THE WOODCOCK'S WOOING. 



At ordinary times, and in his ordinary- 

 moods, there is nothing very striking or 

 remarkable about the woodcock. For 

 genuine honest homeHness and for the 

 lack of all the graces and accomplish- 

 ments that should belong to a courtier, 

 he can find few peers. He has no grace- 

 . fulness of flight, no gaudiness of plum- 

 age. He has no melodiousness of voice. 

 In short, he seems to lack all of those 

 elements of joyousness and grace which 

 we usually associate with bird life. He 

 never skimmed through the air like a 

 swallow. He does not know what it 

 means to alight upon a swaying bough 

 and spend his spare moments taking an 

 exhilarating teeter. His children, even, 

 never experienced the delight of rock-a- 

 by-baby upon the tree-top. If you come 

 near without frightening him vou are 

 likely to overlook him altogether, or mis- 

 take him for a chunk of half-decayed 

 wood, and if you frighten him he simplv 

 throws himself away as you might hurl 

 a club through the air. He is as devoid 

 of lofty aspirations, even, as he is of 

 other attractive qualities. In his habits 

 of life he is pre-eminently a bird of the 

 earth. He is a plump, long-billed, bob- 

 tailed brown affair who goes down into 

 the marsh, sticks his bill into the soil for 

 a root, and grows after the fashion of a 

 plant. 



But there is a time when his whole na- 

 ture changes. In the most delightful 

 part of the most delightful evenings of 

 the year, that is, in the early evenings 

 of the latter part of May, when the influ- 

 ence of the warm, fragrant dusk prevails 

 to just such an extent as to leave the out- 

 lines of objects half undefined and toned 

 down to that degree of dimness most sug- 

 gestive of witchery, then the loiterer of 

 the lanes, if he is in the vicinity of any 

 marsh, is likely to become witness and 

 auditor to a woodcock's wooing. 



He hears above him a rich succession 

 of the most entreating, most coaxing 

 notes imaginable. He looks up to dis- 

 cover the source of the music, but the 



singer is wholly hidden in the dusk. The 

 experience of hearing such distinct and 

 ringing music out of a clear and empty 

 sky is both unique and pleasing; for to 

 the charm which the song possesses by 

 virtue of its melody is added the subtle 

 charm of mystery. 



The song soon comes to an end, and 

 in a few moments the listener hears a 

 "spzzzp (cluck) spzzzp, (cluck) spzzzp," 

 coming at intervals of about half a min- 

 ute from a neighboring marsh. A few 

 minutes more and he hears a sound of 

 swift wings, accompanied by a low cluck- 

 ing. He looks in the direction from 

 which the sound comes, and can perhaps 

 make out a dark object arising rapidly 

 and at a low slant from the earth. He 

 has discovered the singer. If he is atten- 

 tive enough and clear-sighted enough to 

 watch the motions of the speck of dark- 

 ness so dimly defined against the dusky 

 sky he can see most of the performance. 

 As the bird ascends in a gradually clos- 

 ing spiral, the rich succession of cluck- 

 ing, entreating notes increase in rapidity 

 and intensity ; the entreaty becomes more 

 pronounced and to it is added tones as 

 of ecstacy. When the singer has reached 

 the upper limits of his flight he simply 

 gyrates about and palpitates like a heart 

 that has broken loose. His notes become 

 so intensely entreating that it is diffi- 

 cult to understand how the one he is 

 asking for can hold out so long. At 

 last the song reaches its climax and the 

 listener holds his breath and hopes, yet 

 fears for the bird's sake, to have him go 

 on any longer. And when the interest in 

 the song has become almost painful in the 

 effect it produces the bird suddenly falls, 

 breathless and swiftly as an arrow to the 

 earth. It is possible to see him start, 

 but before he has reached the ground he 

 is falling so rapidly that the eye cannot 

 follow him: Down in the marsh you 

 soon hear a "spzzzp, (cluck) spzzzp, 

 (cluck) spzzzp" a while, and then he 

 tak'is another flight. 



To those who know the story of his 



174 



