Singing-ground surveys of the American woodcock indicate that breeding populations have increased gradually over the past 7 years while production, as indicated by wing-collection surveys, has remained relatively stable. The woodcock harvest, meanwhile, has probably more than doubled during the past decade. This suggests that while woodcock are probably becoming more important to North American sportsmen, hunting mortality is still relatively unimportant.
An index of woodcock reproductive success in 1961 and 1962 was obtained from age ratios in the hunting kill as determined from wings. For both seasons combined, hunters contributed 25,426 woodcock wings.
Surveys designed to determine the population status of American woodcock indicate little change in recent continental breeding populations, but a continuing decline in production. The annual harvest of this species, meanwhile, continues to soar with an apparent upsurge in hunter's awareness of the woodcock's sporting qualities. Research activities continue to uncover information related to the reliability of singing-ground surveys while banding operations in Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, and West Virginia testify to the feasibility of expanding this very important program throughout North America. West Virginia has contributed significantly to this program through its improvement of the night-lighting technique which was developed in association with their primary objective of evaluating the importance of hunting as a mortality factor. Woodcock bandings and recoveries from the Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge are being examined to determine more about the characteristics of this lightly harvested population and to better understand their use of various habitat types.
In this bibliography we have attempted to assemble the major portion of the technical literature on the American woodcock (Philohela minor). Included are scientific references published between 1927 and 1978. We chose 1927 as the cutoff date for early literature because of the importance of Arthur Cleveland Bent's work in 1927, and because most articles before 1927 are descriptive and do not add appreciably to the scientific literature on the species. An excellent listing of the early literature may be found in the 1936 monograph by Olin Sewall Pettingill, Jr. No previously published bibliography devoted solely to woodcock is available. References are listed alphabetically by author beginning on page 1. Following each reference is a number(s) that corresponds to one of the 22 subject headings listed on page iii.
