SNIPES, SANDI’II’ERS, E'l‘t'. 153 
     
    
   
   
    
     228. Philohela. minor ( (inn/J. :\.\IHIH(‘.\N \Voom'oek. .‘Ir/.~Frout 
     
     of‘ the erown shay. washed with bull; an indistinet blarkish line in its center, 
     
     and another from the, eye to the bill: baek ot' the head blaek, with two or 
     
     three bars ot‘ ixehraeetuls»bu1t'; rest of the upper parts blaek. margined with 
     
     slaty and barred and mottled with rut'ons or twhi'aeeous-luni': tip of the tail 
     
     ashy gray above. silvery beneath: under parts between oehraeeous-butl' and 
     
     rut'ous: three outer primaries very narrow and mueh stillened. I“, “'00; 
     
     \\'.. HI): T1111. 1'37): 1%.. 2"."1. 
     
    

    
     It’d/lye. Eastern North America north to liabrador and Manitoba. breed- 
     
     ing nearly throughout its range. but not commonly in the southern part ot'it; 
     
     winters from southern Illinois and Virginia southward. 
     
    

    
     Washington. rather eommon from Feb. to Now: a t'ew winter. Long 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     island. eommon .\'. lt.: a few winter. Sing Sing. eommon S. l{.. l’eb. IN to 
     
     Dee. '2. (,‘ambridge. 5. ll. tbrinerly eomnion. t'ast beeoming rare: Meh. to Nov. 
     
    

    
     Ant. of a few dry leaves. on the, ground in the woods. [if/xxx, t'our, bulty. 
     
     distinetly and obseurely spotted with shades ot‘rutous. 1'00 x 1'23. 
     
    
   
   
    
     During the spring and early summer this Owl among Snipe haunts 
     
     low, wooded bottom—lands; in August, while melting. it resorts to corn- 
     
     fields near woods. and in the fall migrating birds frequent wooded up- 
     
     lands. But at all times it requires a soft. moist earth in which it may 
     
     easily probe with its long bill for its fare of earthworms. The holes 
     
     it makes are known as " borings." They are gone 'all_\' found in little 
     
     groups. and are. of course. certain evidenee of the presence of Wood- 
     
     eoek. It has recently been discovered by Mr. Gurdon Trumbull that 
     
     the Woodcock can more the tip of its upper mandible independently 
     
     of the lower one. and this organ is made to act as a finger to assist the 
     
     bird in drawing its food from the ground. 
     
    

    
     The flight. of the \Voodeoek is sometimes aeeompanied by a high, 
     
     whistling sound produced by its narrow. stitfened primaries in beating 
     
     the air. When tlushed near its nest, or young-the parent bird gen- 
     
     erally feigns lameness or a broken wing. and leads the intruder some 
     
     distance from its treasures before taking wing. 
     
    

    
     The eloak of night always lends a Certain mystery to the doings of 
     
     nocturnal birds. and more often than not their habits justify our un- 
     
     usual interest in them. How many evenings havel tempted the ma- 
     
     laria germs of Jersey lowlands to watch the \"oodeoek perform his 
     
     strange sky danee! He begins on the ground with a formal. periodic 
     
     7mm]. [IN/Hf, an incongruous preparation for the wild rush that, follows. 
     
     It is repeated several times before he springs from the ground and on 
     
     whistling wings sweeps out on the first loop of a spiral which may 
     
     take him 300 feet from the ground. Faster and faster he goes. louder 
     
     and shriller sounds his wing-song: then. after a moment's pause. with 
     
     darting. headlong flight. he pitehes in zigxags to the earth. uttering as 
     
     he falls a Clear, twittering whistle. lie generally returns to near the