108 FEATHERED GAME 
husband is he, but unmistakable among his 
shorebird neighbors from the oddities of his 
bill and feet. 
AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 
(Philohela minor.) 
The Woodcock arrives in New England from 
his winter quarters much earlier than is com- 
monly supposed. The writer has seen him in 
the vicinity of Portland, Me., as early as Feb- 
ruary 10th, though ordinarily he does not reach 
this latitude before the last of March, the 
weather, of course, having much to do with his 
coming. Things start up early in the sheltered 
openings of the forest and on the sunny hill- 
sides. Here the woodranger may be agreeably 
surprised some fine spring morning at meet- 
ing Mr. Woodcock near some big ant hill which 
is undergoing repairs at the hands of its ten- 
ants and being made ready for the year’s work. 
This will supply his wants until the alder cov- 
ers are ready for him. 
In the latter half of April if the season be 
warm and forward, the Woodcock builds its 
nest in a secluded nook—a slight affair of dead 
