434: ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



exactly ovoidal. They exhibit great variations in size, some 

 specimens from Bristol County, Massachusetts, averaging 

 1.80 by 1.25 ; and others from the south and west averag- 

 ing only 1.45 by 1.15 ; others from "Western Massachusetts 

 average about 1.50 by 1.20, being nearly rounded ; and one 

 from J. P. Norris, found in Chester County, Pennsylvania, 

 is abruptly pyriform, being in dimensions 1.45 by 1.20 inch. 



Both birds assist in incubation ; and they are so unwill- 

 ing to leave the nest at this time, that I have known of an 

 ox-team being frequently driven within a foot of a bird 

 without starting her from the nest, and have heard of in- 

 stances of the eggs being removed from beneath the sitting 

 bird without her taking flight. The food.of the Woodcock 

 consists of worms and animalculse, which it secures by 

 thrusting its bill into the soft earth and beneath the dead 

 leaves and grass in swamps and other wet places. I have 

 also found spiders in its stomach. 



The holes where the bill is thus thrust in the earth are 

 called, by sportsmen, " borings ; " and the presence of the 

 bird is detected by them, as none of our wood-birds make 

 any similar " signs." 



In the latter part of July and during the month of 

 August, while the birds are moulting, they retire to the 

 most secluded localities ; and it is difficult to find them at 

 that season. In September, during the continuance of dry 

 weather, they frequent cornfields and ditches ; and I have 

 seen them searching for worms in the mud in a sink drain 

 within a few yards of a dwelling-house. 



At this season they are also found in swales and meadows, 

 and in such localities they are very easily shot, their flight 

 having none of the vivaeity that it displays in the woods 

 and swamps. 



