UPLAND SHOOTING. 
89 
leaves and stalks of grass, laid with very little art. The female 
lays four, sometimes five eggs, about an inch and a half long, 
and an inch, or rather more, in diameter, tapering suddenly to 
the small end. These are of a dull clay color, marked with 
spots of brown, particularly at the great end, and interspersed 
with others of a very pale purple. The nest of the Woodcock 
has, in several instances that have come to my knowledge, been 
found with eggs in February, but its usual time of beginning to 
lay is in April. In July, August and September, they are con¬ 
sidered in good order for shooting. The Woodcock is properly 
a nocturnal bird, feeding chiefly at night, and seldom stirring 
about till after sunset. At such times, as well as in the early 
part of the morning, particularly in the spring, he rises by a kind 
of spiral course, to a considerable height in the air, uttering at 
times a sudden quack , till having gained his utmost height, he 
hovers around in a wild and irregular manner, making a sort of 
murmuring sound, then descends with rapidity, as he rose. When 
uttering his common note on the ground, he seems to do it with 
difficulty, throwing his head toward the earth, and frequently jet¬ 
ting up his tail. These notes and manoeuvres are most usual in 
the spring, and are the call of the male to his favorite female. 
Their food consists of various larvre and other aquatic worms, for 
which, during the evening, they are almost continually turning 
over the leaves with their bills, or searching in the bogs. Their 
flesh is reckoned delicious, and prized highly. They remain 
with us till late in the autumn, and, on the falling of the first 
snows, descend from the ranges of the Alleghany to the lower 
parts of the country, in great numbers—soon after which, viz., 
in November, they move off to the South. This bird, in its gene¬ 
ral figure and manners, very greatly resemble the Woodcock of 
Europe ; but is considerably less, and differently marked below, 
being an entirely distinct species. A few traits will clearly point 
out these differences. The lower parts of the European Wood¬ 
cock are thickly barred with dusky-waved lines on a yellowish- 
white ground. The present species has those parts of a bright 
ferruginous. The male, of the American species, weighs from 
