Nettion Carolinensis
[Middlesex Co., Mass. [Middlesex County, Massachusetts]
1875 
April 23 [April 23, 1875] shriek fairly startled me until I
remembered its author: it was a Wilson's
snipe and the sharp scaip scaip of
several others as they rose from the marsh
to the Westward and an answering drumming
from the Block island meadow immediately
succeeded, and now the merry peep of
the Hylas swelled up from every pool
and with the croaking of Rana halecina
inaugurated a chorus that would prevail
till the dawn of the next day. A few
minutes later a large owl sailed over
me but I did not catch sight of him
until too late to fire. He continued in
sight several moment beating about
over the woods with intermittent
flapping & sailing inclining occasionally
to either side, and finally soaring
high up in the air, circling about
of motionless wings like a buzzard
or an eagle and eventually disappearing
in the gathering darkness. I set
him down as Otus Wilsonianus though
it might have been a Brachyotus [Brachyotus palustris]: certainly
it was one of the two. His tail
was wide spread as he passed over
me and a certain buoyant lifting
of the body and apparent indirectness of purpose
at back stroke of the wings reminded
me quite forcibly of a night hawk.
Coming down through the swamps I
heard at least three different individuals
of Porzana Carolina one of them calling
incessantly ka-e, kar, e, kar-e: & the
other cackling as noted on former occasions
N. Nesbitt shot a [female] Nettion Carolinensis