^ /y- i»yf 
( IV 
I VOL. XXXII.— No. 86. 
1 No 318 Broadway, New Iork. 
WAYS OF THE WOODCOCK , 
T HE notes on the habits of the woodcock printed in 
another column will undoubtedly bring a snide to 
the lips of many a reader, yet they are deserving of a 
thoughtful consideration, which shall winnow the facts 
from the fancies. 
We really know very little about the private life of the 
woodcock, or indeed about that of any of our best known 
game birds. A few of the most obvious facts with re- 
gard to each species have been seized and written of so 
fully that we are all of us prone to think that these few 
facts comprise all that there is to the bird’s life. The 
same thing— but in a greater degree— is true of the habits 
of our game animals. Take for example the question of 
the woodcock’s boring. How many have seen the bird 
do this? Of those who have seen the operation, how 
many have been able to decide for themselves whether 
he knows the position of the worm by the sense of touch 
or that of hearing? The familiar twitter or whistle is 
another point about this bird concerning which there are 
diverse opinions. A correspondent a week or two since 
expressed the confident opinion that it was made by the 
bird’s wings; we believe that it is not made by the wings, 
and could give reasons which to us appear conclusive. 
“Paul Pastnor’s” theory that the woodcock perforates the 
ground and then imitates the pattering of rain to induce 
the worms to visit the surface, appears fanciful in the 
extreme, but the error may be in his conclusions and not 
in his observations. At the same time we should like to 
have a little more testimony as to the distance at which 
an earthworm is visible, even, on a bright moonlight 
night and through a pair of strong opera glasses. 
We wish that more of our sportsmen would devote a 
portion of their time to the study of the birds and mam- 
mals that they pursue with so much ardor, and that the 
results of their observations might be set down and pub- 
licly recorded. Almost every man who shoots or fishes 
much, has seen a great many interesting things which 
would be of value to others, and these observations ought 
to be given to those whose tastes lead them in the same 
direction. It is a remarkable fact that we still lack full 
and complete life histories of birds so iamiliar as the 
woodcock, the rufEed grouse and the quail, and of mam- 
mals so well known as the Virginia deer, the red fcx and 
the common gray hare. V no will take hold of one of 
these species and supply thencecteifeeefe? 
@ng and §m\. 
u. •*- • 
STUDY of woodcock. 
the woodcock I h ^ S ™ e uttie more about it than 
seems to me as if I kne ^which almost baffles the 
when I began. It 1S a , i ; storv because it seems 
efforts of the student of ousnesi-rof being watched. 
mg. Som ® fLjXutemeiits of well-known writers on 
| monly received statemem , , t for advancing one 
natural history. ! may ,, g e nt paper, but I con- 
theS ^ the course of modern investigation, have 
become science believe the woodcock has the 
Among other not verified this theory 
power of song. To be ® L „_ v “ to do it . I have heard 
•at, but I ttmkl ".“it Jtl I the responsibility 
SlKSrtJiSK*. However, .hat 
time. „ i ^ 
_ — ; — t ar-jont a moonlight night on a certain 
Not long smce I ground for woodcock, making 
water, a famous breeding g The record of i t may 
a nocturnal study of th ® se ’ igllt w hen the moon 
not be uninteresting. htnolible. In my pocket 
was full, so as to have .all th me &fwhi*. 
desoribed pres ' 
““fit the road j«.t 
river, and crossing a wide not far f r0 m the river, 
covert I have spoken of It gtream which ran 
and was abundantly wate a , devious digression, 
through it with “^^J^fdfrs birchIs?hemlocksand 
The covert was composed mf late in 
a few cedars. When 1 1 Reached the jroui i and nQt 
the afternoon. The an was oppress y i sa t 
a sound broke the absolute ^ness oi^ ^ ^ ^ 
down on a little kno , mosquitoes which hovered 
away the persistent clo swarmed into the cloud 
around me. But in yam, ? of its fragrance. I had 
of tobacco smotoas if that remained for me 
SX wTs mVinTnd be n ar the inevitable affliction as best 
1 Presently I heard 
fa°n 8 cT Pa is I S liste P ned y there was a f amiliar sound of wMstl- 
a feather ^ a 
lightly as a 
where I sat, not six feet 
from me. I remamed absolutely “^mniess, P into 
the insatiable mosquitoes to d woodcock 
all the exposed portions of my body. Then 
stood for a moment perfec ,7, b arB yard cock, its pert 
it began to strut ey« glistening 
little head nodding and g ° of my presence, 
like beads. It evidently had no n° U< f gt ® mK ' i n 1 pulse to 
though, between »w';'«l“ ;““jT„ Hv ,ub lobbliug 
be? ions W 
cane was gone. ,, d sent a t least a dozen 
I slapped myself frantically, wor i d Then, jump- 
half ^ -gorged mosquitoes out ; o tl covert . ' Near the edge 
ing up I took a walk a S f fc w f eet only and then came 
a woodcock flushed, flew a , a b if wounded. I 
down and fluttered along t g d where I was. 
