BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 119 
observations resulting in the discovery of several nests within 
a hundred yards of his barn. For as much as five years after 
the observation of the borings, part of which passed before 
his knowledge of their real cause, these birds returned to the 
same place, but new nests were constructed each season. He 
was able to secure me all the eggs of Woodcock that I desired, 
and allowed me full opportunity to share all his observations 
during the last year of their return. The extension of the 
streets of the city demanding the removal of the barn, thicket, 
and the soft, mucky springhole, put an everlasting end to 
their return. One of the nests alluded to seemed to have been 
constructed entirely of leaves, while another had a large mix- 
ture of dried grasses. Still, in the larger number of instances 
it consists only of leaves, with very little attempt at architec- 
ture. The choice of the place for the nest is perhaps more 
commonly a meadow rather than a thicket, and in a clump of 
small willows, alders or birches, wherein are accumulated 
many leaves of the previous year out of which to construct 
them. The period of incubation is fourteen days. That time 
is made equal to a much longer one, by the circumstances of 
the male occupying the nest in the absence of the female to pro- 
cure herself food. It was remarkable to me to see how tena- 
ciously the sitting bird would cling to the nest in the immediate 
presence of danger, allowing me to almost reach it with my 
hand before slipping off and flying away. At other than the 
time of incubation, they shift their feeding grounds in what 
appears a most capricious manner, but really under the indica- 
tions of the weather, a circumstance familiar to expert Wood- 
cock hunters. Their flight is spirited and rapid, and attended 
with a twittering note that is very characteristic. They have 
aremarkable habit of poising a moment on their wings when 
they have been flushed, in which position they are pretty sure 
of death from the sportsman’s shot, if he is accustomed to 
shooting Woodcock, and it is the only position in which any 
one except an expert will be likely to harm them, for they 
drop out of sight as if killed when they disappear again. 
They are rapid runners and hard to flush the second time, but 
will stand for a dog to point as long as almost any other bird 
in the sportsman’s calendar. During the latter part of the 
summer, they disappear until early in September, or even a 
little later, it being their moulting season, when it is nearly 
impossible to find them, indeed I must say that I have never 
quite satisfied myself where they go. 
9z 
