1878 Cambridge
Nov. [November] 15. (Friday) Clear and an
even finer day than yesterday.
Started off in the morning with
Will Stone and went over very
nearly the same ground crossed
yesterday. I again went thro'
the pines by the brook in 
Watertown, but there were no
birds among those save a few
Chickadees. From there drove 
up to Arlington Heights where
I worked "L[?]" over
ground that the Quail were heard
in yesterday. Saw no signs
of them however. It is
not a little remarkable that abun-
dant as the Fox Sparrows were
yesterday, not one was seen to day.
They with the Zonotrichia alb [albicollis]
must have migrated last night.
Red polls were numerous and
I saw a single Red crossbill
flying over the grounds. Got back
to dinner at 2 P.M.
1879. Belmont & Waltham.
Jan'y [January] 22 Clear and moderate. Tempted
by the fine sleighing I started off this
morning for a long drive taking my gun.
There has been about 10 inches of snow upon
the ground for several weeks but winter 
birds have been less numerous since its
advent. Drove up through Waverley, around
the Lyman place in Waltham, across
the Hobbs place thence on to Shermans
pond and back thro' the Belmont
willows. Saw exceeding[ly] few birds: a 
little company of Redpolls on a bed
of tall weeds, a few Chickadees, one
Song Sparrow (in Waverley) two 
Colaptes auratus and a few Tree
Sparrows. Upon our return and just
before we reached "the willows" a female
Accipiter fuscus crossed the road and
lit on an overhanging branch. We were 
close upon her before I could stop the
horse & get a cartridge in the gun she flew.
Upon reaching home I found a live Night
Heron which had been left for me. Its captor
said that he found it on the Charles river
[margin] marshes apparently numbed with cold. On examination we noted the
fact that its wing had been broken and was only
superficially healed.[/margin]