Concord, Mass.
1901.
Sept. 14
  Clear and warm with almost no wind.
  Left Lancaster at noon and reached the cabin at about
2.30 P.M. Spent the remainder of the afternoon strolling
about in the woods. The air was sultry & still.
Heard Warblers chirping in several places but identified
only three of them, two Black-polls & a Black & Yellow.
The latter was near the Birch Gate in a thicket of
Cornels & Alders on the edge of the river. At nearly the
same place I saw two Brown Thrashers, two Cat Birds,
a Maryland Yellow-throat and a young Towhee.
An Osprey passed the cabin at 3 P.M. flying in a
nearly straight course towards the S.W. The woods
are literally alive with Blue Jays which were very noisy.
  As I was crossing the Barrett Meadow at about 4 P.M.
Rails were calling almost incessantly in the crescent ridge along
the river banks at Beaver Dam Rapids and about the lagoon
at the head of these rapids. There must have been more
than a dozen of them. The majority were Carolina Rails but
I heard the kik-kik as well as the pig note of the Virginia
Rail, each given once only. The Carolinas made a variety of
sounds. The commonest was a squealing cry which at times
was very like that of the Norway Rat, at others more like
the whining murmur of the Muskrat. They also called kep-cup,
especially when I threw stones into the woods. I visited
the place again as twilight was following but to my surprise
the birds were much less noisy than they had been the
middle of the afternoon. They were still there, however, for
the splash of a stone that I threw into the river was
immediately followed by an outburst of cries from all
along the line of sedge.
Rails
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