1891
May 17
(no 6)
Afternoon on Rock Meadow.
Mass.
Belmont. - as long as we were within hearing. We
appeared to be flying over about the point where
Beaver Brook leaves the causeway and we heard
him distinctly from the place where the road from
Waverley joins the turnpike. At t his place George
met us with the carriage and the rattle of the
wheels of course prevented us from hearing anything
more. The evening was perfectly still and the air
sharp and frosty. There was some light left in
the west and this, joined to the rays of the moon
in its first quarter, rendered objects in the open
fields fairly distinct but the sky was dusky
and we could not see the Snipe although once,
before we left the Willows, he apparently passed
nearly over us. I have never heard the performance
of this bird to better advantage or been more moved
by it. Although it cannot be called [deleted]musical[/deleted] a
musical sound it has a stranger fascination
for me. Bolles was not at all impressed by it
and thought that I must be largely affected
by [deleted]some[/deleted] associations. Faxon, however, tells me that
although he first became acquainted with the
sound only last year it exerts on him the same
charm. The element of everything may have something
to do with it for although we know its author
we rarely see him.  [deleted]performance[/deleted] The sound [deleted]It[deleted] comes to us, too,
from the upper air like the voice of a spirit
wandering betwixt Heaven and Earth. It has
a weird, spiritual quality quite beyond my
power to describe. Bolles heard Snipes humming here
on the 11th. They must be breeding!