152 THE- SHOREBIRDS OR WADERS 



The woodcock are not found in the depths of large for- 

 ests, and the reduction of vast forested areas to small 

 wooded tracts, many of which contain swampy places 

 where the food of the woodcock abounds, increases the 

 area suitable for cock shooting. 



The earth worm is the staple food of both the snipe 

 and the woodcock, and although, as I have said, it is not 

 practical to feed the woodcock, I can furnish a useful 

 hint for those who may undertake their practical salva- 

 tion — the natural food of the woodcock can be increased. 



Often I have observed that the Wilson's snipe were 

 plentiful in pastures and on wet prairies where cattle were 

 feeding. I was inclined to believe that the tramping of 

 the cattle made the ground especially suitable for the bor- 

 ing of the snipe in their search for food. I now believe 

 the manuring of the ground causes an increase in the 

 number of earth worms, and this fact seems to have been 

 proven by a California duck club which transformed a 

 salt marsh, where there were no snipe, into a good shoot- 

 ing place by damming out the salt water and manuring 

 the ground. The food for woodcock in small brakes 

 might be increased in the same manner. If the wet woods 

 be enclosed with a wire netting and some pools be made 

 it would be an easy matter to introduce the other "van- 

 ishing bird" mentioned in Dr. Fisher's bulletin — the beau- 

 tiful wood-duck — and to make it abundant in the same 

 ground with the woodcock. The place should be kept 

 absolutely quiet during the nesting season, and all vermin 

 should be controlled. Arrangements have been made for 

 some very interesting experiments with these birds next 

 season on some good cock grounds very near New York 

 City, 



