WOODCOCK II 
varying extent, when he piped a few preparatory notes 
at little intervals before starting into his full tide of 
song; third, the song itself, filling perhaps fifteen sec- 
onds; and finally, the dart to earth, with wings half 
closed, made in silence. The intervals between flights 
ranged between thirty and sixty seconds, 
“The song notes were as clear and liquid as a bobo- 
link’s, and fully as musical. During the production 
of these the whistle of the wings could be plainly heard 
as a sort of accompaniment to the vocalism.” 
I think no such good description of the woodcock’s 
song has before been given. Many observers mention 
only a single note, somewhat like the ordinary call 
of the night hawk, which he continues for some time, 
and then suddenly pitches downward from his height, 
and drops into cover. Here the female is waiting for 
him, and about her he struts, with head thrown back, 
wings trailing and tail spread, a parody on the turkey 
cock of the farmyard.* The nest is a rude structure 
of dead leaves and grass, and is usually placed under 
a fence, or by a log in some thick swamp, or perhaps 
on a tussock or bit of high ground in an alder run. 
The eggs are generally four in number, and are of a 
dull cream color, marked with large spots of bright 
or dull brown. 
In No. 2 of Vol IX, of the Bulletin of the Buffalo 
Society of Natural Sciences, are found “Notes on 
*Some years ago I contributed to the Century Magazine arti- 
cles on the woodcock and the snipe, from which, by the cour- 
tesy of the Century Company, I am permitted to make extracts 
for the present chapters on those birds. 
