Morning journal and courier., 1889-08-01
A Study of Woodcock.


 From the Fore It and Stream.1
 Not long since spent moonlight night on certain water, a famous breeding ground for woodeock, making 8 nocturnal study of these birds. The record of it may not be uninteresting. I chose night when the moon wes iall, so as to have all the light possible. In my pocket carried an ordina- ry opera glass and small metal whistle. The use of these appliances will be described presently
 I left the road just before it reaches the meadow came to the breeding covert I have spoken of. It lay not far from the river, and wes abundantly watered by little stream which ran through it with many a zigzag and devious Aggression. The covert was composed of alders, bi1ches, hemlocks and a few cedars. When I reached the ground it was late in the afternoon. The air was oppressively warm, and not sound broke the absolute stiffness of the place. I sat down on little knoll, lit my pipe and tried to drive away the persistent cloud of mosquitoes which lowered around me.
 Presently I heard some animal-it may have been a dog-passing rapidly through the covert up little distance. As I listened there was a familiar sound of whistling wings, and suddenly, es lightly as feather. woodcock alighted on the knoll where sat, not six feet from me. remained absolutely motionless, permitting the unsuitable mosqui- toes to drive their suction pipes into all the exposed portions of my body. The wood cock stood for moment perfectly still, as if listening. Thsn it began to strut around like barnyard cock, it's pert little head nod ding and it's great bright eyes glistening like beads. It evidently had no notion of my presence, though, between the mosquitoes and strong impulse to laugh at what looked like little old wood-witch hobblinR about with very long black cane, I could hsrdly keep still. Suddenly stick cracked, and. as quickly and lightly fs she came, the wood-witoh with her long black cane was gone.
 slapped myself frantically, and sent at least dozen half-gorged mosquitoes out of walk through the covert. Near the edge a woodcock flushed, flew few feet only, and then came down and futtered along the ground as if wounded. I knew her young were near and stopped where I wes. Seeing that her counterfeit agony had no effect upon me, the mother bird ventured, picked up one of her concealed fedglings with her feet and ! the alders with her burden; but in minute ! or two she returned and carried of another ! of the young birds in the same way. This | time tried to follow her, ps she seemed to | fly very slowly, but she succeeded i1 giving me the slip.
 Another night when the moon rose took | position near one of the moist places along \ the brook, where the borings were the fresh- est and most plentiful, and awaited develop ments. For long time the bright light o1 | the moon fell full upon the spot wished to
 obsel ye, and could see everything with the utmost plainness. At about eight o'clock g
 woodcock dropped down silent beside the
 brook. Presently another bird walked ou of the shadow and joined it. Both began tt
 "bore" for wormg-An operation I had neve ! seen before, fnd curious Rsrformance i was. The birds would rest their bills upol
 the mud and stand in this position for seVe
 ral seconds, as if listening. Then, with { | sudden, swift movement, they would driy,
 the bill it's entire length in the soil, hold i
 so for a second, and then as swiftly with
 draw it. Though l watched the birds care
 fully with the glass, could not detect tht
 presence of a worm in their bills when they ! gave me the clue to their method of feeding After having bored over a considerable piece of ground-a square foot or more-they pro
 ceeded to execute what looked comicallY liks war dance upon the perforated territory
 They also occasionally tapped the ground | with the tips Of their wings.
 My intense curiosity to know the possibl
 utility of this process wes at length gratiiet
 by seeing worm crawl, half-lsngth, iron
 one of the borings, when 1t was immediatel ! bounced upon and devoured by one of tn ! woodcock. Presently another worm mad it's appearance, and so on until the tw l woodcock had devoured as many ss doze
 of them Then the "vein" seemed exhsusi
 cd and the birds took their leave.
 I have subsequently, studied the philoso
 phy of this method of digging bait, an l have come to the conclusion that certal , birds gre a great deal wiser than certain bi
 peds without feathers. If you will take
 sharpened stick aud drive it into the groun' number of times, in spot which is pro l life with worms, and then tap on the groun with the stick for few minutes, you vii , find that the worms will come to the SUI face, and that they will come up throug , the holes which you have made. l accoun , for it by the supposition that the tappin l of the stick somehow affects the worm
 the same as the batter of rain, and 1t is well known fact that worms come to th I surface of the ground when it rains. Tn antics of the woodcock after they had mad ]. their borings, then, were simply mtmetl'
 and intended to delude the worms into th belief that it was raining in the uppe 0 ! world The worms, being deceived, cam . up and were devoured. All this may seer
 ridiculous, but if it is not true, will son | naturalist please state how a woodcock os | grasp and devour worm when it's bill ? confined in a solid, tight-6tting tunnel ? l soil, and also how it is enabled to kno ! ! ! the exact spot where it may sink Its b and st1.ke worms And further, of { :, l those who have seen a woodcock feedin . how many ever saw it withdraw a wer | fropo fba yround upith fla hf113