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 T 
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 seasom are yet unascertained. When in New- 
foundland I was assured that it breeds there ; out 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 
