AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



91 



He strutted back and forth in front of the nest and only about four feet 

 from me several times, and then took wing and disappeared in the di- 

 rection from which he had evidently come. I noted that as he started 

 of¥ there was no preceptib^e sound from his wings, so conclude that it 

 is only when startled and moving their wings very fast in their en- 

 deavor to quickly get away, that the narrow stiffened primaries, make 

 the whistling sound that is accredited to them. 



As the female settled back again to her quiet task of incubating, I 

 determined to leave. She had probably never been as surprised before, 

 as she was when I stood up so close to her. She must have thought 

 that I came up out of the ground, in any event she did not wait to see 

 or try to escape observation by keeping still, for she was off with a tre- 

 mendous whir that threatened to carry all the leaves that answered for 

 the nest, with her. The next day I called again and found the nest 



Photo by J. B. Pardee. 



YOUNG WOODCOCK. 



empty. From appearances the young had hatched and had already left 

 to accompany their parent and learn the ways of the world. 



Fortunately Dr. J. B. Pardoe has supplied the missing links neces- 

 sary for the completion of this article in his excellent photos of the 

 young Woodcock. A thorough search of the piece of woods failed to 

 reveal the young that I had expected or rather hoped to photograph 

 when they hatched. I had hoped for photos of some such scenes as I 

 had witnessed a few years ago when I ran across an adult Woodcock 

 with three of her young. I came upon them with a suddenness that 



