1878 Mt Carmel, Illinois
April 28 (Sunday) Spent the 
entire day about the house.
The woods are now everywhere 
in full leaf and the wheat
waist high. The forests that
cover the river bottoms are
supurb, tho' from the uniformly
great height and size of the
trees one barely realizes how
large they really are. There
is so little undergrowth that we
drive at will thro' the woods.
The ground is in most places
level but sometimes a little
broken by ridges, long narrow
hollows usually filled with
water occur at frequent intervals.
The ground is carpeted by a 
growth of wild grass (even where 
the shade is densest) and
weeds and wild flowers of every
description abound. One great
blessing is that there are no mosquitos - as yet. 
1878 Mt. Carmel Illinois
Second trip up White River - J. hyemlis
April 29 (Monday) A lovely day, clear
and not too warm. Started at 6 A.M.
and went up White river in the skiff with
Robert and Joe R. Ran into Cypress Slough
but could not get the boat up to the ponds.
R. went in to Cypress pond & made a good
bag. I shot around near the boat.
Took P. [Protonotaria] citrea  five; O. [Oporornis] formosus, five
D. [Dendroica] caerulea one; H. [Helminthophila] pina three (one [female] with
nest]; My. [Myiodioctes] mitratus [male]; Cy. cyanea [male]
Py. [Pyranga] rubra two [male]; Seiurus motacilla one
([female] with full devel. [fully developed] egg);  [?] carolinus two;
Ceryle alcyon one;
Nests Hel. [Helminthophila] pina nest 1 egg & parents
" [Nests] Parus caorolin. [carolinensis] deserted nest & 1 egg
" [Nests] Seiurus motacilla empty; bank of river
Robert shot nine My. [Myiodioctes] mitratus about 
Cypress pond. He also shot a fine
ad [adult] [female] Accip. [Accipiter] fuscus.  I saw my first
Ictinia mississip. [mississippiensis] a beautiful bird
on the wing. I shot a female Junco 
hyemalis. Got back at dark 
after a hard day[']s work.