Cambridge
Ther [Thermometer] Tuesday, Jan.4, 1916 [January 4, 1916] Wea [Weather]
16 [degrees] Fine
Clear & cold with fresh N.W. [northwest] wind.
  In Garden: a dull-plumaged Peabody
bird with about 25 House Sparrows, 
a solitary Blue Jay, a Downy [Downy Woodpecker]
(heard calling), one or more Crows
heard.
  At work in Museum all day,
chiefly on Umbagog Preface which
was somewhat advanced thereby
although still hanging fire to a
degree that mortifies my soul
most greivously [grievously] for the whole
thing is simple enough as planned
and ought to be written easily in
a day or less. Why I should have
to struggle over it so long and
fruitlessly is difficult to comprehend.
  Noble called in late P.M. to borrow
more birds for Bangs. Faxon telephoned
soon after breakfast to say that he & Tyler
had just seen 3 Evening Grosbeaks in
Lexington where Tyler saw 5 yesterday.
Victrola music & reading this evening.

Cambridge.
Ther [Thermometer] Wednesday, Jan.5, 1916 [January  5, 1916] Wea [Weather]
Stormy
Dark cloudy with light drizzle of rain
falling more or less ceaselessly. Heavy
snow slides crashing down from house
and Museum roofs at intervals.
  In Garden. An im. [immature] Peabody bird with
numerous House Sparrows, a Chickadee
at suet.
  Walter Deane called me by telephone
this evening to say that early in the
forenoon he & Dr. Tyler had visited the
haunt of the Evening Grosbeaks in Lexington
seeing there no less than 9 of the beautful
birds, all in [female] plumage, however. They
were feeding on seeds of ash-leaf maple
growing near a public roadway.
  At my desk in Museum all day
long, writing letters in forenoon,
wrestling fruitlessly with Umbagog Preface
in afternoon. This unhappy task
bids fair to baffle me indefinitely.
  Evening passed, as usual, in hall
where I played Victrola (8-9) & E. [Elizabeth?] read
aloud later. C. [Caroline] always retires now at 9 P.M.