372 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [16:9— Dec, 1920 



Early in the spring the male bird begins to feel the desire for a 

 mate, and he expresses this in the most original manner. At even- 

 ing he stands with his bill downward, his body inclined forward 

 and calls, "pink, pink", then he springs from the ground and 

 circles round and round, each circle overlapping the one before it, 

 until the spiral may be three hundred feet from the ground. Then 

 he utters a sharp whistle and pitches down again, alighting in very 

 nearly the same place from whence he started. If the mate is 

 actually there, he may dance little jigs before her. These per- 

 formances are continued frequently during the mating and nesting 

 season, but the little lady often appears coldly indifferent to her 

 lover's madness. The gladness of the woodcock is voiced by the 

 rush of air through the narrow and stiffened primaries as he drops 

 from a height in the air. It is a strangely beautiful sound and has 

 been beautifully expressed: 



"Peent-peent-peent-peent 



From the thick grass on the hill, 

 Peent-p eent-peent-p eent 



At eve when the world is still 

 Then a sudden whistle of whirring wings 



A rush to the upper air 

 And a rain of maddening music falls 



From the whole sky — everywhere." 



What we term the woodcock's nest is only a clump of dried 

 leaves on the ground. It is usually situated in the woods near a 

 stump. Here are laid four buffy eggs spotted with reddish brown. 

 They have often been found before the April snows have melted. 

 Mother woodcock will not desert her eggs and will allow a person 

 to pick her bodily from the nest rather than leave it at this time. 

 The little chicks are active, fluffy babies. Almost immediately 

 after hatching, if the mother utters a warning, they are able to 

 disappear. Sometimes she carries them between her thighs to a 

 different feeding ground where they follow again her careful lead- 

 ing. 



About the first of August, these wood folk separate to visit the 

 corn fields, grassy meadows, birch groves and alder runs. Here 

 they moult and are easy mark for the hunter especially as a small 

 flock often congregate together. Their wings no longer whistle 

 and will scarcely lift the heavy body from the ground. 



