The Singing of Birds. E.P.Bicknell, 
Philohela minor. Woodcock. 
Although the aerial manoeuvres of the Woodcock at dusk and 
in the dark are, freely speaking, familiar to us all, in a stricter 
sense there is still a prevailing ignorance in regard to them . e wing began to move again T h 
My journal supplies the following, slightly adapted, under j^o produce any form of whf stkn^of^f 0 ^ 
date of April 19, 1884: The birds would start up from amid the facts im presume lone 
shrubbery with a tremulous whirring sound of the wings, rising l 3 ; throughout all its chf nges oTrnoltm^? lfef tbat 
with spiral course into the air. The spiral varied considerably 
7 last letter Tn“ e L.^ e , ex Periences de- 
in pitch, sometimes expanding to sweep far out over a neighbor- in my last letter. The sound 
^ . - . 1*1 1 lllTflJi AX T rl 1 rtk T 1— -111 . - 
ing field, when a single revolution would carry the bird upward 
lan the last, 
understand wily the t0 the 
rith normal vJJXZ ^i e ± ww S^ay 
birds whichTheld byTbeHu”" 1 made . b T the 
mg neiu, wnen a smgic icvumnu,. — ihat made by other wounded P ^ Cmely the 
almost to the extremity of its flight, which was sometimes directly ip up ahead of a dog and attempt ffl 1 1 have 
over the point of departure. The rapid trilling sound with which ilThavIbeen mS not se ™ Possible 
it started oft', as Woodcocks do, continued without interruption 1 made by the form!” whife bf ® r a igin f of the 
during the ascent, but gradually became more rapid, and as the dI t0 understand wW «... , peo to the 
bird neared its greatest height passed into pulsations of quaver- 
ing sound. Each pulsation was shorter and faster the 
and took the tremolo to a high 
whir of fine machinery, or suggesting in movement the acvuu- vocal, why' is' the"' ''7 a "'; Moreover, if the 
ating rhythmic sound of a railway-car gradually gaining full speed fe moult? As already ' stoma, ne“r 
after a stop. At last, when it seemed as if greater rapidity of ut- th e .“ w histling < ‘quilk” V to 
terance was not possible, the vertex of the flight would be reached, ight or after being wounded mdwhen’tf in 6 
and, descending with increasing swiftness, the bird would break , . lyl “ S 
forth into an irregular chippering — almost a warble — the notes other birds, it* utte^wherfwounded^ 0 * 
sounding louder and more liquid as it neared the earth. Suddenly T one ,,;' 3 “ i l t3 to he vocal, should furnislTL 
- arhngdnecUy onthe case of the woodcock. 
gher pitch, sounding like a throbbing tie wing acTuall^Tnrn ' S a Vain attempt to 
■ - cccelcr- ii'MS 
there would be silence, and a small dark object would dart past tot be Quite ca ® e . the woodcc 
.. i- a. J.J :J V, if 1 ^ that because the 
Then, at silent in- a flying inaliax ? d or black duck fa unquestion- 
* *-f i£ 3 «Stt=! as-w ss» 
through the dusk down amid the shrubbery. 
tervals, a single strange and rather startling note — a loua, snarp j en eye’s wings must be also "vocal?' 
and somewhat nasal speat or spneat — which sounded as if de- including, however, I would say that while I 
livered with a spiteful directness at some offensive object. ; g and 1 twittering °which ^ r * 0U8 mod l dcat; ions 
I had no means of estimating the height of the bird’s ascent, S are produced by its narro^stflfened 18 ^' 8 
but in the evening dusk it went up almost out of sight. ^ some of these^sounds understood as denying 
This performance I have heard at midnight on the bird’s nistaken about a compjuatively ' simplethi S ° 
arrival in spring. It is also said to take place in the early morn Cult to seUlf! ncR dix-oKr „ * - - ■ ■ g ’ 
Is it ever indulged in the autumn ? 
26 /-X<b$. 
msf. 
7WY SA. 
M-WXW 
»»irp.lr 3 
Auk, 2, July, 1885. P 
'iituml fiztorg. 
• 
THE WOODCOCK’S WHISTLE. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Will you kindly allow me a little more space in which 
to answ.r the arguments that you advance in support of 
your belief that the whistle of the woodcock is a vocal 
noise, and not made by the bird’s wings? 
You discriminate between the sound which the bird 
makes in rising, “which might perhaps be called a whis- 
tle, ’ and which you admit is produced by the wings, and 
a “well-known ringing note” which you compare to the 
twitter of the kingbird. I am perfectly well aware that 
the woodcock’s whistle varies considerably in form and 
perhaps slightly in tone, also at different times, but to 
my ear it does not vary to anything like the degree that 
the_ scaipe of the WiLon’s snipe varies from the slight 
whistbng which the latter bird sometimes makes with its 
wings. With the woodcock the variations have seemed 
to me to be distinctly correlated with different phases of 
fl'-ht. Thus I have observed that when the bird beats its 
wings vigoi ously, rapidly and evenly, its whistle is clear, 
shrill, and practically continuou-; wtien the wing heats 
are slow and languid, the whistle becomes feebler and 
less resonant; when they are intermittent it is divided 
into distinct syllables or set of s\ llables, which, as you say 
sometimes suggest the twitter of the kingbird. I have 
frequently seen a woodcock, after flying some distance, 
scale downward on set wings as if about to alight, and 
then, apparently changing its intention, turn sharply 
upward, at the same time resuming its flapping. In such 
cases the whistling has invariably ceased during the inter- 
val of sailing, and quite as invariably has been renewed 
7 ** v/uiupdJi 
!rfem ofTh t ! e ro P ° S ) itiV ?‘ y a poult as ^usiVels 
irigmot the woodcock’s whistling, that lam 
n n 4 t fcb d fl , is th r a n t if 16 [-“--aytestiban 
Strf!m tin •* b< T- hoped ’ the readers of 
f “7 - sr 
iVlftSSi 
uanor Forest and Stream: 
Your ai tides on the woodcock ha vp infovucfori 
w^B^rgjropt^ b r th r ur8elf 
although for many years 1 was I doubter 
lowing occurrence settled it in my mind ’ One 
1 ate in the autumn, having verv shVhtlir7r^Vj < ^i' y fltute 
feathered, large fall hfld J rllfevedbrn^T' 16 ! , a i ul1 ' 
the dog touch it. As I wKfldta* 1“ ^ lf tCb fl mf 
companion said, “Hear it whistle ” 
the bill lengthwise, between mvib li, ^ Ij ? laced 
Mding it tightly the whole le“glh whene ver if 1"^ 
which I let it do several times before P; n ~ 1 v flut j ered ) 
twittering whistle so pecuhirto^thfw^dlo^k^ha? 
certainly was proof positive As W . i,,. ° ac c ’ r that 
sfler it the same as the whirring sound of tCmiafl 00 "^ 
grouse, viz., rapid motion of the wing! canseH me- 
Qipte often after flushing a woodcock and^Jlf frl | h - fc- 
some distance away, when shot at and Sifrj 1 ls 
hear the same whistle caused L , 11, kl iL ed ’ we 
aition.l fright.t ,i. :mSTi£\Z a orPl,PS,£ 
shot passing near ; not a poetical but certainly a tactical 
reason I hope these articles will cause sportsmen to h! 
more observing, and that new facts as regards ?!?- ™ 
eccentric btrd may he brought to light. 8 this very 
Saoem, Mass. vv ' 
5i5 
