66 BIRDS OF OtIIO. 



too well known as a game bird to pass unnoticed in any lo- 

 cality. It is generally reported as being a fairly common 

 breeding bird throughout the state. Naturally it is more 

 numerous in wet or damp woods than elsewhere, and may 

 become even abundant in restricted localities which afford 

 it both cover and abundant food. Being semi-nocturnal, 

 it must be flushed to be seen during the day. At twilight 

 one may be favored with the so-called song and peculiar 

 mazy dancing flight during the mating season, in regions 

 where the birds are numerous. 



Woodcock is the only woods-haunting bird which probes 

 deep into the mud for the worms and insect larvae which 

 lurk there. It therefore performs an ofhce as an insect de- 

 stroyer which is shared by no other bird. As its name im- 

 plies, it is strictly sylvan, seldom venturing out of the brushy 

 retreats except to pass from woods to woods, or during the 

 mating flight. 



One would naturally expect a bird which depended upon 

 mud-inhabiting insects for food to tarry south until warm 

 weather insured an abundant supply of its food; but the 

 Woodcock reaches Oberlin during the last week in March 

 at the latest, often by the middle of that month, and does 

 not return south until early' November. 



83. (230.) Gallinago delicata (Ord). 201. 

 Wilson Snipe. 



Synonyms: Gallinago wilsoni, G. media wiisoni, Scolopax wil- 

 sonii, S. delicata. 

 American Snipe, Jack Snipe. 



Kirtland, Ohio Geol. Surv., 1838, 165. 



The Jack Snipe is still an abundant migrant in some lo- 

 calities, but is becoming scarce in others. It is the mud pro- 

 ber of the fields and treeless bottom lands, complementing 

 the work of the Woodcock. There can be no doubt that this 

 snipe does good service for the farmer in ridding his wet 

 fields of the insect larvae which burrow there ready for the 

 young crop soon to appear. It is a pity that the erratic flight 

 of the snipe offers so many temptations to the sportsman. 



