2 
Gal 1 inafto del ioata . 
Ball's Hill, Concord, Mass. 
1897. 
and form and greatly duration and rapidity of utterance. 
April. Ordinarily the syllable hen is repeated about 15 or 20 times 
at the rate of about three heps to the second but sometimes 
they are continued without the slightest pause for several 
minutes. Again they are sometimes given much more slowly at 
the rate of about three to each two seconds. So far as I have 
observed, however, the rate never varies during any one cackling 
period. The tone is usually rather dry and harsh but occa- 
Cl 
sionally it is soft and almost liquid -hub rather than a hen 
I 
! 
sound. The cachle is very penetrating in quality for it may 
be easily heard half-a-inile away when there is no wind. 
The drumming carries even further under favorable condi- 
tions-to quite three quarters of a mile when the air is still. 
It varies considerably in tone and fulness with different 
birds and to some extent with the same bird. 
On the 27th I heard a Snipe drum several times at about 
9 A.M. the shy being overcast but not densely cloudy at the 
time. On the morning of the 29th, a bird drummed almost con- 
tinuously over the meadow opposite Birch Island from j3 to. 8. 
o 1 clock although the weather was clear and the sun, after 7 
o'clock, very warm. At first there was no wind but a fresh 
breeze from the N. sprang up about 7.45. Although we (Mr. Fax- 
on was with me ) stood for a long time on the shore at Birch 
n 
