Apr. IQ07] PROCEEDINGS s. I. ass'n arts and sciences. 1 13 



regret to say that I neglected to inquire about the swallows for the 

 years 1899 and 1900. 

 April 28, 1892. 



25, 1893. 



26, 1894. They commenced to sing- on the 29th. 

 ]| 24, 1895. 



20, 1896. Very warm. 



24, 1897. Swallows seen on the i8th but they did not go in 

 the barn until the 24th. 



30, 1898. Flying about the barn. Cold for past week. 



May 2, 1901. Late spring. 



April 30, 1902. Seen flying about the barn, but did not go in. 



30, 1903- 



24, 1904. 



Mr. Howard H. Cleaves exhibited a skin of a male woodcock and 

 read the following paper: 



A FEW NOTES ON THE AMERICAN WOODCOCK, PhUoJicla minor (Gmel.). 



This bird is known generally to a great many people in a vague sort 

 of way, but few have become intimately acquainted with it. Exhaus- 

 tive and accurate information relative to the habits and traits of the 

 woodcock is far more difficult to accumvdate than it is to record notes 

 on birds that appear to us to be more numerous. 



In the spring the woodcock returns from the South as soon as tht- 

 frost is out of the ground, and is a resident until cold weather again 

 returns in the fall. It begins to breed almost as early in the season as 

 the barred owl and the American crow, and its nest is ten times more 

 difficult to locate than either. 



As a food and game bird the woodcock is very popular, v>hicli 

 accounts for its rapid disappearance in the vicinity of New York. 



Mr. William T. Davis captured a woodcock near Egbertville on the 

 fourth of July, 1885, with an insect net. The bird apparently supposed 

 itself unobserved, and sat still, as is the habit of the species, but in 

 this instance it staid too long. The bird appeared to be in good 

 health and flew away vigorously enough when released. 



Perhaps the most singular habit which this bird has, and the one 

 with which I wish particularly to deal, is the feat of soaring high in 

 the air and then returning again to nearly the same place, apparently 

 without any reason for doing so. In searching for information on this 



