1893 
June 17  
Say brook Ferry, Conn.                                                                                   
  Cloudy with strong N.E. wind and rain up to 10 a.m.
after which there were occasional showers.
  At 10 a.m. Faxon and I started for the marshes
below the house. The Bobolinks were singing freely in spite
of the gloomy weather and the bird with the odd whistling
notes was as merry and noisy as the rest. It is evident
that he has only this peculiar song.
  The Rail in the bushes was near the fish house was silent          
this morning but we found another in full cry in a
short and very narrow belt of cat-tails further out in the
marsh. We first looked long and carefully for the nest searching
the cat-tails throughly and then taking all the neighbouring
ditches as well as the marsh grass but we found literally
nothing. While we were among the cat-tails thrashing about
the birds frequently began uttering his cut, cut, cutta, cutta
within a few yards of us and thrice we heard another bird,
very near him, give the pig-note of the Va. Rail. Faxon thought
this note unusually deep & grunting & suggested that it might
be the voice of our "Big Grunter" but to my ear it was
not unlike what I have often heard from our Va. Rails in Mass.
We tried repeatedly to drive these birds out of thin cover but 
in vain. Then Faxon suggested a plan which proved a
perfect success. Selecting a place where the belt of flags was
only a few yards wide we cut & trampled them down until
we found a beat path or lane directly through them. Then
by turns one beat the flags while others watched the
path. In this way we twice drove a pair of Virginia Rails
directly across the path. As nothing else appeared it seems
reasonably safe to conclude that these Rails were the only
[margin]Va. Rails
(the origin
of the cutta
cry at last
definitely
settled)[/margin]