knew her young we *® fp itaeonv fiadmo effect upon me 
Seeing that her counterfeit a S?^Xup one o£ h £ r con - 
the mother bird returned, p dew awa y with it. 
cealed fledglings with her fe burden; but in 
SKyS.’S 1 *?. »!■ ™ty »”* * h “ 
ceeded in giving me the shP- theories, with 
Placing myself m the x y fQr a |, out fifteen min- 
flushed a bird I kept perfect y £ f ft no t es at 
utes and then begantobh.w a succession o^ ^ ^ 
regular intervals on the e. da - util aud stopping to 
utes Master Cock, stepping ;’ ed f rom his hiding 
listen at almost every step, em f previously taken 
place and came toward me to the best of 
the opera glass from c ‘ f iend whose actions 
advantage every modonofmy ^tlem®®"’ alld then he 
were exceedingly, amusing. the ^ ground and close his 
would Stop, jeBthislong bffl on thejiro^ ^ ^ 
eyes as if going to sleep, v oQck Wg headj as if trying i 
in a circle, trai . o£ Nie opinion that he was 
to locate the sound. I am _of .the op^ ^ gome vagU0 
actuated, not only by Jfiistle with the note of 
thefemile. it last an inadvertent movement on my part 
startled him, and away he fle ^ occas ion, and at other 
the course of the afternoon I ^ have men- 
woodcock from the banks erf ttie in the 8oil 
proved to m“thTthe birds had been feeding when dis- 
turbed. 
diately pounced upon and ^^^^it^ip^earance, 
that certain birds axe a gie t wiU take a sharpened 
bipeds without teatneis. j 1T nhpr of times, m 
stfck and drive it into the ’ ground a n® « ^ t ^ 
a spot which is prolific wdh worms, a wiU find 
ground with the stick for a f ew ^ that they 
that the worms will come to the smt^ , made . 
will come up through t . ,, , tapping of the 
I account for it by the suppoatum that ^tapp^g 
stick somehow affects the wor worms come to 
of rain, and it is a well-known fact that worm of 
the surface of the ground wh +heir borings, then, 
the woodcocks after they g “^ d tQ delude the worms 
srrssra* w 
The worms, being ’ i t ^ is not true, will 
All this “ a y« ee X a se sUtThow a woodcock can grasp 
some naturalist please st ... . con fined in a solid, 
and devour a worm when its biU is contin 3 tQ 
tiglit-flttmg tunnel of soil, and also m strike 
k5owth..j».n»> wk«. >t . 
‘wo”“l V TSbml “ 
found another open place y watching for perhaps 
sssaarse? are 
and examined the XX^asimpossible that the bird 
gether, and, of course, it w ^* ™ P ° v b oring I do not 
■* 
io o k 4 likely place. i*i n nront, 
Just at dusk however the*o was a 
mmrmm 
notTsfa^ve & S 
events Bus peculiar acu flights o£ the woodcock, 
the moon— for floating down into our midst, except to 
give us a suij>rise . and eoulTSTc it in the bird’s 
“JT^here t'hl woodcock stood for ten or fifteen seconds 
branches P over which the woodcock had disappeared, and 
'SISmssS 
i«oth beean to “bore” for worms-an operation I had 
never sefn before, and a curious performance it was. 
I The birds would rest their bills upon the mudand stand 
in this nosition for several seconds, as it listening, men, 
^ ha swift movement > 
nreslnct of a worm in their bills when they were with- 
ass: sarsartars 
is a “likely place.” cover until the moon went 
Although I remained in t feed ing which I have 
SoLr There Vere — 
have been^he tonvematfon of the little community I have 
b6 SSSt a 
the covert, and I crept forward to se^ instead of flee- 
of my surprise and constern^io ^ threatening 
ing, the animal turned uj P nou°-h to perceive that it 
manner. I lingered ^^^I the vicinhy in the short- 
was a skunk and tte ntin)eg amaz ingly bold , 
est time possible. okum. s a T s t0 realize that they 
especially in the summer. -pyi dc ntly the same motive 
are held in universal r . es P®® j to the woodcock covert 
had brought this particular ^skunk to the to . r 
which had brought me na Y ’ , • »| e skunk’s case 
the habits of the birds f^odcoc k cl ickforbreak- 
by the pleasmg possibility scientist was indignant 
fast. No wonder the four-leggea sciem brot her! 
at the meddling 1 “ p ? rtl i “p f fiatelv after the moon set and 
SSi ‘ fiTS CSifK ,ore 1 
discover all I want to know Paul Pastnor. 
a 
