. American game-bird shooting . to place, apparently to avoiddanger. Exactly how the mother bird does this isnot certainly known, but the weight of evidence seemsto show that she holds it clasped between her thighs,as a rider does his horse, and does not carry it inher weak and slender claws. She will sometimesthus transport her young for a hundred yards or more,and if pursued will even make a second flight with it. By the last of July, in favorable seasons, the youngof the second hatching are quite fit to look out forthemselves, and early in August the woodcock disap-pear—that is to say, can
. American game-bird shooting . to place, apparently to avoiddanger. Exactly how the mother bird does this isnot certainly known, but the weight of evidence seemsto show that she holds it clasped between her thighs,as a rider does his horse, and does not carry it inher weak and slender claws. She will sometimesthus transport her young for a hundred yards or more,and if pursued will even make a second flight with it. By the last of July, in favorable seasons, the youngof the second hatching are quite fit to look out forthemselves, and early in August the woodcock disap-pear—that is to say, can no longer be found by thosewho search for them. They retire to the dry hillsidesamong the heavy undergrowth, and remain there untilthe moult is complete. From such places—often amongthick growths of hazel or witch-hazel—they may some-times be flushed by the ornithologist who is searchingfor early migrants. In September they collect oncemore in their accustomed haunts, and then are fat, ingood plumage, and fit for the WOODCOCK 15 Twenty years ago there was much discussion as tothe manner in which the startled woodcock producesthe whistling sound usually heard as it springs fromthe ground. The ranks of sportsmen were dividedinto two factions, one of which held that the whistlewas vocal, while the other was as firmly convincedthat it was produced by the wings. Oddly enough, able ornithologists, who were alsosportsmen, were divided on the question—and areprobably still divided, for the matter has never beensatisfactorily settled. Such distinguished men asWilliam Brewster, of Cambridge, and the late Gur-don Trumbull, of Hartford, whose Names and Por-traits of Birds Which Interest Gunners will alwaysbe remembered, took opposite sides on this questionand argued at length about it. The ever-increasingscarcity of the woodcock and consequent inability toobserve it put an end to the discussion. Formerly it was legal all over the country to kill thisspecies during the month o
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1910
