224 Mr. Peabody on the 
four, of a yellowish clay color, and marked with 
blotches of purple and dark brown. The young 
leave the nest as soon as hatched, but three or four 
weeks elapse, before they are able to fly. During 
the time of incubation, the male rises in a spiral 
flight, after the manner of the snipe, making a hur- 
ried sound as he ascends, which increases as he de- 
scends, when it becomes loud and sweet. When 
he touches the ground, he makes a bleating sound, 
with a forward movement of the body, and then 
waits to see if his call is answered. T'he- woodcock, 
unlike the snipe, which never fies through the 
woods, often goes into the depth of the forest, and 
turns over the dead leaves with its bill, like the 
pigeon, in search of the insects that may lie below. 
Toward the last of October, as their food begins 
to fail, the woodcocks leave the interior, and move 
toward the sea, in preparation for their migration to 
the south. They take the journey in the evening, 
not in flocks, but following each other, in close suc- 
cession, so as to make almost an unbroken line. 
They do not leave the coast, however, till winter 
begins. From August till their departure, they are 
m good order for the table, and are shot in great 
numbers by those who are versed in this kind of 
sporting. In Louisiana they are killed by men with 
torches, which the birds stand gazing upon, till the 
fowler knocks them down with a stick. 
The Vireinian Ram, Rallus Virginianus, spends 
the winter in the southern states, and returns to us 
in May. It hides in swamps and marshes, in the 
