434: ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



exactly ovoidal. The}^ exhibit great variations in size, some 

 specimens from Bristol County, Massacliusetts, averaging 

 1.80 by 1.25 ; and others from the south and west averag- 

 ing; only 1.45 by 1.15 ; others from Western Massachusetts 

 average about 1.50 by 1.20, being nearly rounded ; and one 

 from J. P. Norris, found in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 

 is abruptly pyriform, being in dimensions 1.45 by 1.20 inch. 



Both birds assist in incubation ; and they are so unwill- 

 inoc to leave the nest at this time, that I have known of an 

 ox-team being frequently driven within a foot of a bird 

 without starting her from the nest, and have heard of in- 

 stances of tlie eggs being removed from beneath the sitting 

 bird without her taking flight. The food of the Woodcock 

 consists of w^orms and animalculse, which it secures by 

 thrusting its bill into the soft earth and beneath the dead 

 leaves and grass in swamps and other wet places. I have 

 also found spiders in its stomach. 



The holes where the bill is thus thrust in the earth are 

 called, by sportsmen, " borings ; " and the presence of the 

 bird is detected by them, as none of our wood-birds make 

 any similar " signs." 



In the latter part of July and during tlie month of 

 August, while the birds are moulting, they retire to the 

 most secluded localities ; and it is difiicult to find them at 

 that season. In September, during the continuance of dry 

 weathei-, they frequent cornfields and ditches ; and I have 

 seen them searching for worms in the mud in a sink drain 

 within a few yards of a dwelling-house. 



At this season they are also found in swales and meadows, 

 and in such localities thev are very easilv shot, their flio:ht 

 having none of the vivacity that it displays in the woods 

 and swamps. 



