The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-04-23
WAYS OF THE WOODCOCK.
CHASE or THE MYSTERIOUS BIRDS
IN SOUTHERN orr rs.

N AVN h4et lbt ~ ~ a' Np Nv
night and flies by night. dwelling IN the thick
est OF covert in the daytime. the woodcock Is
the most Mysterious bird within the knowledge
OF the local naturalists. The negroes have a
hundred legends about him and many OF the
whites believe strange things OF this member
OF the snipe family. 1t is difficult. for instance.
to persuade the North Louisiana farmer that
the female woodcock does not carry her young
upon her back In journeying from place to
place, or that the male does not once a year
make a trip across tho Atlantic for some pecu-
liar purpose. This latter belief is not confined
to this region. but Is shared by the unedu-
Gated In all parts OF the Union. though the
most casual look at the woodcock's wings
will show Instantly that IL Is not q bird
fitted for so extraordinary a flight. He does
cover immense distances each migrating
season. but in installments OF not more than
eight hours each. These flights are made al
ways between sun and sun. Consequently. the
birds are never seen on their northward Jour
ney In the spring. and from this fact arises the
general error obtaining here that they breedin
this latitude. There Is no doubt that instances
are TO be found Of woodcocks raising broods
In the South. but they are only exceptions to
the rule. Probably such couples are an in
jured male and female that have come together
accidentally. It may happen. too. that a bird is
Ill when migration time comes around. finds
himself unequal to keeping UP with his kin
dred. falls further and further behind each
day. and ends finally by stopping altogether.
Birds get sick and die, or get sick and get well.
Just as men do
So far as is known the woodcock is the only
member OF the ornithological tribes whose
female IL larger. stronger and more pugnacious
than the male. Among them there is no such
thing as women's rights. The females have all
the rights and tho males have not the spirit to
protest. A female woodcock has no use for the
male except that he aids her in producing a
brood. Once the eggs are laid he Is sent out to
bring in food for the sitting mother. and works
with cringing industry, This duty he keeps up
all the nesting season. He il not permitted Mt
any time to sit on the eggs. When the chicks
are out OF the shell he is sent packing about his
business. His wife will not allow him to care
for them or to associate with them the chill
dren disown their father. BY this time he is
poor In flesh and worked to a fragile. Worn
with the cares " matrimony. he Is eager to
achieve his freedom. and instances are rare in
which he must be chastised before agreeing to
a divorce. In such cases, the chastisement Ii
administered promptly and effectively.
Woodcock nest for the most part in Canada
and in the far northern parts OF the United
States. They breed in all the States OF New
England. in Illinois and in the Northwest.
The chicks get out OF the shells late in May and
shooting begins in July. The mother mani
tests a deep attachment to her offspring. and
cares for them with singular assiduity. She
has not, however. the trick OF shammiEs a
broken wing in order to throw maraudcrs off
the scent. a trick that Is common 20 every
member Of the gallinaceous family. There are
few handsomer things than woodccck chicks.
Their little bodies are plump and round and
marked in bands like the young Quail. Their
abnormally long bills and large eyes give them
a quaint appearance. They are what the women
call cute. They have the sccretive faculty highly
developed. Their mother does not have to teach
them to hide. They will lie still enough some
times to be stepped on. They are never at a
greater distance than ten feet from the parent
until old en- ough to shift for Themselves. The
note is a faint peep! peep. not unlike that
which comes from II little chicken. and the
voice does not grow proportlonately stronger.
Indeed, the vocal organ of the woodcock il the
most inadequate thing about the bird. When
full grown and flushed suddenly he will emit q
sort Of falsetto whine. broken into staccato.
that is inaudiblc at n distance Of thirty yards.
In this he differs from his congener. tn. jack
snipe. whose raurous scope! scape! when in
flight may be heard a half mile away OH a still
hot day. The woodcock grows rapidly. and Is
large enough to DO shot within four weeks
OF his exit from the shell. He remains
In northern attitudes until the first hint
OF frost. Then he journeys southwark at night,
averaging in repeated short flights not more
than fifty miles in the twenty-four hours. Ho
arrives in Louisiana about Nov. ID and remains
until April, outstaying the snipe and all the
other wild fowl. Contrary to general impression.
1t is not a bird Of high flight when migrating.
TIL lacksnipr. also a night flyer. travels up
next to the stars. but the woodcock is seldom
n.nFa fhnn ono f.nt Frn,p tha DrDnnH He In
sends frequently for rest aud food. In the
pauses OF migration he is Ike many other OF the
game emiGrants from the north. II he finds q
place to suit him. Il wet swampy district with
plenty of cover. he will stay until the cold. also
travelling downward has warned him to move
on. In this way he sometimes occupies two
months in the trip from Canada to the Gull.
hewinter distribution ofthe woodcock Is very
wide. The birds are plentiful in places as high
up as the middle line OF Georgia and 60 as far
south as the upper portions OF South America.
He has not been known to reach the Orinoco. a
stream that in January flows past banks that
are lined with the North American golden and
upland plover. The woodcock shot hero In the
cold months were all Matched in New England.
New York and other middle States. There has
been a growing impression in that part OF the
country for more than twenty years that this
most delicious OF American game birds was
dying out rapidly. but the swarms of
them which settle in Louisiana do not
bear out this belief. In coming down the
birds follow the general line OF the Atlantic
coast. Indeed. all migrating birds have some
such giant landmark an ocean. a river like tho
Mississippi. a chain OF mountains like the
Rockies. and their inerrancy Is by no means so
wonderful as it appears. The woodcock. OF
course. has not sense enough to shape his
course by the stars. and. since he flies only at
night, he has to have something big for guild
ance. The Northwestern birds 20 to Texas.
New Mexico. old Mexico. and Arizona. The
two great broods OF them-the Eastern and the
Western-are never mixed.
As for the number OF them they are almost
past credence. The woodcock Ia essentially a
hider. If a man goes through a certain stretch
OF swampland and bags twenty in a day, having
shot possibly at fifty, he may make up his
mind that he walked within nifty yards Of a
thousand OF them that he never saw. They
are not birds that 20 in bevies, Flushing one
Is no presumptive evidence that there is an