AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 177 



States. Indeed, so sedentary are these birds at times that a 

 few are known to winter in the sheltered forests and open 

 watery glades of Pennsylvania ; at the same season also many 

 are seen in the vicinity of Natchez in Mississippi. According 

 to their usual habits, they keep secluded in the woods and 

 thickets till the approach of evening, when they sally forth to 

 seek out springs, paths, and broken soil, in quest of worms 

 and other insects on which they feed. They now disperse 

 themselves over the country to breed, and indicate their pres- 

 ence in all directions by the marks of their boring bills, which 

 are seen in such soft and boggy places as are usually sheltered 

 by thickets and woods. They also turn over the fallen leaves 

 from side to side with their bills in quest of lurking insects, 

 but never scratch with their feet, though so robust in their 

 appearance. The sensibility possessed by the extremity of 

 the bill, as in the Snipe, is of such an exquisite nature that they 

 are enabled to collect their food by the mere touch without 

 using their eyes, which are set at such a distance and elevation 

 in the back part of the head as to give the bird a remarkable 

 aspect of stupidity. When flushed or surprised in their hiding- 

 places, they only rise in a hurried manner to the tops of the 

 bushes or glide through the undergrowth to a short distance, 

 when they instantly drop down again, and run out for some 

 space on touching the ground, lurking as soon as they imagine 

 themselves in a safe retreat. At times in open woods they fly 

 out straight with considerable vigor and swiftness ; but the 

 effort, from the shortness of the wing, is always attended with 

 much muscular exertion. 



During the mating season, in the morning as well as eve- 

 ning, but more particularly the latter, the male in the vicinity 

 of his mate and nest rises successively in a spiral course like 

 a Lark. While ascending he utters a hurried and feeble 

 warble ; but in descending, the tones increase as he approaches 

 towards the ground, and then, becoming loud and sweet, pass 

 into an agreeable, quick, and tumultuous song. As soon as the 

 performer descends, the sound ceases for a moment, when with 

 a sort of stifled uttej-ance, accompanied by a stiff and balancing 



VOL. II. — 12 



