122 BIRDS 



WOODCOCK 



The Woodcock ranges throughout eastern North Amer- 

 ica, north to Labrador, breeding throughout most of the 

 range, wintering from southern Illinois and Virginia south- 

 ward. 



The woodcock is a delight to the sportsman. When the 

 drizzle has partly taken the frost out of the ground and we 

 are experiencing twelve hours of dayhght, the woodcock 

 returns to the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes 

 region, migrating by night. Those who know how and 

 where to look for him are conscious of his presence when 

 they visit the willow patches along lakesides or tramp 

 through the hazel, which leads down to a springy spot. In 

 these places the woodcock, or "owl among snipe," may be 

 found probing the soil with his long, sensitive, flexible biU. 

 He feels the contact with a juicy worm, and cleverly moves 

 the upper mandible, thus extracting the morsel from the 

 soil. The eyes are placed far back on the head, giving the 

 bird great visionary power while probing. 



Woodcocks are gluttons, consuming twice their own 

 weight in twenty-four hours. Another habit is that of beat- 

 ing the earth with their feet, sounding like the jiatter of 

 rain. This noise brings the earth worms to the surface, 

 where they are captured. 



The song-flight of the woodcock begins shortly after his 

 arrival from the South and may be heard well into the warm 

 summer nights of June, when the bogs are so infested with 

 mosquitoes as to make life unbearable. The proper time to 



