OUR COUNTRY LIFE 



for the sight was so quickly over. I turned breath- 

 lessly to my companion and exclaimed: "What was 

 it?" 



"Don't you know? Nothing makes a whistling 

 sound like that except a woodcock." 



"A woodcock here? But I thought that they were 

 very shy birds." 



"Well, they evidently feel that they are protected 

 here." 



By searching we found their characteristic borings 

 for food, and the marks of their feet in the moist earth. 



April 23. We flushed a woodcock again from be- 

 side the brook. Was it the same individual or is 

 there a pair? What joy if they were to nest here! 



May 3. My wild wish has actually come true! 

 The woodcock was even then nesting in the deep woods 

 that border our lawn within two hundred feet of the 

 house, and this morning we discovered the nest quite 

 by accident; in fact I just missed stepping on it. 

 Four pointed speckled eggs lay apex to center in a 

 little hollow of pressed-down dead leaves at the foot 



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