AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 475 



not finding mentioned by Wilson, who certainly was an acute observer. 

 It is that the Woodcock, although a prober of the mire, frequently alights 

 in the interior of extensive forests, where little moisture can be seen, for 

 the purpose of turning up the dead leaves with its bill, in search of 

 food beneath them, in the manner of the Passenger Pigeon, various 

 Grakles, and other birds. This the Snipe, I believe, has never been ob- 

 served to do. Indeed, although the latter at times alights on the borders 

 of pools or streams overhung by trees, it never flies through the woods. 



The American Woodcock, which in New Brunswick is named the 

 Bog-sucker, is found dispersed in abundance during winter, over the 

 southern parts of the Union, and now and then, in warm and sequestered 

 places, even in the Middle Districts. Its stay in any portion of the coun- 

 try at this period, seems to depend altogether on the state of the weather. 

 In the Carolinas, or even in Lower Louisiana, after a night of severe frost, 

 I have found their number greatly diminished in places where they had 

 been observed to be plentiful the day before. The limits of its northern 

 migrations at the commencement of the breeding season, are yet unascer- 

 tained. When in Newfoundland I was assured that it breeds there ; but 

 I met with none either in that country or in Labrador, although it is not 

 rare in the British Provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during 

 summer. From the beginning of March until late in October, this bird 

 may be found in every district of the Union that affords places suited to 

 its habits ; and its numbers, I am persuaded, are much greater than is 

 usually supposed. As it feeds by night, it is rarely met with by day, un- 

 less by a sportsman or gunner, who may be engaged in pursuing it for 

 pleasure or profit. It is, however, killed in almost incredible numbers, 

 fi'om the beginning of July until late in winter, in different parts of the 

 Union, and our markets are amply supplied with it during its season. 

 You may at times see gunners returning from their sports with a load of 

 Woodcocks, composed of several dozens ; nay, adepts in the sport have 

 been known to kill upwards of a hundred in the course of a day, being 

 assisted by relays of dogs, and perhaps a change of guns. In Lower 

 Louisiana, they are slaughtered under night by men carrying lighted 

 torches, which so surprise the poor things that they stand gazing on the 

 light until knocked dead with a pole or cane. This, however, takes place 

 only on the sugar and cotton plantations. 



At the time when the Woodcocks are travelling from the south to- 

 wards all parts of the United States, on their -way to their bx'eeding places, 



