1876.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
93 
to tlie lot of very few to have seen the Wood¬ 
cock’s nest, and there is but little known about 
the ways of the young birds. In summer, the flight 
of the Woodcock is very short, and it often alights 
within a few feet from the place where it started; 
but in autumn it takes a longer flight, rises with a 
peculiar shrill twitter, and frequently goes to a 
long distance. It is a 
great puzzle to sportsmen 
to account for its almost 
total disappearance during 
the moulting season in 
August; at this time the 
birds leave their former 
haunts, and do not re-ap- 
pear until Oct. In most 
states the birds are pro¬ 
tected by game-laws, from 
January 1st until July 4th. 
The American Snipe 
is readily distinguished 
from the Woodcock by its 
different shape ; its body 
is more slender, it has 
longer legs, and a very dif¬ 
ferent look throughout; 
one of the points relied 
upon by ornithologists is, 
that the tibia (drumstick) 
is, in the Woodcock, 
feathered down to the very 
joint; in the Snipe the 
tibia is naked in its lower 
portion, and covered with 
scales like those on the 
tarsus, or what in a fowl 
is popularly known as the 
leg. This bird is sometimes called the English 
Snipe, as the early settlers gave to the birds, plants, 
and trees, which resembled those they had left at 
home, the names they were familiar with. This 
bird is quite unlike the Snipe of England, as was 
shown by Wilson, on which account it is often 
called "Wilson’s Snipe, as its systematic name, 
given by Lucien Buonaparte, is Gallinago Wilsoni. 
It is found throughout North America, and extends 
through Mexico to South America, and westward 
to Montana and Wyoming. It sometimes breeds 
in northern New England, though preferring a 
higher latitude. It arrives in the neighborhood of 
New York earlv in March, after a w'hile it moves 
further north to its nest¬ 
ing grounds, along our 
northern border and in 
Canada. It forms a nest of 
loose grass and leaves on 
the ground, in bogs and 
thickets, in which are laid 
three or four olive-drab 
eggs, thickly marked with 
brown spots, especially to¬ 
wards the large end. The 
Snipe begins to return 
from the north in Septem¬ 
ber, and not having the 
cares of a family, takes its 
ease among the rashes and 
tussocks of the swamps, 
and becomes fat and lazy. 
It sometimes lies so close 
that it may be approach¬ 
ed to within a few feet, 
when it suddenly starts 
with its well known 
“scaipe ,” which frequent¬ 
ly disturbs the equanimi¬ 
ty of even old sports¬ 
men. The Snipe, like 
the Woodcock, bores into 
the soft ooze in boggy 
and wet spots for worms 
and such other creatures as may be found in these 
places ; besides this, it devours numerous insects 
that it finds in the wet grass, and even eats leeches 
from the ponds. The Snipe is, in one respect, very 
puzzling to the sportsman, as the birds may be 
found in great abundance in a given locality one 
day, and the next day he may hunt over the same 
• Woodcock and Snipe. 
Strange as it may seem to sportsmen, many peo¬ 
ple who have lived all their lives in the country, do 
not know the difference between a Woodcock and a 
Snipe. In the view of many, all birds having a very 
long bill, are Snipe. 
Should these persons visit 
a city 7 market, they would 
learn at least one differ¬ 
ence, for they would find 
that the price of a dozen 
Snipe would only buy a 
single pair of Woodcock. 
The two birds are closely 
related in their structure, 
and there is not nearly so 
much difference between 
them in the eye of the 
naturalist, as in that of the 
sportsman, who hunts, and 
of the epicure who eats, 
them. Both birds belong 
to the Snipe family, or 
Scolopacidce, so called from 
.Scolopax, the European 
Woodcock, which was the 
ancient Greek and Latin 
name of that bird. This 
family includes not only 
our Woodcock and Snipe, 
but several other birds 
that are of interest to 
the sportsman. We find 
here the Sandpipers, the 
Godwits, the Curlews, and 
several birds incorrectly called Plovers, anu those 
known by the popular name of “ Teeters.” These 
birds, generally of medium or small size, have, 
without going into ornithological characters, one 
point "in common ; they obtain their feed by feeling 
for it in the sand or mud, and to accomplish this, 
they are provided with a very slender and long bill, 
which is remarkable not only for its length, but for 
being peculiarly sensitive, which allows them to se¬ 
lect their food, while it is hidden from sight, by a 
delicate sense of touch. The bill is in some genera 
straight, and in others curved upwards or down¬ 
ward. Another quality, which the family have in 
common, is a peculiar excellence of flesh, which 
makes them highly prized 
as delicate food. They 
are all migratory, and the 
majority, when not breed¬ 
ing, are to be - found in 
large flocks ; all breed in 
northern localities; com¬ 
monly lay four parti-col¬ 
ored eggs, and the young 
are able to ran about as 
soon as hatched. Leav¬ 
ing the other birds of this 
family, we will confine 
ourselves to two, the 
Woodcock, and the 
American or Wilson’s 
Snipe; of these we have 
had accurate engravings 
prepared, which will al¬ 
low those who do not 
care for technical de¬ 
scriptions, to distinguish 
these two valuable and 
very closely related birds. 
The American Wood¬ 
cock has been by some 
naturalists placed in the 
same genus with the 
European Woodcock, but 
it is much smaller, and 
differs sufficiently in the size and shape of the first 
three quills of the wing, to place it in a different 
genus, and ornithologists call our bird Philohela 
minor. It is of course distinguished by peculiari¬ 
ties of plumage, length of toes, and other charac¬ 
ters, but the popular feature in the bird, and one 
which allows it to be distinguished from all others, 
is the eye, which is very large for the size of the 
bird, and is set away back and in the upper corner 
of the head, in such a manner as to appear as a de¬ 
formity. No doubt, when the bird has its bill thrust 
deep into the soft soil, in search of food, the eye is 
then found to be in the most convenient position 
possible. The Woodcock is most abundant in the 
the American snipe. —(Gallinago Wilsoni.) 
the female ; and a friend who is an active sports¬ 
man, and knows all the ways of birds, informs us 
that he has in a procumbent position, approached 
so nearthe nest, that had his hat fallen off it would 
have struck the sitting bird; yet the mother bird 
only gazed at the stranger with those remarkable 
eyes of hers, without a sign of fear. It has fallen 
the American woodcock.— (Philohela minor.) 
eastern states; it extends from Nova Scotia to 
Kansas and Nebraska, where it is found sparingly. 
There is, perhaps, no common bird, the habits of 
which are so little known as those of the Woodcock, 
as it is at once the most shy and the most fearless 
of creatures. The birds appear in the northern 
states early in March, usually about the 10th ; they 
breed in New York and New England, their nest 
bejng scarcely more than a heap of leaves; the 
eggs, usually four, are of a drab color, tinged with 
white, and spotted with brown and lilac ; both birds 
aid in incubation ; so fearless are they at this time, 
that one writer says he has known an ox-cart to be 
driven within a foot of the nest without starting 
