WOODCOCK 
187 
Breeding mostly far beyond the confines of cultivation the occupation of 
their nesting grounds by settlers has had only the slightest influence upon 
their numbers. The great reduction must be blamed upon indiscriminate 
shooting. As they fly in dense flocks they offer an easy target and eighty 
or more have been known to fall at one discharge of the gun, so that it is 
not surprising that they are now comparatively scarce. It is a source of 
pleasure to know that, the western sportsmen are not responsible for the 
decrease in numbers. A few of the larger forms such as the curlew and 
the godwit have suffered from the pot-hunter, but other species as a rule 
have not been regarded in our west, as objects of sport. The removal of 
them from the list of game birds by the Migratory Birds Convention Act 
has not inflicted as much hardship on the western sportsman as it has on 
the eastern, but it has done much to conserve the birds in other quarters 
of their range outside Canadian jurisdiction. 
Economic Status. Either perfectly harmless or actively useful accord- 
ing to habitat. 
228. American Woodcock, la b£casse d’amArique. Philobela minor. L, 11. 
Plate XXII B. A rather large wader similar to the European Woodcock, but smaller and 
without any crossbarring below. All above coloured with an intricate pattern of various 
shades of rich wood-browns; below, a soft, uniform ruddy ochre. Eyes large and set 
very high in the head. 
Distinctions. Large size, general uniform ochraceous colour below, mottled wood- 
browns above, and eyes set higher in head (Figure 267). Can hardly be confused with 
any other species. The first three primaries are peculiarly narrowed (Figure 268), a char- 
acteristic not present in any other similar species. | 
Nesting. On the ground, in the woods, amidst the dead leaves, with which its 
plumage harmonizes so well. 
Figure 267 
American Woodcock; scale, J. 
Figure 268 
Emarginate primaries of American 
Woodcock; scale, \. 
Distribution. Eastern North America north to southern Canada. It has occasionally 
been reported from Manitoba without confirmatory evidence, but as it occurs in Minnesota, 
close by, its occurrence in the southern parts of that imovince would not be remarkable. 
Woodcock haunt, moist or wet shrubbery, alder or hazel thickets, or 
the tangled edges of damp woods. They spring suddenly from the ground 
on being disturbed, rise erratically on peculiarly whistling wings, and 
passing just over the tops of the underbrush drop suddenly into conceal- 
ment again a few rods beyond. Woodcock may still be legally hunted 
under the terms of the Migratory Birds Convention Act, though the 
privilege is of little importance in the west. 
