1890
April 15
Cambridge, Mass.
Clear and cold with strong, harsh N. wind. Ther 34 [degrees] at 9 P.M.
  To the swamps with Chadbourne at 6 P.M. driving in a
coupe through Dublin to Alewife Brook. Walked out along the
Mass. Central track just as the sun was setting. Hylas by
hundreds on every side making a deafening noise. A few toads
and leopard frogs, also. Small flocks of Red. wings flying about
but no scattered males singing. Walked further on to the
cut through the high knoll. Here we were beyond the
clamor of the frogs & heard Swamp Sparrows singing and
occasionally a Robin or Song Sparrow. Suddenly the humming
of a distant Snipe came to my ear from the direction
of Little Pond. As we pressed on I heard several Carolina
Rails, one calling [ka-e?], two others cutta. The humming of
Snipe was now distinct and frequent. Reaching the
ice house branch track we took it and were soon at the
pond where it crosses the cart path to Buck Island. Here
we found [Tolley?] listening to the Snipe which were
humming about incessantly overhead. It was still
light enough to see them towards the west but they
kept on the east side of us and were invisible. Most
of the time they seemed to be high up, but occasionally
one in its descent would come so near us that we
felt impelled to dodge. When we left at 7.15 P.M. it
was nearly perfectly dark but they were still humming.
I think there were several of them. We saw four
Night Herons and heard others.