1891
March 25
(No 3)
Mass
Waltham - Song Sparrow on the brown hillside above.
Occasionally a Robin called in the distance.
At length we heard a Woodcock's whistle in the
distance but nothing but the whistle. What did it
mean? Was the bird neither singing nor "pumping".
We moved forward past the singing place of last 
year and over the top of another knoll when
suddenly the vibrating paap of our bird came up
with almost startling distinctness from the slope
below near the spring house by the brook. Almost
immediately we heard another, still further off.
The first bird soon rose and mounted skyward.
We watched him during his entire flight, most
of the time through our glasses. After this he paaped
a long time, then rose again but is was now too
dark to trace his course. The other bird sang over
in the distance. The first bird was a superb
performer, one of the best I ever listened to. After
the second song-flight he paaped for several minutes,
flitted twice from one place to another, then 
became wholly silent.
  During the height of the Woodcock excitement three
Black Ducks started [delete]rose[/delete] from the pool at the head of the 
run and rose to a great height in the dusky sky,
a drake among them "talking" a good deal, all three
twisting and circling and finally pitching down
again like so many meteors. Two others also passed
 near us across the valley. When it was nearly
dark a Partridge rose from the edge of the pasture,
making a startling noise in the still air. Then night
fell and we started homeward.