With regard to the Forest and Stream editor's notion that this 
thrusts it into the mud, 
certain, when one eonsid- 
Woodcoek is feeling with its bill vrhen it 
it does not seem to me that it is at all 
ers the well-known fact that sounds are much more reacily trans- 
mitted through the medium of the cranial bones than directly 
through the air, as can readily be perceived if one holds a sonor 
ous body between the teeth. Walter Faxon, letter of August 8, 
1889 . 
Woodcocks Carrying their Young, their Feeding Grounds ailed t0 make a r ® s P ec . table eowa J“ 
B to a certainty by hunting over the 
ks, and making large bags at times jdcocks requires a thorough knowl- 
DOillt T atisvnlri lilrp t.n bpp rlifi- A turn i_ 1. . ® , . 
and, a Wooidcock Hunt. 
y III -Jv» ^ ^ ^ Wooster O ?oint , that • 1 S ?° Uld t0 . see , clls : d thif 5 can only be acquired by long 
Editor Chicago IhELDi-In ohe/tf the late Issues of the mn?^U„sahie andlin “ D ?-““ s[wrt8m " out 
Chicago Field, I notice you give a representation of the wood- e ^sions that will uphold my theory. “ * ° f huDtmg ’ and s ° 
cock carrying its young This is a subject which I would like to er a corn-field and took out of it fifty- 
see more fully discussed and brought before your readers, by billed every bird ln the field. The 
those whose experience with this bird have made them familiar , ough agaln y and took out thirty-six 
with its habits. The mode of carrying I am satisfied is correct, Ja ® eB yerner, of Pittsburg, Pa., and 
and am also satisfied from what I have seen that the entire brood f ground i n the Killbuck bottoms, and 
is carried from place to place by the mother bird. As I spend L m0 rning Mr. Theo. Gray, of Alle- 
it over the same ground precisely, and 
geight birds. Last July I beat over 
iroughly, but did not raise a feather, 
irdner, of Mt. Vernon, N. Y., and my- 
| I sent my red dog, Mack, into the 
minutes, and about one hundred yards 
nearly all my time in the field with my dogs, and have hunted 
and killed a great many woodcocks, I have made it a point to 
note their peculiar habits, from their first appearance here in the 
Spring until their disappearance in the Fall; their feeding 
grounds; time of moving from place to place; kinds of food and 
where obtained; how to tell where likely to be found, and 
last but not least, why more birds can be found in the dark than C“t “d 'kve bir^Hse out of the'corn 
hv t.np. iffhr. at thp mnr»n A Ti\ A ^ j u _ _ . 
by the light of the moon. No moonshine about this. As hundreds 
of birds nest in this vicinity, I have had a great many opportun- 
ities of observing the carrying process, and have frequently 
jgot over into the corn, and in less than 
think, thirty-seven birds. Two days 
birds rise and fly away that looked as though their entire entrails 
were hanging out, 
seen Pittsburg, and myself, on the same 
and from appearance seemed as large as the ^ 3^“ fhtve mTuHokedT^fThky 
hnvfi fol fiwpil r.np.m pIacpItt qti/I v»ott a * . _ . . . ... , , , , , 
number again. Should this notice 
is as to dates, they will see that the 
las it, was in the right sign, was right, 
dark. 
trd, and they cannot bore, or rather the 
If moist and loose when plowed it 
the corn is large enough to shade the 
Hoist all Summer. Here the birds can 
er the corn is in tassel. The best fields 
e found are composed of a black or gray 
soil never holds the 
crown of a cap. I have followed them closely, and have been 
near to them when flying, and also when alighting with their 
young. Have seen them carry from three to five at once, but 
have never been able to detect whether the young held on by Woodcock is in locating its feeding- 
“ e ‘ r b TL firit in 8 ; 6 g 80 C j° sely P a “° old etoo hard, others too soft, some too wetor 
bird. The first instance that came under my observation was e that is objectionable. In corn-fields it 
several years ago. A friend of mine, who was in very delicate Hmp thp irounds are Dlowed up and 
health, came to me one day, in May and proposed a hunt for (il If t he|round is we P t when plowed, 
squirrels. I accepted his invitation and we drove to the woods to- [“J B - •• 
gether. After hitching the horse we separated, each one taking 
his own course. I had gone but a short distance when my atten- 
tion was drawn to my friend, who yelled to me, “ Look out.” I 
turned around and beheld a woodcock passing within ten or fif- 
teen feet of me. My friend’s gun was to his shoulder and in an 
instant the bird fell to the ground. When struck, it looked as | fir „ vp , v or P i av 
though it was blown into half a dozen pieces Approaching the ffash ln fl( J where the sedimen t 
“ rdI ^. aS S £P r T d h °J T y0U , n ? ° neS a PP, arentl y about f0dr r a short time. An experienced hunter 
nint , i g wingbrokenabout the first a fle i d whether it holds birds or not. 
