April 25, 190S.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
653 
Woodcock Nesting on Long Island. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
On March 28, 1908, a friend, Mr. Louis 
Chevallier, located a woodcock's nest in the 
hills south of Huntington, L. I., and on 'April 
4 he and I visited the place for the purpose of 
taking a few photographs. Although Mr. C. 
knew within a few feet where the nest was, so 
closely did the plumage of the bird blend with 
the surroundings that it took 11s over half an 
hour to find it. In that time we had several 
times passed within a few feet of the bird, but 
she never moved, nor in any way betrayed her 
presence. 
Finally Mr. C. discovered the bird and then 
1 proceeded to" take several snaps of her on the 
nest. Approaching to within about five feet 
I made several exposures. I then approached 
to within about three feet and, removing several 
small dead branches from in front of the bird, 
made several more exposures. As she showed 
no signs of alarm, I picked up a small twig and 
with it began to remove several leaves that 
partly obscured her. At this intrusion she 
partly raised the head, and I expected her to 
leave the nest, but she soon quieted down, and, 
going around to the right side, I made several 
more exposures, holding the camera within a 
foot of the bird. Then I made my way quietly 
around to the left where the light was better 
and again made several exposures with the 
camera very close to the bird. With the ex¬ 
ception of the time when I touched her with 
the twig, she remained perfectly quiet and 
showed not the slightest signs of fear or alarm. 
Wishing to photograph the eggs, I gently 
worked my fingers under her, lifted her off the 
nest and was about to place her on the ground 
some two feet from the nest, when with a hoarse 
cry she dashed at the upper part of my arm 
near the shoulder, striking me with her wings 
precisely as I have often seen an old hen do 
when you went too near her brood of chicks. 
Then she flew off about fifty feet, where she 
lit and remained a few minutes, and then flew 
further into the woods. 
When first discovered, on March 28, this nest 
contained four eggs, which was the number it 
contained on April 4. On April 11 Mr. 
Chevallier again visited the nest and, after scar¬ 
ing away the old bird, found in it four young 
birds, which he estimated were not over a day 
old, as they were perfectly helpless. After 
making several exposures, he left, but returned 
in a quarter of an hour and was astonished to 
find that in the interval the young had all been 
removed, and he was unable to again locate 
them. 
This nest was situated on the top of a high 
hill in an open woods of second growth chestnut 
and oak, and, as far as I could see, no effort had 
been made to construct a nest, the eggs simply 
resting in a depression in the oak and chestnut 
leaves. When I first saw it on April 4 there 
was a very cold northwest wind blowing, and 
the bird sat facing the direction from which the 
wind came, which by the way I have observed 
is the habit of most wild birds. 
One thing that impressed me very much when 
examining the nest and its surroundings was 
the entire absence of any chalk marks in the 
vicinity, indicating that the birds must use great 
caution in not betraying the whereabouts of the 
nest to its natural enemies, such as foxes and 
weasels. At no time were we able to find the 
male bird, although he must have been some¬ 
where in the neighborhood. The nearest water 
was not over half a mile away. 
While on this subject, I wish to state that in 
my opinion many of these birds are destroyed 
or driven away by the senseless burning over of 
our woodlands in the spring, and personally I 
know of many fine grounds that have been 
ruined by this practice. ' On Long Island this 
has become a serious menace, and at the present 
time thousands of acres are nothing but a 
blackened waste, unsightly to look upon and 
unfit for occupancy by any living creature. I 
would ask that everybody interested in the 
preservation of our woods and wild creatures 
take steps immediately to discourage this prac¬ 
tice. 
Here in the County of Queens practically 
every bit of woodland, brush, weed and grass 
land has been burned over this spring, and in 
the past few days I have seen many acres of 
salt meadows on fire. All of this land has been 
rendered unfit for occupation by our ground¬ 
nesting birds, and many of the birds that nest 
in bushes and trees have also been compelled to 
seek other sections. In this vicinity most of 
the damage is done by mischievous school boys, 
but I have seen grown men of intelligence set¬ 
ting these fires and apparently taking great de¬ 
light in the destruction wrought. 
Close by Jamaica is a piece of woodland 
where last summer and early fall I had great 
pleasure in working my dogs on woodcock, 
seldom failing to find one to half a dozen birds, 
but the other day on visiting it I found the 
whole place had been burned over, rendering it 
unfit for birds this season. 
