Concord, Mass.
1909.
May 15
(No 2)
  As twilight fell Wilson's Snipe began rising
and flying about over Great Meadow from which
the river flood has just receded leaving pools
of stagnant surface water among the upspringing grass.
I could not see any of them but judging by their calls
there must have been half a dozen or more. For
a time I heard only the scaipe note which, as
is usual when the birds are taking short flights
from place to place of a calm evening, had a deep,
guttural quality. At length, when it was nearly
dark, one began drumming, evidently flying
in a great circle that embraced nearly the entire
meadow and hence was fully a mile in circumference.
For fifteen minutes or more I listened delightedly
to its weird melody which thrilled me as it
has never failed to do ever since I first heard it
Wilson's Snipe.
Scaipe note
Drumming