Concord, Mass.
1912.
Sept. 19
(No 2)
[September 19, 1912]

Mysterious nocturnal sounds heard at Ball's Hill

  Just after I had gone to bed (at 11 P.M.) something
began making a variety of low clucking murmuring &
twittering sounds just outside my bedroom windows.
These were repeated at short intervals for half an
hour or more. They seemed to come from beneath
the window which is only about 8 ft. above the ground
of the steeply-sloping, wooded hillside. Some of the
clucks were closely like those of the Hermit Thrush
but fainter. Every now & then I heard a light rustling
of dry leaves which I thought was made by the
author of the vocal notes & which was no more than
the movements of a Mouse might have caused.
What the creature was I have no idea. I
thought at the time especially of a Skunk because
of the fact that this is one of the most sedentary of
night ramblers when it is looking for crickets & grubs.
But the sounds were rather bird-like as a whole & may
have been uttered by a bird. I do not recall ever hearing them before.