American Woodcock. 213 



none but the cruel collector would be likely to find, they 

 hide away their nest. The structure is generally placed on 

 the ground, at the foot of a bush or tussock, in the midst of 

 small birches or alders, or on a decayed stump or prostrate 

 log. In certain localities, it is snugly nestled in the midst of 

 a meadow. It is by no means an elaborate affair, but merely 

 consists of a few dried leaves or grasses which are scratched 

 together by the female, and the work of a few brief hours at 

 the most. 



Being ready for occupancy, the female soon commences 

 to deposit her eggs. These, to the number of three or 

 four, are laid one at a time on consecutive days. Ovi- 

 position, in the Southern States, commences in February or 

 March, while in the northern limits of the bird's range from 

 the tenth to the fifteenth of April, seldom later. Both birds 

 perform the labor of incubation, and so attentive are they to 

 the business that it is an unusual occurrence to find both 

 absent from the nest at the same time. When the female is 

 sitting the male busies himself in attending to the demands 

 of hunger ; and when her turn has come the care of the nest 

 is resigned to her noble, conscientious lord. So faithfully do 

 they keep to the nest that nothing short of the most menac- 

 ing danger will compel them to leave. The approach of a 

 team or a pedestrian, even when within a few feet of its 

 location, has not been known to startle them. But when 

 the danger is quite imminent the sitting bird slips out of the 

 nest and makes her way into the tall grasses, where, hidden 

 from view, she becomes a silent and sorrowful witness of any 

 disaster that may befall her home. Should no destruction 

 be perpetrated, and the intruder has gone his way, she cau- 

 tiously comes out of her place of concealment and resumes 

 her labors. But she has learned a very impressive lesson, 

 for on a second visit to the nest no bird is to be seen. 

 Apprised of the coming of danger, she has slipped out in 

 time to escape detection. Thus, patiently, persistently and 

 unweariedly these faithful creatures apply themselves by 



