214 



THE OOLOGIST 



characteristic with our shore birds. 



Carefully surveying the cover with- 

 in a radius of fifteen feet I presently 

 discovered the original nesting site up 

 the hill a few yards from where the 

 eggs now lay. The downy feathers 

 and one-half of the ..hollow plainly 

 showed where the motherly breast 

 had rested when incubation first be- 

 gan. 



During recent heavy rains a portion 

 of the slops had been washed away and 

 with it the lower rim of the nest, al- 

 lowing the four eggs to roll from their 

 original resting place down the leafy 

 incline. Regardless of this disturb- 

 ance the eggs were intact and the 

 mother had succeeded in gathering 

 them together and successfully cov- 

 ering all four. 



I stooped, gathered some soft, damp 

 soil, reshaped the nest and covered 

 the area with dead grasses and leaves, 

 then I replaced the four eggs with 

 points together. In ten minutes the 

 parent was incubating her clutch in 

 »the re-made nest ,and as I bent over 

 her chunked form I could almost feel 

 that there was a look of appreciation 

 in her eyes. 



Another Woodcock was detected at 

 the base of a briar. She was cover- 

 ing four handsome eggs. There was 

 a triangular scar on her forehead 

 which might have been caused by a 

 thorn or barbed wire. This served as 

 an identification mark and when I re- 

 visited the spot shortly afterwards 

 the duties of incubation were progress- 

 ing but the bird with the scar was not 

 on the job. Another Woodcock slight- 

 ly smaller and presumably the male, 

 was at home. 



The following year the Woodcock 

 with the patch on her forehead took 

 up a nesting site in close proximity to 

 the old one, which is conclusive evi- 

 dence that the same pair of birds re- 

 turned to their old haunts and fur- 



thermore, (at least in the case of the 

 Woodcock above) both sexes assist in 

 the duties of incubation. 



Along the boarder of one of the lit- 

 tle tributaries of our Calumet region 

 I have always looked for a pair of 

 Woodcock. I found my first nest there 

 in 1901. Several seasons ago I started 

 to make my annual tour of inspection 

 and this clump of willow and hazel 

 was on my route. Peering cautiously 

 ahead I perceived the male motionless 

 but "sitting high" which was conclu- 

 sive evidence that beneath him was 

 nothing oological and so I started to 

 find his affinity. Finally she crossed 

 through the brush to the leeward and 

 after thoroughly canvassing the neigh- 

 borhood I could not even detect an in- 

 complete set. I did, however, feel 

 that someone had robbed me, (and the 

 bird) of the eggs because there was a 

 neat hollow at the base of a little pop- 

 lar. Three little fluffy brown feathers 

 were there. A bird's body had certain- 

 ly caused the depression. I never had 

 known of a woodcock who made much 

 attempt at nest building, especially 

 when no eggs were in evidence, so I 

 concluded to wait two weeks and pos- 

 sibly find the the second clutch. There 

 was no doubt but that a second clutch 

 would be laid if the first had been 

 taken, but possibly someone else 

 would beat me to it. 



Returning April 24th I naturally 

 went direct to the spot which I imagin- 

 ed contained the four handsome eggs 

 early in the spring, and believe me,. 

 the female was squatting over that 

 very cavity and as I lifted one wing 

 I could see the large ends of four fine 

 eggs. 



A Killdeer followed me over a 

 gravel slope from which the sod had 

 all been . removed. Watching her 

 through my field glasses I noticed 

 she returned to a little knoll and there 

 squatted. I approached. She depart- 



