1903
March 23
(No 3)
time he got his song fairly started to that when
he reacted the earth but they were vibrated a few times
at the beginning of the song and I could distinctly hear
their whistling sound mingling with the vocal notes
During the song the bird was constantly descending, at
first on long, easy inclines, finally by a succession
of short, steep pitches at the end of each of which
he checked himself suddenly for a minute just as
the Skylark does. The song ceased when he was about
eighty feet above the earth & his final & silent descent 
to it was made on set wings, nearly vertically
and with arrowy swiftness.
  While this bird was in the air, rising for his second
song flight, I was surprised to hear another peep once
just beyond a stone wall & very near me. When the
first bird returned to the earth and began peeping again
the second answered him several times in precisely
the same tone. After this it peeped intermittently, a dozen
times perhaps, always when the other bird was on
the ground and peeping steadily. At first I thought
it was another male & that it would presently
mount into the air & sing but as it did not
do so and as its peeping was at no time steady
or persistent I finally concluded that it was the
singer's note although I have never before suspected
that the female Woodcock utters the night-hawk like pa-ap.
This bird also gave the preliminary pt-e as well.
If I am right in thinking that it was a female both
these sounds must be really only call notes. I
once heard a wing broken Woodcock utter the pa-ap
just as I was about to seize it - or perhaps
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