We walked out samples of the various habitats in this region that 
might be used by woodcock, and found some startling concentrations. In 
one 20-minute walk with a Labrador retriever (Feb. 1), 80 birds were 
flushed, an average of } woodcock a minute. Sixty-four woodcock were 
flushed out of one spot not over 150 feet across. We put in 11 hours 
during the 5 days of the freeze, walking strips the width of the range 
of the dog (about 50 yards in heavy cover, 100 yards in open terrain) 
and kicked out a total of 357 woodcock.. This gives an average of 32. 
birds an hour, a very high figure considering the densities encountered 
in the normal wintering areas of central and northern Louisiana. Howe 
ever, it should be pointed out that the Vermilion-Iberia section is 
largely rice fields and open-prairie pasture. Wooded areas are confined 
to narrow strips along bayou banks and stream bottoms. Woodcock would be 
expected to pile up in the shelter of these wooded strips, rather than in 
open fields. Our sample strips ran for the most part through such wooded 
arease 
Game Management Agents Carlton and Lanier reported similar concen- 
trations near Bayou Blou, and along the west side of the Atchafalaya 
Basin. Prof. Leslie L. Glasgow of Louisiana State University wrote 
(letter of Feb. 13, 1951) that woodcock of the "Florida Parishes" of 
southeastern Louisiana likewise moved ahead of the freeze, and remarked 
that woodcock appeared in back yards and gardens during this period. 
Apparently some birds remained in their normal inland wintering 
areas. Vincent H. Reid (letter and report of Feb. 19, 1951), reported 
that he found as many birds on his census strips (in Vernon and adjacent 
parishes) during the freeze as he did on his best previous coverage. 
Carol Perkins of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 
reported seeing a few woodcock in favorable situations in Allen Parish 
during the worst of the freeze. However, in view of the pile-up of 
birds in the coastal parishes, it is certain that a large portion of 
the woodcock population was moved southward by cold weather. 
Emergency Habitats 
The feeding and resting grounds utilized by woodcock in South 
Louisiana seemed adequate to tide them over the emergency. The 
favorite resting sites proved to be open "parked" woodlands, having a 
ground cover of soft grasses. By midday, sun heat warmed this grass 
cover surprisingly. Temperatures in the high 70's were recorded in 
this grass in the early part of the afternoon, despite the fact that 
the free air temperature was near freezing. Fewer birds were found in 
dense brush, and only occasionally were birds flushed in the cool shaded 
palmetto thickets. Many woodcock sought warm grassy roadsides that were 
sheltered from the wind. Some birds frequented farmyards and stock pens 
in the evening, probably attracted by worms and insects in manure piles. 
