114 PROCEEDINGS S. I. ASS'n ARTS AND SCIENCES. [\"OL. I 



question, I found that very little was said in reg^ard to the details of 

 this aerial performance. Wilson has recorded that the bird in rising" 

 from the g;round forms a spiral and is occasionally heard to quack. 

 This, however, does not g"ive us a definite idea of what the bird really 

 does, and it may be readily imag"ined that I recorded details almost 

 to excess, when the opportunity recently presented itself to witness 

 for myself this most interesting" performance. 



The following" notes, taken in the vicinity of Princes Bay, are from 

 my field book of this year. 



March 22. — Up to date it had not been my privilege to witness the 

 spring" habit of the v/oodcock of rising" into the air towards evening". 

 Tonig;ht, however, g"reat pleasure v/as afforded me when I heard and 

 saw several of these birds. Their regfular note is a loose rattling" buzz, 

 which is uttered while they are on the ground. While I was standing" on 

 a low piece of g"round overg"rown with a second growth, my attention 

 was attracted by one of these sounds. I approached to within 15 or 20 

 feet of the sound, when up flew the woodcock with a whistling" of wings 

 that could have been heard for some distance away. Up and up it went 

 after leaving the earth, at a gradual slant of about 30 degrees, forming 

 a spiral course that went from left to right. The whistling of the wings 

 was continued After mounting in this manner to the hight of about 

 150 feet, it began, in addition to the wing sound, to utter a liquid, 

 guttural note, which was slow at first but which seemed to reach a 

 climax as the end of the upward spiral and the hight of 200 or more 

 feet were reached. In starting for the ground the bird stopped all of 

 the whistling of wings and changed the other sound into a squeaking, 

 guttural note, quite different from the first. It then simply closed its 

 wings and made very steep, swooping dashes, which formed a reverse 

 spiral. While dashing toward the ground in this manner it seemed to 

 divide its squeaking and whistling notes into measures with each swoop. 

 The bird which I first saw regained the ground after making eleven 

 distinct drops from a hight of some 200 feet. When it was two or 

 three dives from the earth all sounds were stopped, and the bird flut- 

 tered softly through the second growth of plants to the ground. It 

 almost immediately resumed its buzzing. Each buzz continued for 

 about a second of time and was separated from the next by from 3 to 5, 

 25, or 30 seconds. By standing quietly I had not long to wait before 

 I discovered that the birds would start up of their own accord and did 

 not have to be approached, as I had first thought. At any time there 

 could have been heard three or four woodcocks in the air, at different 



