66 THE BIRDS 
FAMILY SCOLOPACID/E.—SNIPES, SAND- 
PIPERS, ETC. 
GENUS PHILOHELA. 
[228]. Philohela minor (Gmelin). Woodcock. 
Rayxer.—Eastern North America. Breeds from north- 
eastern North Dakota, southern Manitoba, northern 
Michigan, southern Quebec, and Nova Scotia south to 
southern Kansas, southern Louisiana, and northern 
Florida; winters from southern Missouri, the Ohio 
Valley, and New Jersey (rarely Massachusetts) south to 
Texas and southern Florida; ranges casually to Sas- 
katchewan, Keewatin, Colorado, Newfoundland, and 
Bermuda. 
Probably this bird will be seen by less people, other 
than the sportsman, than almost any bird on our list. He 
frequents the low marshy ground, especially in and around 
woods, sticking his long bill deep down into the mud or 
' soft earth in quest of insects, worms and larve, and leaving 
a small round hole, a sign easily detected by the close- 
observant sportsman when in quest of him. Never flying 
by day, unless flushed, he feeds mostly in the dark shadows 
of the woods, only to emerge at night as his legitimate 
time of action. During favorable seasons a few of these 
birds remain throughout the winter, the majority, though, 
going further south during November. The migration 
northward begins early in March; favorable weather 
many reach us in February, and during these migrations 
many are shot by the local gunners. They are, however, 
