September, 1922 
397 
\N UNUSUAL KILDEER NEST 
r HIS picture of a kildeer plover’s nest 
at the end of a railway tie was 
taken a half mile north of Tokio, North 
Dakota, on May 25. 
Trains pass here both day and night, 
rnd the birds are the tamest I have ever 
;een. They do not bother with any 
tricks, just keep about 30 feet from you, 
ind the niotner bird returns to her nest 
xlmost as soon as you pass. 
Burt Cunningham. 
HOW THE WOODCOCK 
FEEDS 
D uring the fail (I 92 I) migration, a 
woodcock was picked up by H. A. 
Sievers near the American Museum of 
Matural History in New York City. The 
lird was probably confused or possibly 
slightly hurt, although no evidence of 
njury was discovered either in appear- 
ince or behavior. 
It was confined in a box with glass 
sides, which facilitated observation. The 
Mttom of the box was covered with 
sand. In the box was placed a broad, 
lat dish containing about two inches of 
noist earth, which was kept plentifully 
supplied with earthworms. Not far 
Merganser* with trout in throat 
Nest of kildeer on railroad track 
from this dish was another just like it 
containing two or three inches of water, 
placed there for the bird to drink. 
The bird was usually quiet in the day 
time, but toward evening, as one would 
expect from its crepuscular habits in na- 
ture, it became active and fed without 
hesitation regardless of human observ- 
ers. It would probe in the moist earth 
until it found an earthworm, which it 
would eat, then it would turn to the dish 
of water and rinse its bill thoroughly, 
then turn back and probe for another 
earthworm. It never failed to wash its 
bill after each capture of an earthworm, 
and obviously this washing served to 
prevent mud from drying on the bill, 
which would have impaired its effective- 
ness as a probe. It would be interesting 
to know whether this rinsing or wash- 
ing of the bill is practiced by the wood- 
cock in nature. Perhaps the stickiness 
of the mud may have some influence. 
While plans were being completed to 
make motion pictures of the bird feeding 
and then washing its bill, it escaped to 
the outdoors and flew away. Since it 
was captured rather late in migration, 
and was kept in captivity about three 
weeks, the ground was frozen when it 
escaped. It is hoped, however, that it 
got south of the frost-line, or that it 
found an open feeding-ground, before it 
became too hungry. 
G. Clyde Fisher. 
CAN BIRDS EAT TROUT? 
T ENCLOSE two photographs of an 
^ American Merganser (Mergus amer- 
icamis) that was picked up on the shore 
of the Courtenay River (Vancouver Is- 
land), British Columbia, dead, with a 13- 
inch cut-throat trout in its throat weigh- 
ing over yi pound. R. M. Stewart. 
A POSSIBLE NATURAL 
ENEMY OF SHOREBIRDS 
I N late July several varieties of shore- 
birds large and small are to be looked 
for on Long Island along the coastal 
marshes, the mudflats of the bays and 
sandbars contiguous to the ocean. Eor 
the first half of August their numbers 
increase, so that the middle of that 
month is likely to bring the best yellow- 
leg shooting. In September the main 
flight of most kinds passes south of this 
point on the coast, although they may 
linger in abundance about particularly 
favorable feeding grounds, and although 
the numbers of certain species increase, 
the big yellowleg, which earlier occurred 
a straggler here and there among its 
lesser relative, being now found in 
flocks of its own. With the larger birds, 
of interest to the sportsmen, the little 
“oxeyes” or “peeps,” which used to 
wheel about his blind in companionable 
flocks, have for the most part gone as 
well. 
At about this time of year the writer 
remembers occasionally to have seen a 
solitary “oxeye” standing forlorn on 
some bit of shore, running rapidly a few 
steps and then pausing with head 
(Continued on page 414) 
Bird and trout it tried to swallow 
