28 



THE'JOAVA OI^NITHOLOGIST. 



THE AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



Philohela minor. 



i This species is one 6T our most 

 interesting- and beciiitiful g-anie 

 birds. Some eleven or twelve 

 inches long- -the male being quite 

 a g-ood deal less - with a bill three 

 inches long-, wing five and one- 

 half inches, tarsus one and one 

 fourth inches, middle toe and claw 

 one and three-fourths inches; the 

 to3 ver}^ slender and soft; tail is 

 onl}' one and ons-hiilf inches long, 

 composed of twelve feathers. 



The eye is placed far back and 

 ver}^ high in the head, giving the 

 bird a rather droll appearance, 

 but for all that, he is not as fool- 

 ish a bird as he may be foolish 

 looking. About sunset or rather 

 between sunset and dark, in the 

 months of April and May, he in 

 his way is very musical, althovigh 

 his notes are not very charming to 

 our ears, being- composed of a few 

 harshly uttered notes, which may 

 with a very little imaginative 

 help be rendered into the words, 

 cuckoo^ speak: the last word 

 more g-uttural than the first. 

 Sometimes when he is performing- 

 his evening exercises, it is quite 

 difficult to obtain a shot at 

 him as he is extremely shy and 

 wary; the least movement of the 

 arm, to level the gun upon him 

 is discovered and away he g-oes 

 Hying- in a wide circle and mount- 

 ing higher and higher untill he 



seems quite exhausted, then he 

 commences a series of notes re- 

 sembling- the words, c hie K chick, 

 chow, chow, and the nearer the 

 commencement of his downward 

 flig-ht the ' faster he repeats his 

 notes, the two last words are 

 repeated in a much lower scale 

 than the first, then you see him 

 coming down like a plummet, 

 but before he touches the earth, he 

 spreads his wing-s,. and fluttering- 

 a few feet above the ground he 

 alights as graceful as a sncwfiake, 

 and if nothing- suspicious appears 

 in his view, again begins his song. 

 Thi^.'bird- .although a lover of 

 watery ■ attd .marshy ground, 

 always nests on high ground, and 

 a pectfUaritf ; Thave obser red in 

 them is, they carry their ^'cv.ng 

 when" very small to the waters 

 edge, aid^ieti after a time back 

 to high-ground • 

 » : ^t ' ■' Wm. Savagk. 



Hooded Warbler. 



*^ylvanla. mitrata. 



In a recent letter from Mr. Paul 

 Bartsch, he speaks of securing a 

 specimen of this species, on May 

 25, 1892, near Burlington, Iowa. 

 This bird is quite rare in this 

 state, it was not included in the 

 list of Warblers, which was 

 published in the October Iowa 

 Okxitiiolog:st, No. G84. A. O. 

 U. 



