<h2>THE AMERICAN WOODCOCK.</h2>
<div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/imgi.png" width-obs="39" height-obs="80" alt="I" title="" /></div>
<p>SN’T this American Woodcock,
or indeed any member of the
family, a comical bird? His
head is almost square, and
what a remarkable eye he has!
It is a seeing eye, too, for he does not
require light to enable him to detect
the food he seeks in the bogs. He
has many names to characterize
him, such as Bog-sucker, Mud Snipe,
Blind Snipe. His greatest enemies
are the pot hunters, who nevertheless
have nothing but praise to bestow
upon him, his flesh is so exquisitely
palatable. Even those who deplore
and deprecate the destruction of birds
are not unappreciative of his good
qualities in this respect.</p>
<p>The Woodcock inhabits eastern
North America, the north British
provinces, the Dakotas, Nebraska and
Kansas, and breeds throughout the
range.</p>
<p>Night is the time when the Woodcock
enjoys life. He never flies voluntarily
by day, but remains secluded
in close and sheltered thickets till twilight,
when he seeks his favorite feeding
places. His sight is imperfect
by day, but at night he readily
secures his food, assisted doubtless by
an extraordinary sense of smell. His
remarkably large and handsome eye is
too sensitive for the glare of the sun,
and during the greater part of the day
he remains closely concealed in marshy
thickets or in rank grass. In the
morning and evening twilight and on
moonlight nights, he seeks his food in
open places. The early riser may find
him with ease, but the first glow from
the rays of the morning sun will cause
his disappearance from the landscape.</p>
<p>He must be looked for in swamps,
and in meadows with soft bottoms.
During very wet seasons he seeks
higher land—usually cornfields—and
searches for food in the mellow
plowed ground, where his presence is
indicated by holes made by his bill.
In seasons of excessive drought the
Woodcock resorts in large numbers to
tide water creeks and the banks of
fresh water rivers. So averse is he to
an excess of water, that after continued
or very heavy rains he has been known
suddenly to disappear from widely
extended tracts of country.</p>
<p>A curious habit of the Woodcock,
and one that is comparatively little
known, is that of carrying its young
in order to remove them from danger.
So many trustworthy naturalists maintain
this to be true that it must be
accepted as characteristic of this interesting
bird. She takes her young from
place to place in her toe grasps as
scarcity of food or safety may require.</p>
<p>As in the case of many birds whose
colors adapt them to certain localities
or conditions of existence, the patterns
of the beautiful chestnut parts of the
Woodcock mimic well the dead leaves
and serve to protect the female and
her young. The whistle made by
their wings when flying is a manifestation
of one of the intelligences of
nature.</p>
<p>The male Woodcock, it is believed,
when he gets his “intended” off entirely
to himself, exhibits in peculiar
dances and jigs that he is hers and
hers only, or rises high on the wing
cutting the most peculiar capers and
gyrations in the air, protesting to her
in the grass beneath the most earnest
devotion, or advertising to her his
whereabouts.</p>
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<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/img045.jpg" width-obs="600" height-obs="436" alt="image" title="" /> <span class="caption">american woodcock.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: -30em;" class="sml"><strong>From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.</strong></span></div>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</SPAN></span></p>
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