127
Concord, Mass.
1898.
June 11
 Cloudy most of the day with occasional sprinkles of
rain but the sky cleared before sunset.
 At intervals through the forenoon as I was at
work near the cabin I heard the ki-ki-ki-ki, ki-keer
of the mysterious "Kicker" coming from near the
middle of the Great Meadow. Soon after sunset the
bird began again and sang steadily up to the
time I went to bed. He had apparently came a
little nearer although as I walked along the
river path to Benson's Landing I could with
difficulty catch the final "cheer" or keer of his song.
What was my surprise therefore to find that as
I continued on my walk and turned my back
to the river I carried the sound of the ki-ki
far inland without seeming to lose much of its
strength. I actually heard it with reasonable
distinctness when I reached Davis's Hill although
this point is nearly half-a-mile distant from
Benson's Landing with a pine covered range of hills
between.
  There is another peculiarity about the song of the
"Kicker" which I remember to have noted that season
when the bird was so common about Cambridge &
which impresses me constantly till now. It is that
the sound changes continually in volume, the increase
and decrease being sometimes gradual & sometimes abrupt.
Ordinarily any forth or fifth repetitions come loud &
distinct but sometimes an especially distinct repetition
seemed a particularly faint one. Gilbert thought this
evening that the bird must be flying about me