152 BIRD NAMES. [No. 43. 



Dr. Barton, in his Fragments of Nat. Hist, of Penn., 1799, 

 mentions the species as the COMMON SNIPE, as well as " wood- 

 cook ;" and Frank Forester gives BIG-HEADED SNIPE and BLIND 

 SNIPE as two of the names by which " country folks " know it.* 

 The latter name is also mentioned by De Kay (1844) as used " in 

 some parts " of New York State, and Mr. George A. Boardman 

 tells me of hearing the bird so termed in the vicinity of Calais, 

 Me. For the sake of those who are wondering why this bird 

 should have been called " blind," I will state that in spite of 

 its large handsome eyes, its sight is noticeably dull in the full 

 sunlight. 



Hallock, in his Sportsman's Gazetteer (1879), credits the 

 species with WOOD SNIPE, f and Dr. "William Jarvis writes of 

 hearing it termed WHISTLING SNIPE and MUD HEN some ten 

 years ago at Cornish, N. H. (For name " mud-hen " as applied 

 to other birds, see Nos. 32, 33, 35, 36.) 



Audubon speaks of its being known in New Brunswick as 

 BOG-SUCKER. Frank Forester, in "Warwick "Woodlands and else- 

 where, frequently refers to it as the TIMBER-DOODLE, and in 

 Lewis's American Sportsman it is credited with the names 

 MARSH PLOVER (see No. 51) and WOOD HEN ; the author adding 

 that the latter title " is not often applied." 



"Homo" (the late C. S. Westcott) says, in an article on 

 Autumn "Woodcock Shooting, Forest and Stream, Jan. 22, 1874, 

 " In the counties of Carbon and Lehigh, of Pennsylvania, capital 

 grounds for autumn cock-shooting can be found in the neighbor- 

 hood of Easton, Mauch Chunk and Lehighton, and I may state 

 here that it is useless to inquire of the natives of these parts 

 of the whereabouts of woodcock ; very few know it by that 

 name. I have heard it called SHRUPS and BOG BIRD by some." 

 The term COCK used by "Homo," though heard in some lo- 



* Graham's Magazine, December, 1843, "A Day in the Woods." 

 t Since quoting the above name from Mr. Hallock, a friend writes me that 

 he pointed out a stuffed woodcock to a colored servant from Loudoun County, 

 Va., and asked him if he knew what it was, and that the man immediately re- 

 plied that it was what they called Wood Snipe in his part of the country. 



