160 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN, 



Kails, become very fat. AVe do not pretend to assert that 

 Woodcocks feed only during the hours of twilight or moon- 

 light, but that, from the peculiar position and construction of 

 their eyes, they are far better calculated to move about at these 

 times than any other. 



The darker and more dense the covert, the better is it suited 

 for the haunt of Woodcocks, as their eyes, being so very large, 

 and set so far back in the head, they are enabled to collect 

 every faint ray of light that penetrates through the thickest 

 and most entangled foliage, and in such places they may be 

 seen running about and feeding during the bright sunshine. 



There is no Bird of which country people are more ignorant 

 than the Woodcock, as they are seldom seen by any except 

 those who go in quest of them in their wet and often dreary 

 haunts ; and the confiding and inquisitive Sportsman will often 

 be led astray if he listens to the silly reports of our agricultu- 

 rists respecting them, and perhaps find himself on the track of 

 a company of Sand-pipers, Woodpeckers, or other less dainty 

 and interesting Birds. 



FOOD. 



This timid and unsocial occupant of our woody delves and 

 rank marshes does not, as is erroneously supposed by many, 

 live by means of suction, but their food is composed of worms 

 and several species of larvae, which they find concealed under 

 the leaves and turf of the thickets, as well as in the open bogs. 

 Some Sportsmen assert that when Cocks are feeding, they strike 

 their long bills into the soil, and then raising their bodies high 

 on their feet, they open their wings and flutter round and round 

 until they have sunk their bill sufficiently far into the ground 

 to reach their prey. We do not know positively whether 

 Cocks perform these rather singular gyrations, or, more artisti- 

 cally speaking, " pirouettes," but must confess that we are rather 

 dubious on the subject, as, with our liberal opportunities of 

 observing the habits of Game Birds, we have never yet been 

 able to discover a Woodcock thus employed, although on one 

 occasion in particular we watched a couple feeding for more 

 than an hour, and only noticed them dexterously turn over the 



