A BIRD^S STRANGE WAY OF COURTING. 



There is a bird that visits Maryland in 

 February and March — according to the 

 state of the weather — whose strange, 

 unaccountable habits in the spring are 

 only known to naturalists and those 

 lovers of birds who have the patience to 

 watch them. 



St. Valentine's Day, February 14, was 

 as mild and v/arm as May, and, much to 

 my surprise, there was an American 

 woodcock soaring and singing away up in 

 the moonlit sky. He is a very shy bird 

 and is becoming an exceedingly rare one, 

 and it is only because gunning is not 

 allowed on this farm that I have the 

 pleasure of his close acquaintance, for it 

 is his custom when undisturbed to return 

 for years to the same locality. 



Shoot at him and he makes a short 

 flight at a right angle, not straight ahead 

 like a partridge. Follow and give him 

 another load and he does exactly the 

 same, but at the third shot he rises, and 

 that is the last that you see of him for 

 that day. He is a wise little bird and 

 can take a hint from a bad shot, getting 

 out of the way by flying around the 

 corner and then away from the place. 



On St. Valentine's Day, as all the 

 world knows, human lovers seek and 

 find each other, then think about the 

 wedding; but the feathered lovers con- 

 summate theirs. Human lovers may 

 experience many hindrances. There is the 

 ways and means committee to consult ; 

 the parents to interview ; the home to be 

 found, and the trousseau to prepare. The 

 birds have none of these drawbacks to 

 contend with, for all the birds that go 

 courting seem to be orphans ; the house 

 to live in soon finished, and a wonderful 

 building it is. As to the trousseau, it 

 has been already furnished, new and 

 shining with every beautiful color. It 

 is the wedding gift from Mother Nature, 

 who is always looking ^.fter her beloved 

 children and encouraging them to go to 

 housekeeping. 



All the American woodcock has to do is 

 to win his sweetheart's consent to accept 



him, and he proceeds to captivate her in 

 an original and remarkable manner. 



Should you seek a swampy place,, 

 about nightfall, you may be rewarded by 

 witnessing one of the strangest, most 

 daring freaks that a love-crazy bird can 

 execute. The full moon is swinging her 

 splendid disk over the hilltop, and 

 showers down a soft, silvery, luminous 

 haze that glorifies and mystifies the calm 

 fields and sleeping trees. The balmy air 

 has the freshness and sweetness of the 

 coming spring, and one is alone with 

 Nature in her gentle, resting mood. 

 There is not a breeze astir, not a creature 

 near. Stay ! What is that ? A small 

 brown bird, flecked with deeper brown, 

 suddenly springs up, ascending swiftly 

 in circles, singing, or rather twittering, 

 as he flies. 



Higher, still higher, the air is full of 

 music; not loud, but sweet, and strange 

 to hear; not unlike a cage of canaries 

 learning to sing. There are many notes 

 which come so fast and varied that you 

 think there must be a bevy of chats and 

 chickadees in the nearby bushes. But 

 the song is in the air ; it is full of music 

 which becomes fainter and fainter as the 

 bird ascends out of sight and hearing. 

 You stand motionless, all your being 

 intent on the sense of hearing ; you think 

 that you hear imaginary notes and twit- 

 ters, but all is silence, when suddenly 

 something drops out of the sky like an 

 aerolite. Has some one, somehow, 

 dropped a rock upon you ? As it is about 

 to touch the ground, this mysterious 

 object unfolds wings, flies to a little 

 distance, alights and begins a monoto- 

 nous ''Swark! swark! swark!" which is 

 entirely unHke the other pleasant melody. 

 It is the woodcock returning to his lady 

 love, who, som.ewhere in the grasses, is 

 watching and admiring the performance. 

 One can imagine that he is saying, "Do 

 not I sing beautifully? Did not I fly 

 high? Did you see how fast I dropped? 

 I will do it again, dearest !" And away 

 he goes, circling, singing, away out of 



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