16 THE AMERICAN WOODCOCK. 



down on the middle of a road, as if she were dead, while her little ones, five 

 in number, were endeavouring on feeble legs to escape from a pack of 

 naughty boys, who had already caught one of them, and were kicking it 

 over the dust in barbarous sport. The mother might have shared the same 

 fate, had I not happened to issue from the thicket, and interpose in her 

 behalf. 



The American Woodcock, although allied to our Common Snipe, Scolopax 

 Wilsonii, differs essentially from it in its habits, even more than in form. 

 The former is a much gentler bird than the latter, and although both see at 

 night, the Woodcock is more nocturnal than the Snipe. The latter often, 

 without provocation or apparent object, migrates or takes long and elevated 

 flights during the day; but the Woodcock rarely takes flight at this time, 

 unless forced to do so to elude its enemies, and even then removes only to a 

 short distance. When rambling unconcernedly, it rarely passes high above 

 the tree tops, or is seen before the dusk or after the morning twilight, when 

 it flies rather low, generally through the woods; and its travels are altogether 

 performed under night. The largeness of its eyes, as compared with those 

 of the Snipe, might of itself enable one to form such a conclusion; but there 

 is moreover a difference in the habits of the Woodcock and Snipe, which I 

 have been surprised at not finding mentioned by Wilson, who certainly was 

 an acute observer. It is that the Woodcock, although a prober of the mire, 

 frequently alights in the interior of extensive forests, where little moisture 

 can be seen, for the purpose of turning up the dead leaves with its bill, in 

 search of food beneath them, in the manner of the Passenger Pigeon, various 

 Grakles, and other birds. This the Snipe, I believe, has never been observed 

 to do. Indeed, although the latter at times alights on the borders of pools 

 or streams overhung by trees, it never flies through the woods. 



The American Woodcock, which in New Brunswick is named the Bog- 

 sucker, is found dispersed in abundance during winter over the southern 

 parts of the Union, and now and then, in warm and sequestered places, even 

 in the Middle Districts. Its stay in any portion of the country at this period, 

 seems to depend altogether on the state of the weather. In the Carolinas, 

 or even in Lower Louisiana, after a night of severe frost, I have found their 

 number greatly diminished in places where they had been observed to be 

 plentiful the day before. The limits of its northern migrations at the com- 

 mencement of the breeding season, are yet unascertained. When in New- 

 foundland I was assured that it breeds there; but I met with none either in 

 that country or in Labrador, although it is not rare in the British Provinces 

 of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia during summer. From the beginning 

 of March until late in October, this bird may be found in every district of 

 the Union that affords places suited to its habits; and its numbers, I am per- 



