
woodcock heard per stop, and the number of woodcock heard per 
route. Although Robbins (Woodcock Newsletters: No. 1, 1958; 
No. 2, 1959) has shown that both values yield approximately 
the same results in terms of year-to-year changes in relative 
population levels, the number of birds per route is believed 
preferable because the count for each route then is given 
weight in proportion to the number of woodcock present. The 
use of the average number of birds per stop gives each route 
equal weight, even though some routes represent many more 
stops and much more habitat than others. Listening points 
are located in suitable breeding habitat, and all on a route 
must be covered during a period of about 35 minutes. Thus, 
routes with the most stops occur in more continuous breeding 
habitat. Counts on these routes could be expected to be higher 
than on routes with a few stops located in a limited amount of 
suitable cover where much of the available listening time is 
spent in driving between stops. 
Adjustments of the data were made for routes that did not 
have the same number of stops each year. Data for the year 
With the larger number of stops were reduced to make them 
comparable to those for the year with the smaller number of 
stops. For example, 11 birds were reported in 1962 for 12 
stops on route 27 in Maine, and 10 birds were reported for 
11 stops along the same route in 1963. For comparative 
purposes, the 11 birds in 1962 were reduced by 8 percent 
(the increase in stops covered) to a total of 10 birds, the 
estimated number that would have been heard had 11 stops 
been covered. In most instances, the necessary adjustments 
were slight (table 1). Results of counts on individual 
routes covered in 1962 and 1963 are shown in tables 6 and 7. 
Weighting factors 
When survey information from different States and Pro- 
vinces is combined, it must be weighted because the number 
of routes in each area is not related to woodcock population 
size. Adequate figures on population density in suitable 
breeding habitat are lacking. As a substitute, the average 
number of woodcock per route was weighted according to the 
