At Carlylse Mass [Carlisle, Massachusetts]
MASS. (Middlesex Co.) [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1876.
(May 3) [May 3, 1876] The sun was just setting and for a moment
it gleamed out through a rent in the dull
storm clouds lighting up the quiet little
woodland nook and lending an additional
lustre to the full, glorious eye of the sitting
bird. The full chorus of hylas now broke
out on the still air and a robin burst
into song from a neighboring pine, but
for the woodcock the spell was not yet broken.
Reaching cautiously forward I toutched [touched] her
tail with my finger tips - then her back
stroking the feathers gently; still she stirred
not; but finally pressing down a little harder
so that she felt the weight of my hand
she sprang with startling suddenness
directly from the nest whistling loudly
as she rose, then dropping to the ground
tumbled about among the oak leaves
uttering continuously a complaining noise
so deep and low that it sounded almost
like a suppressed growl. Following her
a little way she rose again and made
off through the tree tops. The nest was
situated about ten rods from a densely
wooded run, and on high dry ground
in a little glade grown up with scattering
hazel & alder bushes, quite an open situation
it seemed to me. It was if anything a
trifle more substantially built than the
one I found last year and was composed
outwardly of leaves & lined with dry grass
so thoroughly indeed that the exterior material
was entirely concealed. The hollow was
not deep and the external diameter
of the nest so small that the bird
covered it entirely as she sat. on The eggs were
[margin]four in number and the prettiest set that I have ever seen. The nest was discovered April 28 [April 28, 1876] and the set was then complete.[/margin]