118 NOTES ON THE 
who are interested in the natural history survey of Minnesota 
are not sportsmen. Itis essentially a nocturnal bird, beginning 
its movements in search of food at the early twilight and ter- 
minating them only at the opening day. As the food consists 
of animalcules, insects and worms chiefly, and the bill is long, 
slim and slender, it must find pools of stagnant water, and soft, 
muddy soil in which to secure it. When visiting such localities, 
the borings of their bills in soft mucky places, will often attract 
the experienced eye, and result in the early capture of a brace 
of these birds. Often times during the spring and summer, I 
have determined their presence in some favored locality by 
hearing their notes in the night. These consist of several 
forms or variations, the principal ones of which are more 
nearly expressed by chip-ah, chip-ah, chip, and another some- 
what resembling tweet, tweet, tweet-ah, tweet-ah, dc. 
If not already mated when they reach this latitude, they are 
soon after, for by the fifth to the tenth of April the nests are 
constructed, and the eggs laid. These are from three to four 
in number,-of a creamy-drab, with a little shade of olivaceous, 
more or less spotted with reddish-brown and lilac. Both sexes 
participate in the sacrifices of incubation, and vie with each 
other in faithfulness to the eggs and young, the latter being 
fed by them until about full grown. I think the new family re- 
mains unbroken till their southern migration has taken place, 
unless broken by their destruction. 
T have found them as late as the fifteenth of October, yet I 
am satisfied that this is exceptionally late for the larger part 
of them. In every respect the Woodcock is unique. In struct- 
ure, it certainly is so remarkable that the commonest observer 
would at once recognize it. No other bird has its eyes so near 
the top of its head, a characteristic so marked as to lead 
to the identity by anyone who ever saw a plate of it, or even 
had read a popular description of it. Its nocturnal habits are 
such that it may be comparatively abundant in a given locality 
without the slightest suspicion of its presence, until familiar 
with its ‘“‘borings” which may be numerous in the immediate 
vicinity of the residence. For years this was the case with 
a family residing near the banks of the Mississippi, within the 
limits of this city. The borings had yearly been noticed near 
the stable and attributed to worms, while the bird tracks asso- 
ciated with them were credited to snipe that came to feed upon 
them. As soon as an intimation of their real origin came to 
the gentleman residing there, he began a series of careful 
