Porzaria Carolina. 
Concord, 
1893. 
May 19. 
June 6. 
Mass. Calling through the night. 
During my evening walk I heard three Carolina Rails 
singing. One of them was in the meadow opposite (a little a- 
bove ) the cabin and I believe it called without cessation the 
whole night long for when ever I was awake its clear, plain- 
tive er-e came to my ears at short regular intervals. It 
ceased at daybreak next morning a few minutes after the Bit- 
tern began pumping. 
There were only three Carolina Rails singing on the entire 
stretch of the Great Meadows to-night (as I paddled from Con- 
cord to the cabin in the rain and darkness about 9 o'clock) 
but they kept it up without the si ightest. cessation as long as 
I was within hearing. One had a peculiar voice, almost con- 
tralto in tone and with a queer double note at the beginning, 
the call being really of three instead of the normal two syl- 
lables, thus:- er-ar-e . This is the first variation in the 
song of this species that I remember to have heard. The song 
of the Carolina Rail is most nearly like the scatter-call of 
the Quail but it also suggests the peep of the Hylas. Despite 
its plaintive almost sad quality it is to my ear one of the 
most pleasing sounds that one hears in our fresh water meadows. 