John H. Hendrickson. 
Action Urged. 
Concord, N. H., April 4 .— Editor Forest and 
Stream: Unwillingness on the part of the 
leaders of Congress to permit legislation at this 
session, beyond the regular appropriation bills, 
works particular hardship in the White Moun¬ 
tains. The protective forests on the high slopes 
have been going at the rate of 300 acres daily 
or 25,000 annually, which affects the agricultural, 
manufacturing and navigation interests through¬ 
out New England. 
The bill for national forests in the White 
Mountains and the Southern Appalachian Moun¬ 
tains has been endorsed by the entire country. 
Lumbermen and paper makers, farmers and 
business men, and the press, without exception, 
have urged this measure for five years. Two 
years ago it passed the Senate and was recom¬ 
mended unanimously to the House of Represen¬ 
tatives by the Committee on Agriculture, but 
owing to the opposition of the speaker, did not 
then become a law. 
At a recent hearing before the' present Com¬ 
mittee on Agriculture, the governors of Georgia 
and New Hampshire, with official delegates from 
the governors of twelve other States, and a 
group of two hundred business men and citizens 
from all of the States east of the Mississippi, 
except four, presented evidence that the timber 
supply is disappearing, that water powers are 
affected, that navigation is crippled, and that 
agriculture in the lowlands, particularly in the 
South, is in many cases wiped out by floods. 
Delegates from the Pittsburg Chamber of Com¬ 
merce showed that recent floods cost that city 
ten millions of dollars.. Lawrence, Mass., sent 
a delegation, including the mayor and the presi¬ 
dent of the board of trade, to show the import¬ 
ance of the Merrimac for drinking water, as 
well as for power. To all these Congress ap¬ 
parently has turned a deaf ear. 
When the matter came before the judiciary 
committee, the Governors of Massachusetts, 
Connecticut and North Carolina sent able law¬ 
yers to Washington to prove that the matter is 
one in which Congress has undoubted power to 
act. 
Neither the committee on agriculture nor that 
on judiciary has made any report and the im¬ 
pression prevails at Washington that they do not 
intend to do so. Is there any reason why the 
leaders in the House of Representatives should 
longer obstruct the will of the people? When 
six New England States and eight Southern 
States unite in asking prompt action by Con¬ 
gress, do the men who guide that body propose 
to turn the matter calmly down? What do the 
representatives from the South and from New 
England intend to do about it? 
We appreciate heartily the help that you have 
given, and ask the further co-operation of your 
paper to secure action at this session of Con¬ 
gress- F. W. Rollins, 
President of the Society for the Protection of New 
Hampshire Forests. 
Boston, Mass., March 31 .—To the Members 
of Congress From the New England States: 
Gentlemen—We have heard with regret and 
alarm that the White Mountain and Appalachian 
Forest Reserve bill (H. No. 10457) may not be 
enacted at this session of Congress. 
We beg to say that we believe the future wel¬ 
fare and prosperity of the eastern part of the 
United States, and especially of New England, 
to be dependent upon the adoption of the policy 
set forth in this bill, and that if such policy is 
not adopted now it will be necessary to adopt 
it at a future time and at vastly increased ex¬ 
pense, and that in the meantime great injury 
will be clone New England. 
We therefore earnestly ask for your com¬ 
bined and active interest in and immediate sup¬ 
port of this bill to the end that it may become 
a law at this session of Congress. 
(Signed) 
Pacific Mills, by Edwin Farnham Greene, Treas¬ 
urer. 
Proprietors of Locks and Canals on Merrimack 
River, by Arthur T. Lyman, President. 
Massachusetts Cotton Mills, Edward Lovering, 
Assistant Treasurer. 
Stone & Webster. 
Bliss, Fabyan & Co., agents for Otis Company, 
1 horndike Co., Boston Duck Company, 
Columbian Mfg. Co., Cordis Mills. 
Amoskeag Mfg. Co., by F. C. Dumaine, Treas¬ 
urer. 
Essex Company of Lawrence, Mass., by Howard 
Stockton, Treasurer. 
Theop. Parsons, Treasurer Lyman Mills. 
Franklin W. Hobbs, Treasurer Arlington Mills. 
American Woolen Co., by Wm. M. Wood, Presi¬ 
dent. 
Nashua Manufacturing Company, Jackson Com¬ 
pany, by Frederic Amory, Treasurer. 
