300 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The Woodcock lays her eggs where there is a shght elevation of ground 

 in the swamp, or in the midst of the woods. I have found the nest in 

 Ontario count\' in dry oak and pine woods on hilltops at an elevation of 

 2000 feet, but usually the lowland woods are preferred. There is slight 

 attempt at nest -building, the eggs being laid on the dry leaves, or a few 

 dried grasses and bits of leaves drawn together for a bed. They are four 

 in number, ovate in shape, of a buffy color spotted with reddish brown and 

 purplish gray, and average 1.56x1.22 inches in dimensions. The young 

 are covered with a rusty buff-colored down, marked above with deep chest- 

 nut, and follow their mother soon after hatching. Within two weeks they 

 are able to fly a short distance, but usually escape their enemies by lying 

 absohxtely still among the brush and leaves. The old bird is deeply attached 

 to her young and when they are disturbed flutters about the intruder 

 uttering a pitiable whining sound and frantically endeavors to distract 

 one's attention and lure him from the chicks. They also cling closely to 

 their nests when incubating and will often allow themselves to be raised 

 from the eggs with a stick or even by the hand rather than desert them. 

 After a severe snowstorm in early April Mr Edward Reinecke of Buffalo 

 found several nests of woodcock by tracking the hens over the snow and, 

 noticing where they had sat down or scratched on the surface, he dug down 

 and found the eggs buried under several inches of snow. 



Gallinago delicata (Ord) 

 Wilson Snipe 



Plate 32 



Scolopax delicata Ord. Wilson's Ornithology. 1825. 9:218 

 Scolopax wilsoni DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 256 

 Gallinago delicata A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 2. 1895. No. 230 



gallina'go, Lat. (from gallina, a hen), henlike; delica'ta, delicious 



Description. Upper parts black, striped and mottled with buffy whitish; 

 foreneck and breast ocherous buff obscurely mottled with blackish; throat 

 and belly white ; sides and under wing coverts and axillars barred with black; 

 under tail coverts buffy marked with blackish; wings dusky, the coverts 

 tipped or mottled with whitish, and outer edge of first primary white; 



