the first to feel the changes which are being wrought in their 

 natures. For more than a week from the incipiency of this 