joint, and two of the young ones were killed. I have often ran ,„ nmp tn lncatinp- birds that I can tell 
fonld 6 I? 0 * Wh f re MrdS that l00ked 80 lar S®, had dropped, and ! are birds in a fl ® ld by c i imbin g onto a 
found three or four young ones. One peculiar circumstance I ^ ovpr tlle eorn t am now SDe aking of 
have noticed, that I never saw a bird drop any more than one that f elds . bv observing the growthand color 
had pin feathers on it. I believe after the young become a cer- Subserve where® the moTst and good 
tam size they are carried as described in the issue mentioned. j Jy m fln I thp ob i e ct of vour search 
My idea is, that when the parent bird is 6tartled or danger threat- L r b J s „ ru b p bave seen it quoted by 
ens, she gathers her young together and moves oil with them, l o lk feeds onlv at night In this respect 
“ngTn d the n davttoe StanCeS ' ° ther ^ W “ ^ take to ! t have killed hundreds with worm S P in 
, 3e different kinds — the common angle- 
Woodcocks change their feeding grounds at night, and I doubt - 
if ever a woodcock took wing during the day, unless put up by 
some unnatural Cuuse. This is why I mention the moon buei~ 
ness. 
But 
rm with black head and feet, and a small 
. or grayish color, similar to the yellow 
I blueve‘v e i y v \ m0Ye °“ a “f/ ° ight there is 110 “• The smalJrone 
I believe very seldom, unless disturbed. „ K . „ JL 
I|find that my best bags were made in the dark of the moon, of some benefit"^ 8 
I will relate 
to persons desiring 
information of woodcocks feeding. During last season three or 1 year j 9 
four birds remained close to my house, near a spring. Around 
this spring were several large oak trees. A friend and myself 
were seated under these trees one evening ; it was nearly dark 
when I saw one of the birds alight near one of the trees. It sat 
for a few moments very unconcerned, when it walked up to the 
root of the tree and began jumping against it. We watched it 
for a while, when I had a curiosity to see what it was doing. I 
soon found that about fifteen or eighteen inches from the ground 
there was quite a number of the last mentioned worms. I also 
noticed that a cob-web on the tree at this point stopped the 
worms on their upward course, and that the bird made the jumps 
to catch them. 
depending entirely on good luck 
,me, and nine times out of ten come 
^s, if a little judgment was used 
and surroundings, plenty of birds 
place and parallel with the P. F. 
town as the Big Ditch. This ditch 
ank is used as a road, and is on 
her side are large corn-fields and 
nd for two miles is, to all appear- 
and timber for woodcocks as there 
here is magnificent, but to find 
of the question. I have never 
d on this side of the ditch, while 
;y yards of the ditch, and for its 
nd, and bags from ten to forty 
I the first freezing weather, after 
all disappear in a single night. In 
I. Mack, of Chicago, and myself, 
!ew birds. We struck a corn-field, 
i and so remarked to him. We 
such a getting out of woodcock I 
eing late when we began shooting, 
Ion, it was necessary to hold close 
y we made the best of, and we 
plump birds. How many we left 
iber did not seem diminished when 
s first woodcock hunt, it was 
ig them. A bird would get up 
fact all around. His gun would 
one, and at last he would fail to 
birds,’’ he remarked, “I don’t 
An hour’s drive brought us home, 
d loading shells for the morrow, 
idred birds would be brought to 
tart was suggested and agreed 
gilt, thinking of the good time 
During the night I heard a 
is of Mr. Mack’s bed-room. I 
d it came from Mack himself, 
le of my birds.” He evidently 
had in the afternoon and of an 
id thief being no other than my 
“ up all the birds he could and 
10 killed them. Morning came, 
after Mr. Mack’s one hundred 
gum-boots you don’t get a bird 
lat red thief Mack comes around 
II cripple him.” Mr. Mack had 
during the night it had frozen 
s find the entire day, all having 
Killbuck. J{ 
$2 for six months; $1 for 
