CONCORD 
1911 
ctober 30 
I note for 
the second- 
time this 
autumn and 
for the 
third this 
year a 
mysterious 
bird, 
possibly a 
Wheat earl 
It must have been twelve or fifteen years ago and 
either late in October or early in November that I saw and 
heard a bird,then and still unknown to me, flying high in 
air over Great Meadow, calling whit, whit very like -a Least 
Flycatcher, Since then I have repeatedly seen and heard 
others of the same kind, invariably in this part of Concord, 
always on wing, nearly always in la.te autumn and, with but 
one exception, singly. About two weeks ago (I neglected 
to note the date) I heard this call early one morning at 
Ball's Hill, evidently coming from high in air overhead 
but I failed to catch sight of its author on that occasion. 
I heard it again this morning (about 8 o'clock) as I was 
standing in front of our fe.rm-house. The next instant I 
saw the bird and to much greater advantage than ever before 
for it passed directly over me slightly below the tops of 
our ta.llest elms and then South-west over an open field. 
It looked about the size and shape of a Snow Bunting and 
flew not unlike one, in long deep undulations, rising and 
falling rhythmically. During the second or two that I 
had it in good view I could see that its tail was very widely 
spread and apparently cut off rather squarely at the end. 
Just before and after this it seemed to be closed. I thought 
it showed a good deal of white but could not be sure of 
this nor of the bird's general coloring for it was against 
a whitey-blue sky ablaze with sunlight. It called whit , whit 
