WOODCOCK 1 1 



varying extent, when he piped a few preparatory notes 

 at little intervals before starting into his full tide of 

 song; third, the song itself, filling perhaps fifteen sec- 

 onds; and finally, the dart to earth, with wings half 

 closed, made in silence. The intervals between flights 

 ranged between thirty and sixty seconds. 



"The song notes were as clear and liquid as a bobo- 

 link's, and fully as musical. During the production 

 of these the whistle of the wings could be plainly heard 

 as a sort of accompaniment to the vocalism." 



I think no such good description of the woodcock's 

 song has before been given. Many observers mention 

 only a single note, somewhat like the ordinary call 

 of the night hawk, which he continues for some time, 

 and then suddenly pitches downward from his height, 

 and drops into cover. Here the female is waiting for 

 him, and about her he struts, with head thrown back, 

 wings trailing and tail spread, a parody on the turkey 

 cock of the farmyard.* The nest is a rude structure 

 of dead leaves and grass, and is usually placed under 

 a fence, or by a log in some thick swamp, or perhaps 

 on a tussock or bit of high ground in an alder run. 

 The eggs are generally four in number, and are of a 

 dull cream color, marked with large spots of bright 

 or dull brown. 



In No. 2 of Vol IX, of the Bulletin of the Buffalo 

 Society of Natural Sciences, are found "Notes on 



*Some years ago I contributed to the Century Magazine arti- 

 cles on the woodcock and the snipe, from which, by the cour- 

 tesy of the Century Company, I am ^permitted to make extracts 

 for the present chapters on those birds. 



