AMERICAN WOODCOCK 111 
in search of safe hiding places they looked not 
unlike ‘‘chipmunks,’’ as we call our ground 
squirrels. If disturbed with her brood the 
mother bird has been known to take up a little 
one, holding it closely pressed between her legs 
and body, and fly away to safer quarters, re- 
turning and making separate trips until in this 
manner the whole brood has been placed in a 
less dangerous neighborhood. 
This gentleman is not a hardy bird but a lover 
of ease, comfort and plenty. So he chooses his 
homes mainly in mild climates, and while in our 
Middle States he is to some extent resident, 
with us here in the north he is only a visitor 
during our warmer seasons, our New England 
winters leaving him small chance for a living. 
They regularly breed from the central United 
States (and rarely even further south—I be- 
lieve there are records of this occurrence in the 
State of Florida) almost if not quite to the Arc- 
tic Circle. In their fall flights they go even to 
South America, though it is doubtful if many 
venture so far. Their migratory flights take 
place at night, so that a cover which to-day is 
barren and profitless, to-morrow may be full of 
scurrying brown birds busily engaged in boring 
