112 



THE OOLOGIST. 



THEOOLOGIST 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED MONTHLY 

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FRANK H. LATTIN, - ALBION, N. Y. 



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The American Woodcock. 



The nesting habits of this beautiful game 

 bird are known to very few collectors. 



Years ago, it is said, these birds were 

 plenty; but the continuous raids of the 

 13ot-hiinter and sportsman thinned them 

 out. 



Its favorite haunts are in swamjiy wood- 

 lands, near some sluggish stream that 

 creeps through the banks of soft loamy 

 soil, tufted with clumps of ferns and her- 

 bage, that mimic well with their upper 

 feathers. 



They feed especially in the morning and 

 evening, on insects and worms which they 

 get by prodding their long bill in the soft 

 ground. 



The nest of the Woodcock is found in 

 low moist woods, but it is not an uncommon 

 thing to find them in high dry woods. 



The nest is always placed on the ground ; 

 it is simply a slight depression, about the 

 size of a Eobin's nest on the outside, and 

 an inch deep, lined with leaves and grass^ 



The eggs are three and four in number, 

 the ground color buff, covered with blotches 

 spots and dots of different shades of brown. 

 They measure about 1.40 x 1.20 inches. 



The Woodcock migrates farther to the 

 south in the Autumn and returns again 

 in the Spring oy nightly journeys. They 

 start generally with tlie full moon which 

 ushers out October or lights up the early 

 November night. It arrives again about 

 the first of April and begins to nest soon 

 after. 



0. F., Princetown, N. Y. 



Wood Pewee. 



In the OoLOGisT for '88 I have not seen 

 any articles on the Wood Pewee. To my 

 mind this species is worthy of note. 



During the last season I have found the 

 Wood Pewee very abundant in this locality, 

 frequenting groves and woodlands. Its 

 food, the nature of which renders it very 

 hel^Dful as an insect destroyer, consists of 

 small beetles and winged insects. It 

 obtains nearly all of its food while upon 

 the wing. In the woods, some small open- 

 ing between the tree tojjs is selected for 

 its hmiting grounds. The whistle of the 

 Wood Pewee has a somewhat dreamy 

 cadence that is in harmony with a quiet 

 afternoon in June or July. 



The site usnallj- selected for the nest is 

 a dead limb of an oak, the nest harmoniz- 

 ing in color with the bark of the limb. I have 

 rarely found this bird nesting in other trees, 

 except on one or two occasions, when I 

 have found nests in butternut and maple 

 trees. The height at which the nest is 

 placed varies from fifteen to 'thirty feet. 

 The typical nest is saucer-shaped, measur- 

 ing, diameter outside, 3 inches, inside, 2 

 inches: depth outside, 1|^ inches, inside, 1 

 inch, and composed of small straws and 

 weed stems, and lined in some instances 

 with hair, covered on outside with gray 

 lichens. 



